Well, Can The Left Decide What Exactly They Think Gonzalez Did Wrong?
It doesn’t seem as though they can.
This story seems to have gone into a little bit of a stall this week, with the best that the WaPo crew of Eggen and Kane can come up with today is a cheap shot dig at Gonzalez about “spending hours practicing testimony … seriously as if it were a confirmation proceeding for a Supreme Court or a Cabinet appointment.”
Now the second part of that quote, the part following those ellipses (yes, they can be a dangerous thing) is actually attributed to “Gonzalez and his aides” — “according to administration officials.” There article is here.
When an A01 story has to go for that cheap shot in the second paragraph, you know the pickings from which to choose were pretty slim.
And it also seems a little snarky to criticize Gonzalez now for doing the one thing that he and everyone around him failed to do and which led them to stumble into the mess in the first place — gaining an understanding of all the facts before beginning to answer questions in the first instance.
And Ruben Navarette comes to Gonzalez’s defense in a column today, pointing out that the Gonzalez critics — on both the left and the right — can’t seem to settle on a narrative about what it is he has done wrong. Navarette
And yet Gonzales’ critics on both the left and the right are in no position to lecture him on communicating clearly. They haven’t been able to settle on one narrative of what he supposedly did wrong since this thing started. First, they said that Gonzales didn’t understand the difference between being the president’s lawyer and being the people’s lawyer. Then, they said he had led a political purge. Then, they claimed that Gonzales lied to Congress when he testified on Jan. 18. Then, they said he lied to the media at a news conference in March 13. Then, they said he had shown poor leadership. Then, they said he mishandled the whole thing. And finally, the conservative National Review said last week, Gonzales had lost his effectiveness and should resign because the Justice Department needed a fresh start.
So, Gonzalez is criticized for being unprepared and providing misleading answers, and now he’s sniped at for taking his preparation seriously. I wouldn’t blame him for doing a “Johnny Paycheck” on the Senators on his way out of the committee room on April 17.
(Google it if it doesn’t make sense.)
What’s with all this “Will the LEFT decide”, versus what the RIGHT response will be; and Fred Thompson filling a gap in the CONSERVATIVE branch of the GOP; versus the LIBERAL take; as opposed to the PROGRESSIVE voice; not to mention the REALITY-BASED COMMUNITY? Why is that once I say I like so many about Kinky Friedman more than the things that make me think he’s an idiot, that I’m labeled a POPULIST?
Okay, that feels better. Where were we? Oh yeah – Gonzales.
Let’s see now: there’s his embracing a policy in support of torture; and then there’s his problem with understanding that habeas corpus is protected in the Constitution; and then there’s all these freshly scrubbed bible college matchbox cover mail order law school grads taking over US attorney positions; and then there’s this facilitation of the White House’s Political Affairs Office’s [a.k.a. “Karl’s shop”] desire to leak ongoing investigations and allegedly pending indictments on Republican complaints of Democratic voter fraud announced just before elections and are abandoned right after; and then there’s all those assurances and promises to the Leahy to specially monitor the National Security Letters program to make sure it wouldn’t get too robust – and if it did, then Senator, I’ll come right back here and tell you – followed by the revelation that those under his authority used NSLs over 40,000 times in ways that not just he can’t account for but he won’t compell his department to; and then there’s this ‘image’ problem of systematically replacing careers prosecutors with long experience marked by prudence with a bunch of folks who take their marching orders from Barbara Comstock; and then there’s that little matter of lying like a cheap rug right in Leahy’s face for years now [Why is it do you think Leahy’s put the Attorney friggin’ General of the United States of America for crying out loud UNDER OATH on EVERY SINGLE APPEARANCE he’s made since Leahy took over as Chair?].
You still need to ask why “THE LEFT” [whoever they are] might be having a little difficulty on settling in on one single “NARRATIVE” with this empty suit? Have you considered that maybe it’s because he’s the gift that keeps on giving to them? Maybe those on “THE RIGHT” should be asking why their fearless leader is just handing the Democratic Congress the GOP’s head on a platter by keeping this Perpetual Christmas factory in place for the Democrats to treat with all the subtlety of due a pinata.
I’ve lost track of which thread it’s on, but somewhere in these archives is the most accurate portent on the current nightmare for, and future nuclear winter under which, the GOP – or the Right – whatever – will labour: “Your fucking idiots are going to pay for this for a very long time.”
Because, as one who you once counted among your own has written: Worse than Watergate.
Back to work. Lots of Bushies to trim.
LabDancer (983970) — 4/6/2007 @ 12:00 amWLS–by a “Johnny Paycheck” I hope you mean “tell them to take this job and shove it” and not “shoot them in the head in a bar fight.”!
Somehow I think you do.
See Dubya (8017ea) — 4/6/2007 @ 12:44 amNow even Administration supporters agree that their vaunted resolve is just Dutch Courage.
Andrew J. Lazarus (d79866) — 4/6/2007 @ 7:24 amWhat Gonzales did wrong seems clear enough, he did not ensure that the job performance of USAs was evaluated in a fair and reasonable way.
James B. Shearer (fc887e) — 4/6/2007 @ 11:37 amThat first link is broken.
Jim (91114d) — 4/6/2007 @ 12:57 pm