I was singularly unimpressed with his performance - though it was about what I had expected.  He couldn't perjure himself, and he didn't appear willing to take the 5th -- that left only one option - an exceptionally foggy memory.  

It's clear that A.G A.G has become a massive political liability.  I know Bush has a reputation for standing by his (wo)men, but things can only get worse for Gonzales as more evidence comes to light - for Bush, there is no possible upside.  It's time to let Gonzales go.

If you ask me, this is the big scandal of the Bush administration.  They use the apparatus of justice to prosecute their opponents in the Democratic Party and intentionally suppress voter turnout in black communities.  How can you get a bigger scandal than that?

The issue isn't the firing of the attorneys. No one disputes that the President has the right to fire any US Attorney for any reason or for no reason at all. The issue is that several Bush Administration officials lied about the reasons why. All of the attorneys were willing to go quietly until their reputations were attacked in a series of lame poorly-executed attempts to retroactively justify the firings. Remember, all 93 attorneys were appointed by George W. Bush. None of them were holdovers from the Clinton administration.

New Mexico's David Iglesias, for instance, had a sterling reputation. He's a Captain in the US Naval Reserve, he was an adviser to former AG John Ashcroft on Homeland Secrity, he trained other federal prosecutors, and has received glowing performance reviews throughout his career. Even after he was fired he was given the go-ahead to use AG Alberto Gonzalas as a reference. Suddenly, Iglesias got a phone call out of the blue from a Republican Senator asking him to push an investigation of a Democrat in order to get an indictment before the November election. He refused, as he should. He didn't report the call, which was wrong, but understandable. A man looking to have a career in government sometimes has to let things go.

One week later, David Iglesias was fired. He was content to go. It sucked, but these things happen. With a resume like his there was no question that he'd be able to find a new position in short order. After all, he'd run for New Mexico Attorney General in 1998 and almost won. A guy like that isn't going to have to start running personal injury commercials on channel 149 at 3 am to pay the rent.

This is where things get sleazy. In an effort to justify the firings, a wide range of reasons were cited by the Justice Department. It was claimed that he was an absentee landlord who was never in the office, failing to note that the 6 weeks a year he took off were to serve in the US Naval Reserve. It was claimed that he wasn't sufficiently aggressive in prosecuting voter fraud, the reality being that of over 100 complaints he found only one case worth pursuing.

Bush Administration officials just couldn't get their story straight on the firings, leaving journalists to uncover the real reasons. What they found was a long string of memos and conversations between various officials trying to come up with a reason retroactively. When pressed, US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the highest-ranking law enforcement official in America just plain lied. He claimed he wasn't involved in the process, he claimed the attorneys simply lost his confidence but couldn't say why or when, he claimed that loyalty to the Bush Administration was never considered a factor. All these things, some claimed under oath, are provable false, the documentation archived here.

The issue isn't the firings themselves, but the Bush administration's willingness to impose politics on the cases prosecuted by the Justice Department and to lie to the American people about it. Remember, this is the administration that promised "to restore honor and dignity to the White House".  It sounds like a bad joke now, especially with the Attorney General openly committing perjury. It's if the Bush administration was so used to Congress simply rolling over for them that it never occurred to them that they'd need a cover story. Considering that AG Alberto Gonzales first started work on the plan in January 2005 (right after Bush's re-election) that may have been the case.

In these cynical times it's easy to forget that it wasn't so long ago that we assumed that the President would be straight with the American people. It was assumed that the Attorney General would not lie under oath. There was a time when an President's staff members went before Congress to set the record straight and victory was a matter of proven their innocence. With the Bush administration the bar is set so low that escaping indictment through technicalities and destroying evidence is considered victory.

Ask yourself this: do you honestly believe that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was honest and forthcoming in his testimony? If so, Josh Marshall over at Talking Points Memo (the one who we can credit with starting the investigation) has a lovely archive of video of Gonzo's testimony. If you don't believe that Gonzales was honest in his sworn testimony, then explain to me why the American people should continue to employ him as a law enforcement official. The Attorney General is supposed to enforce the law, not evade the law. If we can't trust him, why should we trust anyone?

-=Logan
Research, facts, a Republican needs not these things.

With all the scandalous behavior to choose from during these two terms of #43, you'd there'd be a gun more smoking, wouldn't you?

But you see, this is the straw finale, where politics was traditionally played second to justice (at least in the eyes or mouths of all who have gone before, Democrat & Republican). This particular abuse of power is just gross enough, and hot enough, to give growlers like Ted Kennedy a corner of a towel to bite on (and shake), like playfully angry dogs enjoy doing every time.

----- I, for one, renounce our insect overlords!

Well, the Dept of Justice misled Congress and I think that where their outrage comes from. It's one thing to be misled by a theoretical equal in the President, it's another to be misled by a minister.

It's also the first scandal that has hit with the Dems actually in power.

make it rain you nappy headed ho's