Stonewall Gonzales caught roughing up sick old man: Gets away Scott-free!
James Comey's testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee about what Al Gonzales was up to on March 10th 2004 is, even for this administration, totally shocking. Here you have "waterboard" Gonzales, this political hack, this mafia lawyer, this shameless yes-man, rushing to John Ashcroft's sick bed in the middle of the night to get him to sign off on the renewal of the warrentless domestic spying program, because Comey, as the acting AG, wouldn't play ball. It's pretty amazing that the secret spying program was so legally radioactive that even Ashcroft was against it. According to Comey, he and Ashcroft were prepared to to resign over the issue!
Not Al Gonzales, though -- Oh no! -- that sniveling little weasel was only following orders. His job was to get someone at the DoJ to sign on the dotted line and it didn't, apparently, matter to him that Ashcroft's signature wouldn't have carried the weight of law since he wasn't actually the AG at the time. As Comey pointed out, "I thought I just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man, who did not have the powers of the attorney general because they had been transferred to me."
Not that the law matters or anything: 'Laws are made to be broken,' that's Gonzales' motto.
About the same time the Senators on the Judiciary Committee were trying to pick themselves up off the floor after hearing about the lengths to which Gonzales will go to do his dark master's bidding, Gonzales was busy selling out his deputy, Paul McNulty, at the National Press Club.
It's not that Al can really remember anything about the firing of the US Attorneys, but he's pretty sure McNulty was behind the whole thing.
"At the end of the day, the recommendations reflected the views of the deputy attorney general. He would know best about the qualifications and the experience of the United States' attorneys' community and he signed off on the names," he said with a straight face. [WaPo]
Wow, doesn't that just take you breath away? Not only is he lying his face off, but at the same time he's also totally selling out a man who had the audacity to go to Congress and not lie under oath to protect Gonzales' sorry ass. Unbelievable!
McNulty's testimony on the 27th of April really got under Gonzales' skin because McNulty told the Judiciary Committee that the prosecutor from Little Rock, H. E. Cummins, was launched out of his position to make way for one of Karl Rove's buddies. It had nothing to do with performance. Remember, that was the cover story back on Feb. 6 when McNulty's testimony ultimatly got Kyle Sampson and Monica "fifth amendment" Goodling fired.
McNulty, of course, is on his way out -- to spend more time with his family, naturally -- so, I guess, he’s now fair game for the White House smear machine.
According to Arlen Specter, Comey is leaving because it is, "embarrassing for a professional to work for the Department of Justice today. I think the resignation of Mr. McNulty is another significant step and evidence that [the] department really cannot function with the continued leadership, or lack of leadership, of Attorney General Gonzales." [The Hill]
Chuck Schumer summed it up pretty well when he said, "It seems ironic that Paul McNulty, who at least tried to level with the committee, goes while Gonzales, who stonewalled [i.e. lied to] the committee is still in charge."
Yeah, how about that?
Not Al Gonzales, though -- Oh no! -- that sniveling little weasel was only following orders. His job was to get someone at the DoJ to sign on the dotted line and it didn't, apparently, matter to him that Ashcroft's signature wouldn't have carried the weight of law since he wasn't actually the AG at the time. As Comey pointed out, "I thought I just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man, who did not have the powers of the attorney general because they had been transferred to me."
Not that the law matters or anything: 'Laws are made to be broken,' that's Gonzales' motto.
About the same time the Senators on the Judiciary Committee were trying to pick themselves up off the floor after hearing about the lengths to which Gonzales will go to do his dark master's bidding, Gonzales was busy selling out his deputy, Paul McNulty, at the National Press Club.
It's not that Al can really remember anything about the firing of the US Attorneys, but he's pretty sure McNulty was behind the whole thing.
"At the end of the day, the recommendations reflected the views of the deputy attorney general. He would know best about the qualifications and the experience of the United States' attorneys' community and he signed off on the names," he said with a straight face. [WaPo]
Wow, doesn't that just take you breath away? Not only is he lying his face off, but at the same time he's also totally selling out a man who had the audacity to go to Congress and not lie under oath to protect Gonzales' sorry ass. Unbelievable!
McNulty's testimony on the 27th of April really got under Gonzales' skin because McNulty told the Judiciary Committee that the prosecutor from Little Rock, H. E. Cummins, was launched out of his position to make way for one of Karl Rove's buddies. It had nothing to do with performance. Remember, that was the cover story back on Feb. 6 when McNulty's testimony ultimatly got Kyle Sampson and Monica "fifth amendment" Goodling fired.
McNulty, of course, is on his way out -- to spend more time with his family, naturally -- so, I guess, he’s now fair game for the White House smear machine.
According to Arlen Specter, Comey is leaving because it is, "embarrassing for a professional to work for the Department of Justice today. I think the resignation of Mr. McNulty is another significant step and evidence that [the] department really cannot function with the continued leadership, or lack of leadership, of Attorney General Gonzales." [The Hill]
Chuck Schumer summed it up pretty well when he said, "It seems ironic that Paul McNulty, who at least tried to level with the committee, goes while Gonzales, who stonewalled [i.e. lied to] the committee is still in charge."
Yeah, how about that?
posted by William Duane at 12:16 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home