Specter disses Gonzo... on Air Force One

My first thought when reading this story? It's about time that some Republicans start speaking up and speaking out about the Bush administration and its seeming indifference to the rule of law.

However, to me, this story is notable for two reasons: Arlen Specter is a Republican Senator from my own Pennsylvania, and Specter piped up aboard Air Force One. That ought to get the attention of his Republican colleagues in Congress, much less President Bush.

From The New York Times:

Guests of President Bush aboard Air Force One generally know that he expects them to behave in a certain way: No showboating or mingling with the on-board press corps and, certainly, no criticizing the commander in chief or his team.

Senator Arlen Specter violated both points of decorum on Thursday. He visited with reporters aboard the presidential airplane before it lifted off for Philadelphia and lambasted the attorney general.

Mr. Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, wandered back into the press cabin as the plane sat on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base before the president arrived from the White House.

According to a pool report of the encounter, Mr. Specter expressed anew his criticism of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales but said he saw no signs that Mr. Gonzales would be forced to resign. Mr. Specter attributed Mr. Gonzales's job security to Mr. Bush's "personal loyalty" to him.

Mr. Specter spoke derisively of Mr. Gonzales's appearance Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he faced accusations that he misled Congress last year when he said there had been no disagreement within the administration over the National Security Administration’s domestic surveillance program.

Read more Here.

Will this change much? I'm not sure, but there seems to be a steady Drip, Drip, Drip of Republicans who are finally beginning to wake up to the excesses and abuses of the Bush administration. I'd like to think that the drips will turn into a deluge, but only time will tell.

It's about time.

Early Sunday cartoons

I hope you brought your appetite for political outrage to the table, because this week's recipe for political cartoons is a tasty one - lots of War in Iraq, with a pinch Hurricane Katrina, and some Alberto Gonzales, if your stomach can handle it.

The Elizabeth Edwards cartoon and the second one down about political theater brought a smile and a laugh - they are among the wittiest I've seen yet this year. It's going to be awfully hard to hand out the CMB Award for Best Cartoon at year's end.

On to the cartoons - enjoy.

Alberto Gonzales testimony high(low)lights

Lots of video to bring you this morning before I get on with writing some of my longer pieces. Yesterday saw embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales taking lots of heat up on the Hill. It's amazing to me that he's lasted as long as he has. Here are a few of the better clips from yesterday.

The footage above is Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) really letting Gonzales have it. I find it truly remarkable that the attorney general of the United States claims that he isn't responsible for determining which documents are released and redacted in the U.S. attorney firing scandal. He is the number one law enforcement official in this country, and the DOJ is responsible for releasing the documents that are requested, which he heads. If he isn't responsible, then I'd like to know exactly who is?

Gonzo reminds me of CEOs (Ken Lay or Bernie Ebbers, anyone?) of companies that have bilked billions from investors and employees who claim, after the fact, "I didn't know this was happening." That's no excuse, and these criminals (Gonzo included) should not be provided safe haven under the law.

I have to confess, I don't want Gonzo to resign, because if he does, that will take the immediacy out of the investigation, and the likelihood that he will be brought to justice greatly decreases. Bush and Gonzo are doing the Democrats a favor by his staying on as AG. I want to see him impeached and forcibly removed from office.

A footnote to Waters - she's the woman who formally protested the results of the 2000 election on the floor of the U.S. Senate in December 2000:

"The objection is in writing, and I don't care that it isn't signed by a member of the Senate," said Waters. (On her objection to the Presidential Election in 2000), to which Al Gore responded, "The chair would advise that the rules do care."

Gore, as president of the Senate, acted appropriately in this instance, but it's too bad that not ONE U.S. Senator would sign on to formally protest the election, especially in light of the election fraud that has come to light since that election. But, that's a post for another time. I'll be writing about election fraud in the coming days.

Here's one more clip from Gonzo's testimony yesterday...

Gonzo just wilts in the face of the heat that Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) is giving to him yesterday. It almost becomes repetitive after watching just a few minutes of this. You'd think that Gonzo is a low-level lawyer or even janitor at the DOJ in the wake of his testimony - the man claims to know next to nothing.

If this was spur-of-the-moment testimony, that would be one thing, but he's had weeks to prepare for his testimony, which makes his words all the more damning.

Gonzo under oath...

I swear to tell the whole half-truth, and nothing but the spin, God help my sins.

More on this later today...

Photo from AP/Mark Abraham

Gonzo gets a stay

The Senate Judiciary Committee has wisely postponed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' testimony, which was originally scheduled to begin today, until Thursday. Gonzo is now scheduled to begin giving testimony on Thursday at 9:30 a.m.

It was the obvious and smart thing to do, in light of yesterday's Virginia Tech Massacre. From what I've been reading, Gonzales needs all of the practice he can get. Word out of Washington a little over a week ago had him doing so bad in his rehearsals that an appearance on "a Sunday morning talk show" had to be cancelled.

I'm quite annoyed that the attorney general of the United States is taking up weeks at a time to "rehearse" for his appearance on Capitol Hill. Seriously, if you are planning on telling the truth, do you need weeks of preparation? I think not.

According to Newsweek's Michael Isikoff, Gonzo hasn't just be preparing, he's been cramming:

At a recent "prep" for a prospective Sunday talk-show interview, Gonzales’s performance was so poor that top aides scrapped any live appearances. During the March 23 session in the A.G.'s conference room, Gonzales was grilled by a team of top aides and advisers — including former Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie and former White House lawyer Tim Flanigan — about what he knew about the plan to fire seven U.S. attorneys last fall. But Gonzales kept contradicting himself and "getting his time line confused," said one participant who asked not to be identified talking about a private meeting. His advisers finally got "exasperated" with him, the source added. "He's not ready," Tasia Scolinos, Gonzales's public-affairs chief, told the A.G.'s top aides after the session was over, said the source.

Gonzo's testimony on the Hill is going to be huge. It's not a reach to conclude that his testimony will probably determine whether this investigation goes any higher up the ladder, and whether he keeps his job.

My predictions: barring a miracle by Gonzo, he's gone, and this investigation is going to go deeper and deeper. Whatever happens, I do hope that it doesn't turn into a Ken Starr-style witch hunt. I just want the truth to come out, whatever it is.

Gonzo is already probably fatally wounded as attorney general - I don't see how his Congressional testimony is going to clear up and make everyone forget his many examples of wild inconsistency.

Ed Gillespie is a name that some may remember - he was chairman of the Republican National Committee for a few years, and he also was an aggressive member of Bush's 2000 election team. He coached Bush's lawyers who appeared before the Supreme Court to argue Bush's side in Bush v. Gore, the disastrous decision that gave us the wonderful president that we've had to weather these past 6+ years. I'd argue that Bush v. Gore is one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in American history.

Picture from TMW