April 20, 2007
Gonzales Pre-Hearing Preparations Reveal A.G. Was Unprepared
- Alberto Gonzales
- U.S. Attorney Firings
- White House
- Dept. of Justice
- Senate Judiciary Committee
- Pres. George W. Bush
- Ed Gillespie
- Timothy E. Flanigan
Despite weeks of preparation and canceling Spring Break family vacation plans, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales showed he was thoroughly unprepared to convince members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that he could tell the truth about his knowledge and level of involvement in the U.S. Attorney firings scandal.
Gonzales’ standard reply to questions asking for more detail in the controversy was simply, “I can’t recall.” This was his response, or variations of it, according to USA Today (71 times) and The Washington Post (64 times). One keen observer at the hearing even kept a running count of the Attorney General’s “I Don’t Recall” answers.
Other Gonzales pat replies included “that’s a fair question,” and “that’s a fair statement,” suggesting that observers should respect the analytical abilities of an executive agency head who can’t remember conversationas and details about why career prosecutors were fired.
Few observers came away from the hearing respecting Gonzales’ analytical abilities — none appeared to be present.
From former RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie and former Deputy White House Counsel Timothy Flanigan reportedly helped Gonzales prepare for yesterday’s hearing by putting him through mock testimony.
Gonzales stuck to the sound bite that his handlers crafted for the Attorney General’s Op-Ed piece in Sunday’s Washington Post, and his prepared testimony before the Committee: he did “nothing improper.”
If the country’s top law enforcement officer was thoroughly unprepared and incapable of delivering truthful, candid responses to Congress, how can he be expected to run the Department of Justice in anything more than a dysfunctional manner?
The US’s top law enfircement officer is a criminal.
Torture is a war crime, as defined in law, including treaties to which the US is signatory. Treaties are part of the law of the land. The Constitution is the law of the land.
Neither Congress, nor the Executive, nor both together even with Judicial approval, can change the Constitution.
And the US is only one vote in international law.
Nixon’s AG John Mitchell had sufficient True Believer integrity to actually choose to do jail time. Gonzales is a coward by comparison.
Bush doesn’t let Gonzales go, then both go. Bush let’s Gonzales go, then Bush goes also.
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