Spymaster Cheney

Ill: Micah Wright/Propganda Remix
used with permission
http://homepage.mac.com/leperous/PhotoAlbum1.html

Comes the news today (title bar) that former Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who recently testified before Congress & dropped the bombshell news that the DOJ wasn't entirely on board at one time with the White House's warrantless wiretap & spying program--after it had already been in effect--as well as the bombshell fact that the controversy resulted in a call to AG Ashcroft's wife from from Somebody--Bush himself?-while Ashcroft, barely conscious & heavily medicated, lay in his hospital bed.

Soon thereafter, then-White House officials Alberto Gonzales & Andrew Card paid a ghoulish nighttime visit to the hospital in an effort to persuade a gravely ill Ashcroft to sign off on it anyway. Ashcroft refused (he had already turned his office's authority over to Comey), who also refused. When the White House insisted, Comey & Robert Meuller, head of the FBI, among others, threatened to resign.

Ah, yes, you remember now, don't you?

Today's bombshell news comes again from Comey, in written answers to questions that he submitted to Congress, revealing that it was Dick Cheney who, in a meeting the day before the ghouls were ordered to descend upon Ashcroft, told the Justice Department that he disagreed with their objections to the warrantless spying program.

Dick is a well-known legal scholar after all, as well as unsurpassed master of interpreting intelligence reports on Iraq.

And in case you doubt (after the Plame mess) just how very vindictive & petty he can be to people who have the unmitigated gall to stand up to him, later on he blocked the promotion of an official at the DOJ who disagreed with him on the issue.

Hmm...where have we seen this kind of behavior in American politix before? The Nixon White House?

A coincidence, surely!

Rove's Sticky Wicket Continues To Unwind

Ill: Signs of the World Burns Times

Update: Next in line to testify

It's dizzying trying to keep track of all of them, but stay tuned. Today The Legal Times reported that former attorney in the Civil Rights Division Bradley Schlozman will soon be called to testify in the ongoing occupation of the Department of Justice scandal. Seems that the only civil rights Bradley was interested in looking out for was those of long overlooked & neglected poor persecuted rich white GOP persons.

"In 2003, when Schlozman became a deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division overseeing the voting section, he took charge of hiring, a responsibility historically handled by career attorneys. 'At that point there was no transparency, you didn’t know how hiring was done,' says Joseph Rich, who spent 37 years in the Civil Rights Division and was chief of the voting section from 1999 to 2005. 'You just knew the front office in the Civil Rights Division was handling all the hiring.'

"An investigation by The Boston Globe last year showed that Schlozman’s hiring in the voting section, which oversees changes to election laws in states with a history of discrimination, changed markedly from that of his predecessors. That investigation, based on Freedom of Information Act requests, found that seven of the 14 career lawyers hired under Schlozman belonged to either the Republican National Lawyers Association or the right-leaning Federalist Society. In the previous two years, according to the Globe, none of the section’s eight hires had such backgrounds.

"In addition to his hiring policies, Schlozman is also expected to be grilled by senators on the division’s stance in a number of controversial cases. In 2003, an eight-person team from the voting section’s career staff universally recommended that the Justice Department oppose a controversial Texas redistricting plan backed by then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). That recommendation was overruled by political appointees, and Republicans won five additional Congressional seats in Texas in 2004. (In a 5-4 decision last year, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld most of the redistricting plan.)

"In 2005, the department signed off on a voter identification law in Georgia that much of the Justice Department’s career staff ... believed would have a discriminatory effect on minority voting. A federal judge in Georgia would later issue an injunction blocking the new law from taking effect.

"Schlozman also pushed for the Justice Department to bring a civil suit against the state of Missouri for failing to force local officials to strike the names of ineligible voters from voter rolls in a number of counties. Graves, then the U.S. attorney in the Western District of Missouri, had chosen not to pursue it.

“'I had reservations about the case,' Graves told Legal Times last week. 'I just absented myself from the whole situation.' Democrats have suggested that Graves’ firing was linked to his decision in the voter fraud case...

Schlozman's " suit was eventually dismissed by a federal court in Missouri this spring. In her April 13 decision, Judge Nanette Laughery of the U.S. Court for the Western District of Missouri noted the Justice Department had 'not shown that any Missouri resident was denied his or her right to vote . . . Nor has the United States shown that any voter fraud has occurred.'

"Schlozman is also certain to be queried about a voter fraud indictment he brought during the closely fought 2006 U.S. senate race in Missouri. Those charges, against four registration workers for a Democratic-leaning group, were announced less than a week before the election — a departure from the Justice Department guidelines discouraging such charges so close to an election.

http://http://www.law.com/jsp/dc/PubArticleDC.jsp?id=1180515921927&hub=TopStoriesMore

Update: Another Resignation

Last Thursday, Tim Griffin, infamous Karl Rove protege who went to the head of the class (otherwise unaccountably) for the position of US attorney in Arkansas, & whose promotion displaced a sitting US attorney who maybe wasn't such a "loyal Bushie," has abruptly resigned after BBC (yes, BBC, the British news outfit), obtained some emails that seem to indicate why Karl Rove was so insistent that Griffin get the position: Griffin was instrumental in carrying out an underhanded scheme to purge certain voters from the rolls during the presidential election. Congressman John Conyers sat up & took notice, & met with the journalist to review the email. He may as well, because he seems to get nowhere with the same endeavor in our own country.

British correspondent Greg Palast "obtained a series of confidential emails from the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign. In these emails, Griffin, then the GOP Deputy Communications Director, transmitted so-called ‘caging lists’ of voters to state party leaders.

"Experts have concluded the caging lists were designed for a mass challenge of voters’ right to cast ballots. The caging lists were heavily weighted with minority voters including homeless individuals, students and soldiers sent overseas.

"Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee investigating the firing of US Attorneys, met Thursday evening in New York with Palast. After reviewing key documents, Conyers stated that, despite Griffin’s resignation, 'We’re not through with him by any means.'

"Conyers indicated to the BBC that he thought it unlikely that Griffin could carry out this massive ‘caging’ operation without the knowledge of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rove.

"Griffin has not responded to requests by BBC to explain this ‘caging’ operation. However, in emails subpoenaed by Conyers’ committee, Griffin complains to Monica Goodling, an assistant to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, about the BBC reporter’s reproduction of caging lists in his book, 'Armed Madhouse.'

"In the email dated February 5 of this year, Griffin stated that the purpose of ‘caging’ was to identify 'fraudulent' voters. This contradicts one explanation of the Bush campaign to BBC that the lists were of potential donors and not in any way created to challenge voters.

"Griffin confidentially wrote: 'The real story is this: There were thousands of reported illegal/fake voter registrations around the country, so some of the Republican State Parties mailed letters welcoming new voters to the newly registered voters. … The Republican State Parties ultimately wanted to show that thousands of fraudulent registrations had been completed.”

Caging is the euphemistic term for the practice of sending letters with instructions that they not be forwarded, to registered voters. If for some reason the voter had moved, was homeless, a student, or was abroad in the miltary, the letter would be returned to the sender, taken as evidence that the voter's registration was fraudulent, & the name removed from the voter registration rolls.

In another wrinkle, "Monica Goodling testified before the House Judiciary Committee that Gonzales’ Deputy Paul McNulty, recently resigned himself, 'failed to disclose that he had some knowledge of allegations that Tim Griffin had been involved in vote ‘caging’ during his work on the President’s 2004 campaign.'

"Goodling’s testimony prompted Conyers’ request to the BBC for the Griffin emails.
Last night Palast showed Conyers a Griffin email from August 2004 indicating that Griffin not only knew of ‘caging,’ but directed the operation."

http://http://www.gregpalast.com/rove-pick-for-us-attorney-resigns-following-conyers%e2%80%99-request-for-bbc-documents/#more-1747

* * *
It shouldn't be news when "lifelong Republicans" in politics begin to display shreds of a conscience extending beyond the drive to win at all costs, by hook or by crook, but it is ~ & also a stunning lesson in how far off the tracks America has been driven by political operatives & blind party hacks.

Packing local courts with Republican judges & U.S. Attorney posts with loyal operatives to provide the appearance, if not the substance, of legitimacy is something we are all too willing to believe occurs in Third World dictatorships. The fact that it's been happening in American politics has taken years to come to light.

Case in point: the Alabama governorship. When incumbent Democrat Siegelman announced he would run again, & won, Karl Rove allegedly swung into action & fixed things with the help of some ambitious & friendly US prosectors. There was also a highly suspicious "abrupt turnaround" in the vote count, giving the election to Republican Riley, even though Democrat Sielegman won the election at first blush. He pressed for a recount; now he's the former governor of Alabama & faces time behind bars on what his defense lawyers claim are trumped up & bogus charges. A federal court dismissed the charges; a local court was persuaded to take them seriously. (Time article, title bar.)

"Now Karl Rove, the President's top political strategist, has been implicated in the controversy. A longtime Republican lawyer in Alabama swears she heard a top G.O.P. operative in the state say that Rove 'had spoken with the Department of Justice' about 'pursuing' Siegelman, with help from two of Alabama's U.S. attorneys.

"The allegation was made by Dana Jill Simpson, a lifelong Republican and lawyer who practices in Alabama. She made the charges in a May 21 affidavit, obtained by TIME, in which she describes a conference call on November 18, 2002, which involved a group of senior aides to Bob Riley, who had just narrowly defeated Siegelman in a bitterly contested election for governor. Though Republican Riley, a former Congressman, initially found himself behind by several thousand votes, he had pulled ahead at the last minute when disputed ballots were tallied in his favor. After the abrupt vote turnaround, Siegelman sought a recount. The Simpson affidavit says the conference call focused on how the Riley campaign could get Siegelman to withdraw his challenge.
...
"[William] Canary, [of the Republican National Committee] said 'not to worry — that he had already gotten it worked out with Karl and Karl had spoken with the Department of Justice and the Department of Justice was already pursuing Don Siegelman,' the Simpson affidavit says.

"Both U.S. attorney offices subsequently indicted Siegelman on a variety of charges, although Leura Canary recused herself from dealing with the case in May 2002. A federal judge dismissed the Northern District case before it could be tried, but Siegelman was convicted in the Middle District on bribery and conspiracy charges last June.

"William Canary called the allegations 'outrageous' and 'the desperate act of a desperate politician.' Terry Butts [also present during the conference call], 'I do not recall this telephone conversation — this whole story must have been created by a drunk fiction writer.' A White House spokesman told TIME that since the case of former Governor Siegelman remained before the courts, it would have no comment.
...
"In an interview with TIME, Simpson confirmed that the 'Karl' cited in her sworn statement was Karl Rove. 'There's absolutely no question it was Karl Rove, no doubt whatsoever,' she said. She also said she has phone records to back up the date and duration of her phone calls.
...
"In her interview with TIME, Simpson said the participants in the conference call expressed growing concern that Gov. Siegelman would refuse to give up his challenge to the vote count. According to Simpson, Rob Riley [son of the Republican candidate] said, 'Siegelman's just like a cockroach, he'll never die, what are we going to do?' At that point Canary offered reassurance by citing Rove's news from Justice Department.

To her everlasting credit, Dana Simpson "said she had long been troubled by the conference call conversation, and even consulted an official of the Alabama State Bar Association to determine whether she could disclose it publicly without violating her obligations as a volunteer working for the Riley campaign. She was told, she said, that she was free to speak of the matter.

"Simpson said she grew more concerned about the matter after Siegelman's conviction last June. She says she told several friends about the conference call; one of them, Mark Bollinger, a former aide to a Democratic attorney general in Alabama and in the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, has given his own affidavit, obtained by TIME, swearing that Simpson had told him of the conference call and Rove's alleged statements.

"The federal investigation of Siegelman culminated in a criminal prosecution that became public not long after Siegelman announced that he would run again for governor of Alabama in 2006. Partly because of the investigation, Siegelman failed in his bid for the Democratic nomination.

"Siegelman, together with former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, was convicted on bribery and conspiracy charges and faces sentencing June 26. Lawyers for Siegelman and Scrushy told TIME they were considering whether to use Simpson's affadavit in expected motions to dismiss charges against their clients, or in some other phase of what is likely to be a protracted appeals process.

"Siegelman was convicted of appointing Scrushy to a hospital regulatory board in exchange for a $500,000 contribution to a campaign for a state lottery to fund education. Defense lawyers have argued that Siegelman drew no personal financial benefit from Scrushy's donation to the lottery campaign, and they note that Scrushy had served on the hospital regulatory board under three previous governors, before Siegelman reappointed him. The reappointment, they have argued, offered little of value to Scrushy except more work."

Not to mention that if appointing foxes to guard henhouses in handing over government regulatory agencies to the very industries they should be policing ~ a very odd practice when one actually thinks about it ~ Democrats who do so are indeed infringing on a Republican patent. Perhaps that's the real "crime."

The DOJ As BushWorld's Titanic

Ill: 1912 Postcard

Musical deck chair rearrangements ensue in the race to see whom, exactly, will leave Gonzales' Department of Justice with some shred of credibility & integrity intact. If anyone ~

~And more bad decisions from the mind of Bush ~

Today's scandalous bits coughed up from the swirling black hole that is the Justice Department under Alberto Gonzales:

1. Today the Department's #2 man, Deputy AG Paul McNulty, announced his resignation, per the WaPo (Title bar.)

"McNulty began work as Gonzales's deputy in November 2005. McNulty became a central figure in the furor after he told the Senate Judiciary Committee in February that the White House played only a marginal role in the dismissals -- a characterization that conflicted with documents later released by Justice and with subsequent testimony.

"He also said most of the prosecutors were fired for 'performance-related' reasons. That statement angered many of the former U.S. attorneys, most of whom had sterling evaluations and had remained largely silent about their departures."

McNulty says his decision to leave has nothing to do with it, of course.

Senator Leahy says he looks forward to McNulty's testimony. Time says McNulty's resignation is his way of saying, "hasta la vista, baby" (or something like it), and throwing "Gonzales under the bus." Gonzales was making preemptory noises today, claiming that if anyone knew that the prosecutors were being fired, it was McNulty. (McNulty has claimed that Monica Goodling kept him out of the loop).

2. Speaking of whom ~ Curiouser & curiouser as we watch a naiif as pure as Alice herself fall down the rabbit hole. If McNulty is to be believed (& I take no position on that), Monica Goodling & Kyle Sampson were off in their own little Baby Republicon constructa-world playset domain in communicating directly with the White House, & failed to keep McNulty briefed.

Now that Monica is going to testify before Congress, the DOJ is conducting its own (pre-emptory?) investigation of Monica, who, it now says, acted illegally in requiring GOP &/or even more extreme political party "cred" such as membership in law group the Federalist Society before she, a newly minted lawyer herself & with no experience with anything that suggested she should be in charge of hiring litigators, would consider hiring them.

(As to the latter "cred," as informative aside, when your DP was in law school, students in the Federalist Society were whispered about, it being roughly akin, in our minds, to membership in the Ku Klux Klan, some random satanic cult or Hitler Youth. Now even the Supreme Court is infected. My, how times have changed).

Purportedly, Little Ms. Goodling had a second hiring criteria: she is said to to have asked candidates in job interviews whether they had ever cheated on their wives, too. I almost feel sorry for her at this point. How touchingly naiive to think that a man inclined to philander would be honest about it! --but the real lesson, here, Monica, is that brass-knuckle politix, especially the way Rove plays them, is no place for an innocent, no matter how morally self-righteous.

3. Gonzales as ghoul, hovering in the nighttime hours over the hospital bed of then- Attorney General John Ashcroft in hopes of getting him to sign a presidential order to authorizing a domestic spying program that Ashcroft & James Comey, then #1 & # 2 at the DOJ, believed not-up-to-legal-snuff. (Yessir, the one we have now--er, the one we know about, thanks only to the "traitorous" New York Times ). James Comey testified today that he had to intercept Gonzales & Andrew Card at the hospital & insist that they leave Ashcroft alone.

If you need a refresher as to how Gonzales came to be AG now, this is a must-read. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/washington/16nsa.html?_r=1&ref=washington&oref=slogin

4. And, another resignation (in protest) by the only Democrat on a panel of civilians set up to oversee protections of personal privacy. Seems that the White House absolutely cannot resist what seems to be an overarching Administration-wide compulsion to manipulate (originating where, we wonder):

"The Bush administration made more than 200 revisions to the first report of a civilian board that oversees government protection of personal privacy, including the deletion of a passage on anti-terrorism programs that intelligence officials deemed "potentially problematic" intrusions on civil liberties, according to a draft of the report obtained by The Washington Post.

"One of the panel's five members, Democrat Lanny J. Davis, resigned in protest Monday over deletions ordered by White House lawyers and aides. The changes came after the congressionally created Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board had unanimously approved the final draft of its first report to lawmakers, renewing an internal debate over the board's independence and investigative power."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/14/AR2007051402198.html

5. Icing on the cake. Proving that even in the midst of a profound crisis, apparently Bush is incapable of learning ~

Even while his great friend Paul Wolfowitz, appointed by Bush to further the extremist neocon agenda at the World Bank (as Bolten did before him at the UN), Wolfie behaves very, very badly, engaging in an affair with a married woman at work & arranging for salary increases for her. (What is this ~ Peyton Place? I know we've regressed a lot under Bush, but this is something straight out of the '50's!) Wolfie continues to fight it, but he does not at all belong at the World Bank. Never mind messing up things even more by doing stupid & arrogant things like making everyone else at work deal with his sordid little affair. No class, no class at all.

Unperturbed, Bush wants to make yet another appointment of a man whose career history has been entirely antipathetic, not to say downright arrogant toward, the very agency Bush wants him to head. In other words, another major disaster waiting to happen.

Bush wants to appoint Michael Baroody to oversee the work of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, & already he starts with a handsome payment as "severance," $150,000, from the National Association of Manufacturers, for whom he was a Senior Lobbyist.

"Mr. Baroody said in the letter that the payment would NOT prevent him from considering matters involving individual companies that are members of the manufacturers’ association, many of whom are defendants in agency proceedings over defective products or have other business before the commission. Nor would it preclude him from involvement with smaller trade groups like those representing makers of home appliances and children’s products that have alliances with the association." http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/washington/16safety.html?ref=washington

Attention Comrades ~ The Republicon Neocon Nation Is Not In Danger

Ill: Internet Weekly Report


Superlative kingmaker & demigod to scores of Baby Republicons everywhere, Karl Rove, spoke from a concrete-reinforced undisclosed location hidden deep in the state of Denial, about his reaction to embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' testimony before Congress today.

"We're not worried," he said. "'Berto stayed on message, which was, 'I don't know what happened because I was either not supervising anyone or too busy doing other things, but just because I claim not to know what was happening doesn't mean Congress shouldn't believe me when I reassure them nothing improper occurred."

"The unabashed Republicon campaign to turn every branch of the federal government into an arm of the One True Party is safe." Especially the police & law enforcement function at the Department of Justice ~ aren't you relieved, America?

"We've shouldered all the heavy lifting for you! You can either vote for the war or for the war. You can either vote for civil rights for white American Republican men & their duly married wives & concubines & businesses, or for civil rights for white American Republican men & their duly married wives & concubines & businesses. Now go back to your patriotic shopping duties until we need you to 'vote' Republicon again--hehe."

Okay, so DP goes over top of the snarkometer today, because Alberto Gonzales just lied to Congress for (at least the second time with respect to this little scandal, anyway)!

Am I the only one who sees it? The Republicans set out to systematically overthrow democratic government & install themselves in power permanently, & everybody in Congress is just sitting there like lumps on a log, oh-so-tenuously making noises about subpoenaing Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, & George Bush (which George thinks he has a right to refuse -hey--the Constitution isn't set up to support a monarchy, folks, & attempts to make it into same must violate some constitutional legal principle somewhere!) Nor does George have the right to destroy inconvenient evidence linking his beloved "Turdblossom" & chief architect of dirty trix in politix Karl Rove to the entire scheme!

Why are these assholes still in office? Because the docile populace says "oh well" & turns the page of the newspaper while simultaneously changing the channel?

DP's reading list for the day, most entertaining 1st, but don't cheat:

1. Dahlia Lithwick of Slate on 'Berto's magic pixies in the desk drawers of Justice Department offices says, "His only role in this scandal is as decoy: He's the guy who runs out in front of the hunters and draws their fire so nobody pays any attention to what's happening at the White House."

2. A great video overview by Keith Olbermann that also explains why DP has been ranting nonstop about the entire scandal. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050807A.shtml

3. Former US Attorneys John McKay & David Iglesias, speaking at a public forum here in Seattle Monday say that they expect that criminal charges will be brought:

"Two former U.S. attorneys said today they believe ongoing investigations into the dismissals last year of eight federal prosecutors could result in criminal charges against senior Justice Department officials.

"John McKay, the former U.S. attorney for Western Washington, and David Iglesias, the former U.S. attorney for New Mexico, also said they believe White House political operative Karl Rove and his aides instigated the dismissals and ultimately decided who among the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys should be fired. But the White House on Wednesday flatly denied the firings were instigated by the White House.

"McKay and Iglesias, who were among those fired, made their assertions during a meeting this morning with Seattle Times editors and reporters. The two appeared this afternoon along with Paul Charlton, the former U.S. attorney for Arizona, during a public-policy forum on the dismissals at Seattle University's School of Law.

"I think there will be a criminal case that will come out of this," McKay said during his meeting with Times journalists. "This is going to get worse, not better."

"McKay cited ongoing investigations into the dismissals by the Senate and House Judiciary committees, and inquiries now under way by the Justice Department's inspector general and its Office of Professional Responsibility.

"McKay said he believes obstruction-of-justice charges will be filed if investigators conclude that the dismissal of any of the eight prosecutors was motivated by an attempt to influence ongoing public-corruption or voter-fraud investigations.
McKay said he believes the strongest evidence of obstruction is related to the dismissals of Iglesias and Carol Lam, the former U.S. Attorney in San Diego.

"Last fall, Iglesias received calls from U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., inquiring whether public-corruption charges would be filed against prominent Democrats in the state prior to the November elections. Former New Mexico state Senate President Manny Aragon, a Democrat, and three others were eventually charged in April in what prosecutors say was a kickback scheme during construction of a new courthouse in Albuquerque.

"Lam was investigating former U.S. Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, R-Calif., and Kyle 'Dusty' Foggo, the former third-highest-ranking CIA official, when senior Justice Department officials targeted her for dismissal. Bribery charges were ultimately filed against both men.

"Additionally, McKay and Iglesias said they believe Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty lied under oath when they testified before Congress that the eight prosecutors were fired for performance-related reasons and because of policy disputes with Justice Department headquarters."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003699882_webmckayforum09m.html

4. And, oh, the mysterious missing e-mails: The National Journal has a scoop today from a leaker inside the Administration who says that 'Berto is more than probably lying when he says he doesn't know who at the White House was involved in personally de-selecting US attorneys & selecting their replacements.

"The Bush administration has withheld a series of e-mails from Congress showing that senior White House and Justice Department officials worked together to conceal the role of Karl Rove in installing Timothy Griffin, a protégé of Rove's, as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas."
[...]
"The senior official said that Gonzales, in preparing for testimony before Congress, has personally reviewed the withheld records and has a responsibility to make public any information he has about efforts by his former chief of staff, other department aides, and White House officials to conceal Rove's role.

"'If [Gonzales] didn't know everything that was going on when it went down, that is one thing,' this official said. 'But he knows and understands chapter and verse. If there was an effort within Justice and the White House to mislead Congress, it is his duty to disclose that to Congress. As the country's chief law enforcement official, he has a higher duty to disclose than to protect himself or the administration.'"

While you're there, refresh yourself on SOP with The National Journal's handy-dandy sidebar concerning the ways 'Berto & the Justice Department have arranged to derail other investigations of their internal (spying, shredding the Geneva Conventions) shenanigans by having them covered up & blocked.
http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/070510nj1.htm

I hope you won't be absolutely devastated to learn its 'Berto's patron in the WH, & his brain, from whom we "heard" in DP's facetious introduction here. No wonder 'Berto can afford to seem so zen about the whole thing. He knows who's got his back, &, in turn, whose side he's on.

Still confused? It's NOT the American peoples'! DP just wants to know how much longer we have to continue to pretend they're not fucking an entire country over ~

GonzoGate ~ Friday Fallout

Gonzales:

Wha, wha, what'd I do?

Being dumb (or just playing the role) must be one the few things 'Berto will admit to publically, as long as it spares George & his brain, Karl Rove, from having to testify. That's his function here, y'know.

Any litigation lawyer can tell you when it's time to unpack the Magic Trick Box of Obfuscatory Maneuvers (handed to every law student the day they graduate). In it are delay, fumbling, evasiveness, pretending not to understand, asking the the questioner to repeat & qualify questions, obstructionism, stonewalling, & finally, if forced to give an answer, giving one that means nothing at all. They are the absolute last tactics left the clever litigator when there is absolutely no substantive defense left to argue.

By that measure, 'Berto performed brilliantly yesterday, & we'll see if his heroic effort to keep the Bushco ship of state from foundering on the jagged rocks of democracy will hold.

Today's post-mortems on 'Berto's performance include this piece (excerpted) by David Swanson, the Washington Director of Democrats.com and co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and of the Backbone Campaign. Mr. Swanson points out the reasons he thinks the senators conducting the hearings were too soft on Gonzales.

"Through the course of questioning by Senator Leahy, Gonzales said that he had met with the President on October 11, 2006, and Bush expressed concerns about 'voter fraud.' Actually, Gonzales initially used the phrase 'election fraud,' but made clear that he really had in mind a mythical epidemic of 'voter fraud.'

"Specter then laid out a chronology:

December 2004: you talked to Sampson.

June 1, 2006: in email Sampson discussed your plans to remove [Fomer San Diego prosecutor Carol] Lam.

June 4 or 5: Attorney Mercer discussed with you Lam's performance.

June 13, 2006: Sampson says you consulted on removal of [Arkansas prosecutor] Bud Cummins.

Oct. 11, 2006: you went to White House to talk with Rove and Bush about your vote fraud concerns, came back and told Sampson to look into it, including in New Mexico.

Nov. 2006: you attended a meeting with Sampson, Monica Goodling, etc., about the proposed removals.

[In light of that,]"Do you think it's accurate to say you only had a limited role?" Specter asked. A good question, but not a clear-cut yes or no question of the sort a Senator should know how to ask.

"Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA.) wondered if Gonzales had read the reports on the attorneys who were fired, the standard job performance reports that go by the DOJ acronym EARS. The AG replied that he had not. In two cases, he claimed, he was not even aware of any reasons for the firings he approved, but in the others he was independently aware of problems with the attorneys.

"Sam Brownback (R-KS.) then gave Gonzales a relatively friendly forum in which to provide, unchallenged, the reasons he claims each attorney was fired. His response on the first of them, Nevada's top federal prosecutor Daniel Bogden, was that he did not know why he was firing him. Three breaths later, he claimed that he struggled over the decision.

"San Francisco prosecutor Kevin Ryan, he said, was so poorly reviewed that they had to send out a second EARS team, although he, of course, being the Attorney General, did not read such reports.

"Arkansas prosecutor Bud Cummins was supposedly canned primarily because there was 'another well-qualified individual'they wanted to give the job to.

"Now would have been the time for some Senator to recall having read Greg Palast's article in the current issue of In These Times arguing that the replacement candidate, Timothy Griffin, former deputy research director for the Republican National Committee, rather than being well-qualified, is an out-and-out criminal.

"Under questioning by Dianne Feinstein (D-CA.), Gonzales admitted that he had been 'the decider,' that he had indeed made the decision to fire the attorneys -- sort of -- and that he'd read the EARS reports -- maybe -- but given them 'appropriate weight.'

"Under questioning by Russ Feingold (D-WI.), Gonzales added, without blinking, that he had not asked for, or learned, the justifications for the firings.

So, said Feingold, you had no basis for telling readers of your op-ed in USA Today that the attorneys had 'lost your confidence.'

"Gonzales cited the CSLDJ ["consensus"'of the senior leadership of the Department of Justice"] and said, 'I will say I regret those words."

"(The USA Today editorial page had another view. It asked the Attorney General: "Which time were you telling the truth? Gonzales has bounced from one account of his role in the dismissals to another. On March 7, he wrote on this page that the fired prosecutors ‘simply lost my confidence.' Six days later, he contradicted his writing and portrayed himself as clueless, saying he ‘was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions.'")

"Two more Senators put up an effort to get a straight answer on something before lunch, Charles Schumer (D-NY.) and Dick Durbin (D-IL.). According to both Gonzales' Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson and prosecutor Carol Lam, Schumer pointed out, the Department of Justice had not communicated to Lam any concern about her prosecution of immigration cases (those being Gonzales' main excuse for having fired her). Gonzales claimed that "Congress members" had talked to her about the matter; in his mealy-mouthed way, he tried to imply that DOJ had done so too. But Schumer would have none of it.

"So, we are to believe the unbelievable. As Josh Marshall has pointed out at Talking Points Memo, with the obvious political reasons for her firing staring us in the face (her prosecution of Republicans), we are to believe she was fired for something her employer never even discussed with her.

"Schumer hit on one other obvious Gonzales contradiction.

"On December 15, 2006, he said, the Attorney General told Senator Mark Pryor that he would work to see that Karl Rove's candidate, Timothy Griffin, faced a confirmation hearing in the Senate.

"Then, on December 19, Sampson emailed White House Counsel Harriet Miers, indicating that the DOJ wanted to get around that process, using delaying tactics that would pave the way for a recess appointment.

"'You can't have it both ways,' Schumer told Gonzales. Either you lied or your Chief of Staff operates on his own. Either way, Schumer insisted, 'You should not be Attorney General.'

"Gonzales claimed that he was unaware of Sampson's email, despite the fact that Sampson, under oath, had sworn otherwise.

"Senator Durbin touched on similar territory, pointing out that Sampson recommended to White House Counsel Miers that Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald be removed in the middle of his investigation of the White House's outing of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame. In typical fashion, Gonzales claimed he neither remembered this, nor had been consulted.

"Durbin then criticized Gonzales and the AG promptly objected: 'If you criticize the Department, you are criticizing career professionals.' Not a smart thing to say. Durbin cut him off at the knees with a comment the likes of which hadn't previously been heard in the Senate: 'That is like saying that, if you oppose the war, you're opposing the troops.' The crowd in the back of the room broke out in applause.

"The hearing was to continue in a similar vein after lunch. And other hearings and private interviews would continue, undoubtedly in a similar vein, in the weeks to come.

"The House Judiciary Committee is considering granting limited immunity to Gonzo's former counsel Monica Goodling, whose lawyer said she would take the Fifth and has refused to appear...

"On Tuesday, Gonzales refused to comply with a committee subpoena for documents related to the attorney firings...

"Of course, he fits right in. Both judiciary committees have approved, but not yet dared issue subpoenas for Karl Rove, Miers, and other key White House players. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has already asked Secretary of Condoleezza Rice four times to appear or be subpoenaed, but has not dared subpoena her.

"The fear is, no doubt, of delays and of a Supreme Court now made up, in part, by people like Alberto Gonzales. How to hold the executive branch to account? The current dilemma seems like a real mystery, something our Constitution just does not provide a solution for.

"Even if we could get rid of Gonzales, who would replace him? Who, appointed by George Bush and Dick Cheney, would obey and enforce the law? The answer is simple enough: Nobody.

"Fortunately, our Constitution does provide a solution. It's called impeachment, and on Saturday, April 28, there will be an event near you demanding it."

http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=188110

Also today, in an editorial for the New York Times that was high on the "most e-mailed" list, 'Berto was lambasted for coming across "as a dull-witted apparatchik incapable of running one of the most important departments in the executive branch."

The op-ed starts, "If Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had gone to the Senate yesterday to convince the world that he ought to be fired, it’s hard to imagine how he could have done a better job, short of simply admitting the obvious: that the firing of eight United States attorneys was a partisan purge."

And gets better from there. Read on (title bar).

'Berto sweated it out & was a good soldier, didn't spill the beans about anything having to do with Meiers, Rove, or George himself, & thus the Decider pronounced himself pleased after it was all over.

For now, at least.

Gonzogate ~Take Me To Your Mind-Meld Leader

'Berto must be awfully grateful to that insane Korean kid at Virginia Tech today. The sensational news of the shooting deaths at the school has well & thoroughly muscled aside any particularly detailed treatment of his own dismal performance in testimony before Congress in the media today.

Arriving home too late to find anything being broadcast but the aforementioned shooting, your Demon Princess had to piece together various print news accounts--a poor substitute for actually being able to observe what Dahlia Lithwick for Slate calls "the face"--imperturbable "bemused puzzlement" interrupted only by "earnest seriousness" while not saying a damned thing that credibly allays suspicions that the DOJ was playing politix with prosecutions in advance of last November's Democratic party election sweeps.

Except to admit that would have been very wrong, & he would never do anything very wrong.

DP was also not particularly surprised to hear that, according to this article, 'Berto was such a very hands-off & remote administrator that he, in fact, was really not there at all.

Maybe he was too busy running the Geneva Conventions through the shredder in the backroom, or tweaking his torture memo, or orchestrating the illegal and covert amassing of information on American citizens to have been bothered by relatively low-level concerns like replacing prosecutors in key states before last November's elections.

"Gonzales struggled Thursday to convince skeptical senators he did nothing improper in firing eight federal prosecutors, losing ground as a second senator from his own party joined the calls for his resignation.

...

"Even with the White House offering fresh support, it was a long day for the attorney general. Seventy-one times he fell back on faulty memory, saying he could not recall or remember conversations or events surrounding the firings. During breaks in the hearing, sign-waving protesters rose from the audience calling for him to resign."

...

"Gonzales has provided differing versions of the events surrounding the dismissals, first saying he had almost no involvement and later acknowledging that his role was larger — but only after e-mails about meetings he attended were released by the Justice Department to House and Senate committees.

"There was no doubt about the stakes involved for a member of
President Bush's inner circle, and support from fellow Republicans was critical to his attempt to hold his job."

One of the weirder moments in the hearing came when Lindsey Graham tried to out-lawyer Gonzales by not-so-subtly reminding him of the defense tactic Graham himself preferred, and proceeded, in fact, to testify for Gonzales:

"Calling most of Gonzales' explanations for the firings 'a stretch,' Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham asked whether the dismissals simply came down to personality disagreements the Justice Department and White House had with the former prosecutors.

But since unfortunate, hapless & earnestly tone-deaf 'Berto is accustomed to having to answer to the White House only, he rebuffed Graham's kind offer of an interpretation Graham clearly thought he could work with, and instantly Graham repaid him with a bitchy shot of lethal of D.C. snark:

"You said something that struck me — that sometimes it just came down to these were not the right people at the right time,' said Graham, a Republican. "If I applied that standard to you, what would you say?'"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070419/ap_on_go_co/gonzales_prosecutors;_ylt=Aozse9CMyDutN1Gd4tbgjZys0NUE

Likewise, when the hearing opened, 'Berto's tone-deafness was fully on display in his interactions with Republican Arlen Specter, who, famous as he is for thundering statesmanlike pronouncements & threats, they always turn out to be neat tricks of kabuki theatre that collapse into abject obedience to the party master. I imagine 'Berto, like the rest of us, really cannot take Arlen Specter's thundering seriously anymore, but made the mistake of trying to interrupt him & talk over him--tsk, tsk, for which offenses Arlen postured & waved his fist (metaphorically), producing some dramatic moments.

The Washington Post has some good articles, but one of my favorite rundowns of the historic event is Dahlia Lithwick in Slate and what she has to say about lack of evidence--it is 'Berto's position that Congress, not he, has the burden of proving that what he did was wrong, & we all know by now that George W. has reported something like 5 million potentially relevant e-mails missing from White House records, & additionally, those funnelled by Karl Rove, the Treasure Trove, through a Republicon National Committee account for the precise purpose of keeping them out of the mix.

Dahlia also points out the sheer stupidity of what little Gonzo did say--apparently the topcats in charge comprise a universal mindmeld that only true believers can hear; they communicate with the little people in concensus-speak such that no one of them has to take the blame for anything, & most especially anyone called before the Senate to testify.

http://www.slate.com/id/2164652?nav=wp

And, to remind us all what the fuss is about this time, this article appearing today in the Baltimore Sun treats what is, in truth, the latest in a long string of scandalous abuses of democratic process to issue forth under the auspices of America's Attorney General. "Administration Tried to Curb Election Turnout in Key States." http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/politics/bal-te.attorneys19apr19,0,23441.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines

Read more here, at NPR, including an excellent list of who in the White House is involved (separately). http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9515295

The hearings today resulted in one GOP Congressman's call for 'Berto's head.

My guess is that 'Berto is going to try to tough it out & retain his post, but if need be, he'll fall on his sword to protect Bush ~ or more precisely ~ Bush's brain, Karl Rove, as did that other good neocon soldier, Scooter Libby.

God, I really hate to think what would have happened to this country if the Neocons had managed to establish a competent & convincing dictatorship.

Daily GonzoGate Twitter

Photo: AP

Today's twitter is Berto's apparent belief that Congress will forgive him for not being a hands-on administrator in his advance release of a 25-page document before he testifies next week.

Adopting the humble facade that's gotten him as far as he's come in politix ~ that is, one that easily fools arrogant white people in power into believing that they're dealing with a self-effacing guy who's just grateful to have been allowed to advance as far as he has into the exclusive inner circle ~ 'Berto pleads that he was perhaps guilty of not being a more hands-on manager, by way of explaining his contradictory past statements regarding his involvement in the partisan prosecutor purge. (Title bar.)

"Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, fighting to save his job, said in prepared Senate testimony Sunday he has 'nothing to hide' in the firings of eight federal prosecutors but claimed a hazy memory about his involvement in them.

...

"In his 25-page statement, Gonzales apologized for embarrassing the eight U.S. attorneys and their families by letting their ousters erupt into a political firestorm that has engulfed the Justice Department since January. He maintained the firings were not improper, but said he remembers having only an indirect role in the plans beyond approving them.

"'I have nothing to hide, and I am committed to assuring the Congress and the American public that nothing improper occurred here,' Gonzales said in prepared testimony released before he appears Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"The panel, which oversees the Justice Department, is investigating whether the firings were politically motivated.

"'I am sorry for my missteps that have helped to fuel the controversy,' he said, [and] added: 'in hindsight, I would have handled this differently. ... Looking back, it is clear to me that I should have done more personally to ensure that the review process was more rigorous, and that each U.S. attorney was informed of this decision in a more personal and respectful way.'

In other words, your helpful Demon can't resist adding, he's copping to being the same sort of "absentee landlord" who delegates too much power to his subordinates & doesn't bother to supervise them very carefully, the very reason given for Iglesias' firing ~ the "absentee landlord" thing ~

Despite the fact that prosecutors who go to Washington to work on other projects the GOP approves do so without fear that they will lose their positions back home. The paucity of cases brought against Democrats in advance of hotly contested Congressional seats had not a thing to do with it at all.

If you believe that it did, Mr. Gonzales will turn his sad brown puppy-dog eyes upon you & beg you to forgive, in the passive voice that belies the fact that a man who speaks so softly could have come up with such a thing as the infamous torture memo, that "mistakes were made." If there were, he surely didn't have any responsibility for them.

Update: Doin' the Dance, The Karl Rove Dance

Karl Busts Another Move ~ Dances to Save his Neocon Nation

Update: Ooopsie! White House says e-mails linking Rove to prosecutor firings have been lost. George not only has a Monica haunting him, seems that Rosemary Woods is still "accidentally" erasing evidence for the White House. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102167.html

And oopsie again ~ Congress heard testimony today that prompted accusations that the General Services Administration, whose function it is to award & monitor tax-payer funded contracts, is playing politix, & again Karl Rove's office is involved. The head of the GSA, Ms. Doan, met with Rove's office in an effort to plan how the GSA could help 'our candidates' get elected.

"In several recent statements, Doan has said she did nothing wrong. She said her troubles are the result of retaliation by the inspector general over her efforts to rein in spending and balance the GSA budget.

"Doan, a wealthy former government contractor who sold her company before taking over the GSA last May, has hired three law firms and two media relations companies at her own expense to handle inquiries from the federal investigators and the news media."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/25/AR2007032501048.html

************************************************************************************

Amply demonstrating why he's called the Neocon Brain, Mr. Rove treats us all to yet another example of what your Demon Princess likes to call the "flip & deflect"--that is, accusing the GOP's political enemies of the very things they themselves have made de rigeur SOP in the no-holds-barred pursuit of power for its own sake.

Just one of the things she really hates about the Neocons, who have succeeded in poisoning American politix so thoroughly that its going to be a long, long time before we can drink from the well without having to stifle an involuntary gag response.

If their mouths are moving, they must be lying, & in Rove's case, the more he hams it up, the more he's trying to distract you from the very things the GOP is doing by projecting it onto his adversaries. In advance, natch. Either Karl is prescient, or, more likely, he's in on the behind-the-scenes manipulation.

Two pieces in the NYT today remind us how stubborn & arrogant the Neocons can be, even (or maybe especially) when caught with their pants down. In the first (title bar), a federal panel on election integrity, under great pressure ~ which seems to have included an alteration to its original report ~ issues what is still a lukewarm & not very convincing endorsement to the GOP's position that all those fired prosecutors were indeed not paying enough attention to manipulations at the ballot box by Democrats.

"The Republican Party’s interest in rooting out voter fraud has been encouraged by the White House.

"In a speech last April, Karl Rove, Mr. Bush’s senior political adviser, told a group of Republican lawyers that election integrity issues were an 'enormous and growing' problem. 'We’re, in some parts of the country, I’m afraid to say, beginning to look like we have elections like those run in countries where the guys in charge are colonels in mirrored sunglasses,' Mr. Rove said. 'I mean, it’s a real problem.'”

Your Demon can't disagree. However, the guys in the mirrored sunglasses seem to be Republicans.

I'll ignore for now the fact that the words "elections" & "integrity" from Karl Rove in the same sentence proves only once again that he has no shame ~ the essential insight to his character. He IS the master of deflection & architect of the disingenuous propaganda PR soundbyte that's become the trademark of the Neocon nation.

Apparently, good Christian we have to assume he is, he doesn't care that there's a special spot in hell reserved especially for him, right next to Machiavelli. But that's to be worried about later if at all ~ in the here & now he's got a sinking ship to try to save, & Karl's pulling every trick out of his shabby & weathered overused Magic Dirty Trick Box to do it.

And well he might, because things are gettin' pretty ugly for Mr. Rove, his boss, & especially 'Berto, who has a key role in the most nefarious doings of the Neocon Nation. Check this editorial , "Another Layer of Scandal," appearing in the NYT today: the politicization of the Justice Department just may be the last straw not to be borne. (Yes, even with torture & American-run gulags abroad propping up a misguided war of choice in the MidEast). http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/opinion/09mon1.html

'Berto Locks Himself In Office ~ Frantically Prepares To Testify

Today's news of interest in the ongoing GonzoGate debacle is that 'Berto has hunkered down to study his options & prepare for his testimony before Congress on the 12th & 17th. (Title bar.)

Demon Princess wonders why all the fuss ~ he could just tell the truth.

Er, except that the truth probably wouldn't serve his objectives very well, which she presumes involve keeping his position. Poor 'Berto. That's what trying to talk outta both sides of your mouth willy-nilly gets ya.

"Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has retreated from public view this week in an intensive effort to save his job, spending hours practicing testimony and phoning lawmakers for support in preparation for pivotal appearances in the Senate this month, according to administration officials.

"After struggling for weeks to explain the extent of his involvement in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, Gonzales and his aides are viewing the Senate testimony on April 12 and April 17 as seriously as if it were a confirmation proceeding for a Supreme Court or a Cabinet appointment, officials said.

"Ed Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman, and Timothy E. Flanigan, who worked for Gonzales at the White House, have met with the attorney general to plot strategy. The department has scheduled three days of rigorous mock testimony sessions next week and Gonzales has placed phone calls to more than a dozen GOP lawmakers seeking support, officials said.

"Gonzales is seeking to convince skeptical lawmakers that he can be trusted to command the Justice Department after the prosecutor firings, which he initially described as an 'overblown personnel matter.' Subsequent documents and testimony from his former chief of staff have shown that Gonzales was regularly briefed on the process, revelations that have led to calls for his resignation.

"Justice officials and outside experts said the effort is further hampered by legal conflicts among Gonzales and his senior aides. Top Democrats have also accused department officials of misleading Congress in previous testimony, leading Justice lawyers to insist on limiting contact between key players to avoid allegations of obstructing a congressional investigation, officials said.

"As a result, Gonzales and senior Justice lawyers have so far received little assistance from the White House and cannot consult with some of his closest aides, including Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty, officials said.

"'We are hampered because some senior officials are not able to discuss the facts as they know them in the same room, for fears of additional accusations of misleading Congress,' said one Justice official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue."

That is, fear of the Republicans getting together & agreeing what the story should be. A legitimate concern, considering how every Bushco-captive branch of government has operated so far.

The pressure continues to mount with news like this, also today ~ fired NM prosecutor Iglesias is talking to special counsel investigating whether violations occurred of federal laws such as whistleblower, other anti-retaliation provisions, or the Hatch Act, which forbids public servants from engaging in certain partisan activities, as mentioned in a previous post.

"Justice Department officials have said they added Iglesias to the list of prosecutors to be dismissed because his supervisors deemed him an 'absentee landlord,' who delegated too much authority to his second-in-command.

"Iglesias acknowledges traveling out of New Mexico on U.S. attorney business and that he has spent some 40 to 45 days a year in his service in the Navy Reserve.

"The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act prohibits an employer from denying any benefit of employment on the basis of an individual's military service.
...
"New Mexico Republicans, including Sen. Pete Domenici, complained to White House and Justice Department officials that Iglesias moved too slowly on voter fraud and political corruption cases.

"Iglesias says he was fired for resisting pressure from Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., to rush indictments in an investigation of an alleged kickback scheme involving Democrats. Domenici and Wilson acknowledge calling Iglesias in October before the 2006 election, but they say they did not pressure him.

"Iglesias said his discussions with the Special Counsel's staff includes questions about whether the pressure from officials to act on voter fraud or corruption cases might violate the Hatch Act, which prohibits civil servants from engaging in partisan political activity.

"Iglesias said the Special Counsel also is looking into whether he might have a claim under whistleblower protection laws, even though he was dismiseed two months before he publicly discussed the calls he received from Wilson and Domenici. Iglesias said the details are still being researched."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070405/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/fired_prosecutors_iglesias

And in the Chicago Tribune today, a former prosecutor reminds us what is so terribly wrong with a partisan prosecutor:

"But what is lost...is the recognition of why the stories concerning the firing of eight U.S. attorneys merits continued front-page coverage. It has to do with power and politics.

"There may be no public office in the United States that can change the course of a person's life as dramatically or swiftly as that of a prosecutor. A person can be sitting at his desk or on his sofa one day, and the next be visited by government agents who whisk him away to jail without notice. His life will be shattered beyond repair. He will lose his job, his life's savings and, in most cases, his freedom and perhaps even his family.

"An unspoken, but widely acknowledged, truth is that the prosecutor's power to take away everything precious in someone's life is virtually unchecked. While a prosecutor might not be able to persuade a grand jury to indict the proverbial ham sandwich -- as the common saw goes -- I am certain it would indict the maker of that sandwich for using mayonnaise not mustard, if the prosecutor is zealous enough.

"No bills," where a grand jury declines to honor a prosecutor's request to indict, are as rare as Cubs World Series appearances. Once an indictment is issued, the court system provides little more of a check or balance. The courtroom tilts heavily toward the government's side.

"This awesome power rests primarily with 93 U.S. attorneys across the country, who are appointed by the president, typically based on recommendations of senators from the president's party. This process is inherently political.

"However, as the former chief of the criminal division of the Chicago office...I can attest that every assistant U.S. attorney in that office appreciates the weight of the power he or she has and the responsibility it entails. Every one of them understands the importance of making decisions based only on the merits of the case.

"In the past, Washington has been scrupulous about avoiding putting a political finger on that scale. The system depends on this impartiality. We are prepared to give these attorneys largely unchecked power to ruin lives that has no analog in our system of government because we have faith that, correct or incorrect, they exercise their awesome power free from political influence.

"Now, however, politics rears its ugly head. The Bush administration has rated these people vested with awesome power not on independence, energy, zeal or integrity, but on 'loyalty' to the White House.

"It is hard to imagine a more dangerous and misguided measuring stick for those who make the decision whether to indict political officeholders who may be corrupt, among other potential defendants."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0704020386apr03,1,7520696,print.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

I have to agree. Who gets to excercise that kind of power & in the pursuit of a blantantly political purge pogramme is just too much to be entrusted to baby Republicons, however power-hungry & entitled they may think themselves to be.

This Just In ~ GonzoGate

Photo: AP

This is a twitter Demon Princess just has to share: a headline reading, "Gonzales clarifies his position ~ followed by "doesn't recall" ~

But he is absolutely certain of this:

"I believe in truth and accountability, and every step that I've taken is consistent with that principle."

And this:

"At the end of the day, I know what I did. And I know that the motivations for the decisions that I made were not based upon improper reasons."

"Gonzales sought to explain weeks of inconsistencies about how closely involved he had been in decisions to dismiss the eight U.S. attorneys. He said he had been aware his staff was drawing up plans for the firings but did not recall taking part in discussions over which people would actually be told to go."

Gonzales is touring the country, talking about safe things, like preventing child sex abuse. The press nabbed him in Boston & attempted to turn the conversation toward even more scintillating topics. (Title bar.)

"Asked why he had not resigned, as some Democrats and Republicans have demanded, he said: 'I am fighting for the truth.'

"Gonzales' credibility took a fresh hit this week with the Senate testimony of his former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, who said the attorney general was regularly briefed about plans to fire the prosecutors and was involved with discussions about'"this process of asking certain U.S. attorneys to resign.'

Not to mention Gonzo-gate's own Monica, who has already decided to plead the 5th if she were to be called to testify. If anyone else is going to be called to testify publically, that is--Bush is still trying to get Congress to accept off-the-record, closed-door sessions.

Why Prosecution & Politix Shouldn't Mix

Ill: WhiteHouse.org

Those dirty little secrets have a way of coming out

Today's better-late-than never news is a piece written by a former U.S. prosecutor for the LA Times (title bar). In brief, he says that prosecutions based on politix & deliberate interference with elections is nothing new for the Bushco brigade & their chief enablers (pictured).

Delightful reading, if you weren't under the impression there's anything wrong with that. After all, to the victors go the spoils--including using federal firepower to keep themselves in office, by hook or by crook. Right?

But this satirical piece by WhiteHouse.org may capture the essence of it more faithfully, when it comes down to how ordinary consumers--er, *voters*--feel about the whole mess, which only bores them & distracts them from their patriotic shopping duties.

"So I fired some lawyers. Everyone hates lawyers. Anyway, I’d much rather that folks be hearing about me giving the smackdown to a bunch of fancy-talking, Florsheim-wearing courtroom sissies than hearing other stuff, like news about all those 18 year-olds getting fed into the gaping maw of my Iraq ClusterfuckTM Death Machine."

http://www.whitehouse.org/news/2007/03/gonzales-support.asp

What's With All The Fuss Around 'Berto, Anyway?

Ill: WhiteHouse.org

Aside from the way-outta control spying thing, of course. Let's just address the firing of federal prosecutors across the nation.

What's all the fuss about, anyway, when it's fundamentally an "employment at will" & "serves at the pleasure" situation?

That's the response to this excellent series of opinion articles in the WaPo (title bar) from some misinformed diehards, a view I've also seen expounded in various conservative newsrags & blogs, who seem to be taking up a propaganda talking point when they fault 'Berto only for letting a minor thang getting "blown up" into an unjustifed controversy. Even George admonishes that the Dems are just playing partisan politics.

(And he should know all about partisanship ~ it's a battle cry invented for his benefit, after all. Divide & conquer, eh Georgie?)

So what's the big deal, if they only serve at the executive's pleasure?

None, except when its not. Obstruction of justice may be one problem, the Hatch Act may be another. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatch_Act_of_1939

But in layspeak: it's intuitive that the top law enforcement officer in the U.S. must be able to excercise independent, impartial legal judgment & let those beneath him do the same. The law applies to BOTH parties, last I checked, & prosecutions based on whether a person is a Democrat or a Republican is just beyond the pale. And indefensible.

Otherwise, I say: pass the popcorn. It's very entertaining to watch the Bushco ship of state finally go down. Those cognizant of what's been happening to this country, especially where the "rule of law" is concerned, will be wondering, like me, only why its taken so long.