by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright April 20, 2007
All Rights Reserved.

atching his memory impairment from Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales faced a skeptical Senate Judiciary Committee April 19, frequently citing, “I don't recall.” Gonzales couldn't answer Sen. Diane Feinstein's (D-Calif.) simple question of who picked the U.S. attorneys to be fired. Both Gonzales and his former chief of staff Kyle Sampson insisted they were not involved, something Gonzales said was based on a “consensus” of opinion. When Justice Department and White House liaison Monica Goodling took the fifth March 27, all eyes turned to Gonzales and his expected defense in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Goodling's attorney John Dowd complained that testifying amounted to a “perjury trap,” referring to the fate of Libby who was convicted March 6 of perjury and obstruction of justice.

      Watching five hours of equivocation, Gonzales refused to give specifics in the case involving the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. Gonzales repeated that he did nothing “improper,” a Clintonesque code word probably referring to something illegal. When Gonzales says that U.S. attorneys serve at the “pleasure of the president,” it doesn't give him a license to engage in wrongful termination. While it may be legal for Bush or Gonzales to fire federal prosecutors for any reason, it doesn't pass an ethical test for keeping the Justice Department free of political influence. Presidents typically clean house at the beginning of the first term but usually live with their choices unless gross incompetence compels a switch. Dredging up dirt on a select group of U.S. attorneys or building a phony personnel file for the purpose of justifying termination, doesn't pass the smell-test.

      Gonzales couldn't say that either he or his immediate circle reviewed the personnel files leading to the terminations. Nor could he say who was responsible for fingering specific U.S. attorneys for terminations. He vaguely alluded to the “consensus” of senior DOJ personnel. When Goodling took the fifth, it was clear that her contacts with key White House officials, including Bush's chief strategist and deputy chief of staff Karl Rove and senior counselor Harriet Miers, would be exposed. Goodling, like other White House staffers, took a loyalty oath, requiring her to protect all the presidents' men-and-women at all costs. Dowd wasn't concerned about Goodling being tricked into perjury, he was worried about her sacrificing herself to protect the White House upper echelon. Gonzales did little to allay Judiciary Committee concerns about DOJ collusion with the White House.

      Bush speaks with the same hubris about Iraq that Gonzales does about his work at the Justice Department. When Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that the Iraq war was a lost cause, he stated the obvious, prompting denunciations for aiding-and-abetting the enemy. Bush insists that the troop surge is working, despite the steady rise in U.S. casualties. When Bush talks about supporting the troops, he's not talking about the untenable mission costing nearly $600 billion and over 3,300 U.S. lives. Pressuring Democrats to sign-on to the next $100 billion supplemental appropriation bill, Bush continues the claptrap that fighting in Iraq keeps terrorists off American streets. That's the same message given by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who recently warned about a calamity of biblical proportions should the U.S. pullout. Reid is the first to senator to tell the truth.

      Despite Gonzales' abysmal performance in the Judiciary Committee, Bush continues to throw him his support. “He has done a fantastic job at the Department of Justice. He is our No. 1 crime fighter. He has done so much to help keep this country safe from terrorists . . .” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, heaping on praise and changing the subject but ignoring egregious contradictions in Gonzales' public testimony. Instead of accepting responsibility and stepping down, Gonzales takes his cues from Bush who acts as if his policies command widespread popular support. With approval ratings below 30%, Bush has passed along the same bunker mentality to Gonzales, where every criticism is interpreted as a partisan attack. Gonzales' reluctance to take his medicine stems from his delusion that all criticisms involve carefully planned partisan warfare.

      Without asking for his resignation, ranking Judiciary Committee member Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) told Gonzales his testimony was “significantly at odds with the facts.” Saying he didn't “recall” or “remember” 71 times during five-hours in the hot seat, Gonzales disgraced himself, showing he's not up to the job of attorney general. While admitting to some mistakes, Gonzales said he would do the same thing all over again. Claiming nothing “improper” occurred, Gonzales couldn't answer Sen. Feinstein's simple question: Who picked the list of the fired U.S. attorneys. If nothing “improper” went down, why did he ask his chief of staff Kyle Sampson to resign March 12? “The attorney general continues to have the president's confidence,“ said Perino, reflecting the bunker mentality that has become the saddest testimony of all on Bush's presidency.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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