Login HereTINAT (This is not a transcript.)
Weee-heh-heell, Porky's little 2:00 presser didn't go very well, did it? Gonzo walked into that one like the proverbial man in a pork chop suit walking into the lion cage.
For those of you who missed it, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales just appeared before the press, made some mealy-mouthed equivocations, and claimed that the US Attorneys who were fired were "underperforming". He regrets that Congress were given "bad information" and wants them to know that they can "trust" him. This is all just a routine personnel matter which he knew nothing about and yet accepts "full responsibility" for. But it was all the work of CoS Kyle Sampson, and he's gone, so nothing to see here, yadda, yadda, yadda...
And the press were all over him like a cheap suit.
"Mr. Gonzales, let me get this straight, you're falling back on the Ken Lay defense, here?"
"Mr. Gonzales, what part of failure to perform political hit jobs for the administration to you consider 'underperforming'?"
(These are heavily paraphrased.)
Abu Gonzales stood there looking like his usual sweaty, shifty self, a living, breathing instance of the Peter Principle elevated to the level of comic opera. He was so clearly out of his depth that it's a wonder he didn't get the bends or just spontaneously combust.
But then, after about 140 seconds of taking questions, he spun on his heel and like a greased piglet, all but squirted from the room, "That's all, folks!"
Oh, no, Mr. Gonzales. That's not all. Not by a long shot.
Stay tuned.
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TRex!
TRex!
FITZ!!
squirt!
urban pirate @ 3
Heh.
He didn’t read the memos, and his chief of staff resigned….
Trust him? If this man doesn’t have the grace to resign, Congress SHOULD impeach!
Whoa!
It’s about time. This is starting to get interesting.
But he did say (right before he squirted) that he stood by the firings. Of course.
Hey, did someone tell the kids downstairs that there’s a new thread?
There’s going to be one hell of a race to come up with the best snark about this press conference.
But the therapod’s set a pace that is going to be tough to beat.
He’s trying for Michael Brown Part II?
I think that, if I were one of the Democrats theoretically running Congress, I’d have been looking for a locksmith about two minutes into that presser: ‘Hello, Joe’s Lock, we have an emergency and need some doors re-keyed now.’ Then hand Gonzales a resignation letter with only his signature missing.
Crooked Timber (www.crookedtimber.org) gives Mr. Gonzales one Galbraith, based on JW Galbraith’s rule that people who say they’re not resigning generally resign after the fourth time they say so.
Gonzo was not his usual smug, smirking, arrogant self this morning, was he? Instead he looked like a frightened little boy being called out for shitting on mom’s favorite rug…
He has pooped on the Constitution, and that’s a much more serious matter.
This little bastard should resign immediately!
By the way, let’s not forget that the “Tell it like it is” Coulter-Republicans who hate namby-pamby political correctness and who believe that racism no longer exists will be trotting out the tried and true excuse that Gonzales is being attacked because he is Latino in 5…..4…..3….2….1……
-GSD
P.S.
Let’s not forget what David Gergen said about the Bush Whitehouse:
“And the country will turn its eyes to a criminal investigation not only of the Bush administration, first major criminal investigation of an administration that’s been amazingly scandal-free.”
TRex
once again, you nailed it.
I saw the
pisser,er presser while I was home for lunch with Mrs BC. Abu looked like a deer caught in the headlights.Look for him to be seeking to spend some quality time with his family by the end of the month.
BC
Pchang @ 13
Will his Galbraith last a Friedman?
-GSD
I was having computer issues so didn’t catch the presser. Did he answer any questions from the press?
“eebeda eebeda eebeda…”
This is all a pretty good way to pass the time until the Waxman hearing on Friday.
Wonder if Fitz has left for Chicago yet? I think I am now officially FREAKED OUT OF MY MIND.
It looked to me like Gonzales is twisting slowly in the wind, what with Bush out of the country and all. The White House spin operation is south of the border, and Alberto has to try to handle it all by his lonesomeness.
Not a pretty sight.
Hey; my first EPU’d !
AZ Matt @ 19
Yes.
I did liveblogging on the last thread.
[In the comment section—6 different sections]
# 64 # 70 # 77 # 85 # 98 # 105
Abu Gonzales stood there looking like his usual sweaty, shifty self, a living, breathing instance of the Peter Principle elevated to the level of comic opera.
Great line, T!
That was the worst press conference I’ve ever seen. I really thought Gonzales was gonna break down on national tv. He can’t run the DOJ, and he can’t lie worth a damn, so what’s he doing in the Bush regime?
Ok, screwing up the DOJ is par for the course, but he’s expected to be a good liar.
AZ Matt @ 19
Sort of.
You know how they are.
It looks like punaise is the first out of the gate with a transcript.
Okay, time to go to work.
Bargain Countertenor @ 17
We can hope!
If not, IMPEACH HIM!!
AZ Matt @ 19
Did the press ask questions? Yes.
Did he move his lips in response? Yes.
Did he answer the questions? No. Not even close.
If you fired them for “underperforming” then why does your appointments Secretary have to resign???? Oh right! He “underperformed” by not spinning the lie more carefully!
The problem wasn’t that these Attorney Generals were “underperforming”…it was because they were not doing the “dog and pony show” expected of them by Gonzo, Harry, Dubya, and Turd-Blossom.
Damn, Trex’d in the daylight! Vamous Alberto!
Sonofabitch!
NYT headline… “MISTAKES WERE MADE” hahaha
damn, wholly unoriginal nixonisms flying…
how long before he goes from dismayed to dismissed?
AZ Matt @ 19
That depends on what the word answer means, Matt.
If it means what it means in dissertation defense, that is, listening carefully to the question and making a substantive response to the question, then the answer is (mostly) no.
If, on the other hand, answer means to make (mostly) irrelevant noise after someone asks a question, then the answer is (again, mostly) yes.
BC — you didn’t expect anything different, did you?
It’s clear now Gonzales won’t be in his job much longer. It will be good for this country to get rid of someone who serves as a political operative, promotes torture, has no understanding of law or the Constitution and generally does shoddy work (see his death clemency work in Texas).
The other aspect of this that is very, very important, is the blow to Bush himself to lose one of his inner circle. Gonzales has been part of Bush’s insulation since Texas, and with Gonzales removed Bush will be even that much more exposed. Each of these kinds of developments makes it that much harder for “Team Bush” to spend time on their destructive agenda.
And the General is dancing too:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The top U.S. military officer, Gen. Peter Pace, said Tuesday he should have focused more on military policy and less on his own opinion when he told a newspaper homosexual acts are immoral. . .
“In expressing my support for the current policy, I also offered some personal opinions about moral conduct,” Pace said in a statement. “I should have focused more on my support of the policy and less on my personal moral views
Let’s hope Schumer et alii have got them by their very short porcine hairs.
If the administration could have known how upset these prosecutors were going to get…
puppethead @ 36
yea, and I’m sure we’ll get someone wayyyyy better, right?
Cheney orders Libby to go after Wilsons. Bush orders Abu G to fire attys who don’t drink kool-aid. CREW orders special prosecutor.
Libby and Abu G - two rotten guys just doing rotten things that their rotten superiors told them to do.
Fish rots from the head down. Impeachment is the answer. Time to clean house.
General Pace: Gays are immoral. But we will accept felons and white supremacists into the military. Also, that Abu Ghraib stuff wasn’t really gay.
-GSD
This president has more appointments than my dentist.
He lied under oath to Congress and he was a greased piglet all the times he’s testified before Congress.
(including the time that Spekter refused to put him under oath b/c it was “unwarranted”!)
grrrrr.
He said he works for the American people. bah!
He lies for this administration and subverts and twists the Constitution and our laws and treaties.
Impeach!
He just threw sand into our collective faces.
These latest U.S attorneys revelations show more than a White House determined to enforce loyalty to President Bush and entrench partisan Republican hatchet men throughout the DOJ’s ranks. Simply put, the Bush White House planned to systematically drive down the turnout of Democrats and independents at the ballot box through an unaccountable campaign against “voter fraud.”
For the full story, see:
“THE LINK: Purging Prosecutors - and Voters.”
For more on the White House connection and all the latest news, hearings, legal filings and other essential documents on the Bush DOJ prosecutor firings, see:
“The U.S. Attorney Scandal Documents.”
hackworth @ 41
I agree. Things are very ripe for Impeachment.
TRex, you won me completely with your comment about Gonzales squirting from the presser.
He surely did not seem his usual smug little self, did he? In fact, his voice seemed a bit quavery and was he sweating? I agree with a commenter on the last post … they are way too nervous about this one for it not to be covering up something even worse than what we see today.
Dead man walking, that’s what I think.
I caught it on FOX, alas. They had the reporters’ mikes turned waaaaay down, so it seemed.
TheOtherWA @ 27
He was a competent liar back when the GOP was in charge and he knew he could get away with it. Bet he’s pining for the heady days when Republican committee chairs would refuse a motion to put him under oath! But yeah, given that past performance, I didn’t think he’d turn into such a rotten liar when forced to actually face tough questioning.
oh crap !
per Josh, Kyle Sampson was teed up as Rove’s replacement
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002748.php
egregious @ 25
Jsut went through them thanks!
He didn’t admit to anything except that he wasn’t minding the store.
If this isn’t an impeachment, gift wrapped and served on a silver platter then I don’t know what is. The Dem leaders better jump all over this and rip the heart out of this piece of garbage. How many times does the administation get to spit in their collective faces before they get their asses into gear and do more than just hold more hearings!??!? If they don’t have any self respect for themselves then maybe I’ll just vote for some independent schmuck or not vote at all!! Where the fu** is my pitch, fork and torch anyway???
Perhaps a new name variation…Alsquirto Gonz-outa-here
raven @ 40
paging John Yoo…
Bargain Countertenor @ 35
Kinda hoping… .
tejanarusa @ 29
Abu’s gonna resign so that he can avoid spending some quality time with the House and Senate Judiciary Committees over this bit of Bushit.
Frankly, I’d prefer that they work up the chain from Abu into 1600. If we’re going to have to go to the trouble of impeaching someone (and we are), then the someone to impeach is the Dim Son himself.
Will he be convicted? Prob’ly not: the Repugnicans in the Senate will circle their wagons around him and prevent a conviction. But then we hang that albatross around their necks in ‘08.
BC
Phoenix Woman @ 47
Mikes were ok at c-span 1. I got the Q&A, hope somebody else caught the actual minispeech. It was slated to be on c-span 2 but only Joe Lieberman was there :(
angie @ 44
I’d like to see Specktor under oath on this.
Alberto Gonzales: A Willing Accessory at Justice
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales is the 80th attorney general of the United States and if recent events in the law and at the Justice Department are any indication, he is rapidly staking a claim to being among the worst. To test that claim and evaluate the man who is not just nominally called the “nation’s top lawyer,” we must answer three questions. To what extent did Gonzales’ public record before taking office give us clues about what sort of Attorney General he has turned out to be? Has he so far been up to the task as it is ideally defined? And, finally, does he deserve to continue to serve in office?
http://blog.washingtonpost.com.....g_acc.html
Pictures of Bush’s reaction to the press conference have come in. (/snark)
Did anyone ask him if Harry Meirs thought that ALL the US Attorneys were underperforming. She suggested they all be fired, after all.
Wouldn’t that indicate that the DOJ under Gonzo was an utter failure?
Or was there some other reason that Harry wanted this complete an utter purge rather than incompetancy? I suggest that those targetted were not only performing well, but fired for doing jobs in a legitimate, non-political, manner.
raven @ 40
Of course not. Look at the parade of scum being put in charge of Army Medicine. But Gonzales is a special Bush underling. Bush has no doubt about his loyalty. Any replacement won’t be as close to Bush, nor as effectively evil. So even the worst person imaginable (Harriet Miers?) won’t be as bad for this country or as helpful to Bush’s death cult as Gonzales.
TheOtherWA @ 27
I think when he got the Ken Lay question he knew this wasn’t going to go quite like he might have hoped. So great to see the press waking up out of it slumber, kind of like that character under the spell in Lord of the Rings. Even the room for the press conference was kind of odd, like a “press conf. in the round.” And with a blinding flash of dozens of fins Abu realized he was in a shark tank.
The Bushies have gotten real used to Russert and Judy and girl with a new gold star, Andrea Mitchell.
The point that Bush is still out of town while all of this is happening is well-taken. Obviously he’s in the loop but that press conference was a disaster, below the usual extremely high standard for lying and obfuscation.
TPM:
Phoenix Woman @ 48
oooo to be a fly on the wall in the “news”room there.
I seriously doubt that when Sampson said this,
that he meant “have the pork chop suit cleaned and pressed.”
Sampson was supposed to be wearing the suit.
Boy, they are SO far in over their heads now, they are going to have to make up some serious sh*t to get out of this with only the pork chops left in the maw of the press. Maybe the damned press will actually BITE and then BITE again, like it’s supposed to.
wagonjak @
14
He should resign before they [do something that is not violent to] him! [CHS: because, as you know, talking about anything potentially violent in connection with an Administration official can get you a social call from the Secret Service…]
Gonzales should stick around a couple weeks actually. If he resigns, the media will lose interest.
They love people who are “embatttled” as a theme. I am glad he is sticking it out to be a punching bag for a while longer.
Kyle Sampson is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life. . .
raven @ 37
I guess he just saw the historically falsified version of “300″ where the only homosexuals are not the Spartans…but the Persians!
trifecta @ 68
I agree, I don’t want him to resign right now.
So are we going to have a piglet of the year award?
There’s such a field of candidates, and it’s only March.
zhiv @ 62
The fourth estate, such an ENTerprise
Why does Abu Gonzo hate the Constitution?
angie @ 44
As I said at the time (though it was about the oil execs not being sworn in, not Gonzales, I think), blocking a motion to put a witness under oath is saying “Please lie to us!”
And whaddaya know, every one who got that treatment turns out to have been lying! No one could have predicted…
I smell a rat. A bright, shiny ,rat.
They have had since yesterday to find something to blow smoke up our ass with.
No doubt John Conyers was watching the presser. His questions will be harder to avoid than the newsmedia’s.
Mild rebuke from the WH for the General.
So…did Gonzo already double-check the document dump for any emails sent to him? Or did he believe hubristically that any Miers-Sampson-et-al emails had already been purged in an “irregular archiving process”?
Sampson was supposed make this plausibly deniable, but I’ll put money on a breach in documentation.
Boy, Gonzales sure looked blue at that presser today.
;>)
spurious @ 9
1. I take full responsibility.
2. I know nothingk, nothingk.
White House Office of Reduced Expectations (W.H.O.R.E.)
oh great; now for some reason I want to play solitaire
Well, looks like the press corps had some V**gra in their systems this morning. Somebody make a note to keep slipping that into their Cheerios.
darkblack @ 80
The big fat liar!!
Elliott @ 71
We all seem to be on the same page. :D
oddz & endz -
who made the You Sound Like Ken Lay remark ??
who in the hell released that Miers/Sampson e mail ?
Mandrake @ 81
the Sgt. Schultz defense! I blame the coffee pot.
So is there video footage. Did anyone at crooks and liars catch something?
Here’s what Congress needs to do…right away.
They need to call Abu down to testify before the Judiciary Committee. Allow him to testify without swearing in…but then…the first moment that he starts to equivocate or dissemble the Chair should interrupt him and say.
“Mr. Attorney General, we offered you the courtesy of not requiring you to swear on the Constitution of the United States that you would be forthright before Congress and the American People…it’s clear that you are NOT DOING SO…so now I find it necessary to insist that your testimony be SWORN. I ask the Sergeant of Arms to approach Mr. Gonzales for this purpose.”
C-SPAN Momemt!
I always love Watertigers lingering goodbye’s…..
http://www.dependablerenegade......ou_me.html
C-SPAN has the Abu-squirto G presser up here. TRex is right. Except the part about comic opera. Abu-squirto G gives whorehouse vaudeville a bad name, let alone comic opera.
Why would anyone use email when comitting a crime?
Meanwhile, President Bush keeps a firm grip on his carrot as he cracks wise with working poor in Guatemala.
C Augustus - he’s a laugh a minute!
Tim @ 83
Here is info on Sampson from the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03.....mpson.html
cinnamonape @
70
I saw it last night. Ah, the gay and androgyness Persians, some were Black and Asian too…all pierced up and lots of freaks too. But those Spartans, even though they looked gayer than the Village People were all man baby.
I haven’t seen a bigger homage to fascism since Starship Troopers.
-GSD
Redshift @ 49
Best thing since red-faced Leahy laid him out about habeas corpus.
Rayne @ 65 quoted the timing of the firings after they all left the conference gathering.
December 7. Well, there’s a metaphor….
Ed Henry on La-La tour with Dubya lamenting on CNN earlier that the DC stuff is stepping on all the great stories of what Bush wanted to accomplish with this Latin American tour.
My shorter translation: Reap what you sow.
GSD @ 42
It really WASN’T gay (like rape isn’t making love), but I think I know what you’re saying.
What’s your name? Impeachable offense? And you’re here to see whom?
Okay. Take a number and have a seat. There’s a lot of your types already in line.
Lordy … info from the NY times on the new fall guy for this administration - Kyle Sampson.
Link
“As his influence rose inside the Justice Department and the White House, Mr. Sampson decided at some point that he wanted to move directly to the post of United States attorney in Utah, his home state, without serving as a full-time prosecutor first.”
Loyalty trumps competence in this administration - first last and always.
AZMATT -
NYT article fails to mention -
current USA/Utah Toleman - was the “unauthorized staffer” who slipped the USA rider in to the revised Patriot Act :)
Has Gonzo hired Ted Wells yet? Ted, keep those tissues handy!
punaise @
54
Punaise, is it correct you have a transcript up, and if so where can I find it?
Anybody else tired of hearing the Bush/Cheney/Rove buzzword of the month? “MICROMANAGING!”. UGH! I’m SOOOOOOOOO sick of seeing GOP dummies with Rove’s hand up their backs whining about “MICROMANAGING!”. Of course, one must use the “Rovish to English” dictionary to see that the English definition of the Rovish “MICROMANAGING” is merely OVERSIGHT.
Someone who has the time, should watch the House on C-Span for one entire day and give us a tally of the usage of “MICROMANAGING”. Just while typing this post, I’ve heard it seven times! lol
Redshift @ 49
Was he a competent liar? When the GOP was manhandling Congress, he didn’t really have to be. He certainly never fooled anybody here. The people who actually believed a word that came out of his snout were those who preferred to deal with spoonfed Faux News fantasies instead of the reality in front of their faces.
Justice! @ 103
So we’re going from Scooter to Squirter.
Ann in AZ @ 104
LOL: Trex was refering to my comment above: “eebeda, eebeda, eebeda”…the old Porky Pig stutter. Sorry, I have nothing “real”.
Oh the irony.. wasn’t it just a short time ago that Abu was saying he wouldn’t be able to get anything done for the American people if he had to waste all his time answering to Congress?
cbl @ 102
Ahh… Such a Stinking Bunch!
I can’t stop laughing.
Just cruised through those DOJ emails. All the premeditated split second coordination to isolate each USA , so they would go quietly and not fight back.
There was a diary up Kos last week from some annymous (onviously ex-fed) who described how they isolate you, smear you, then use you justifiable either rage or depression over hwat they are doing to you, to bootstap what they have done to you.
It was quite chilling. I have been a spectator to this before, but never on such a scale.
And I don’t just mean the 8 slaughtered in 2006/7. This has been going on since the get-go
Ed*ard Teller @ 92
Merci Beaucoup for the link. On pause here, I am already a little squeamish watching. Abu has this kind of lisping dry mouth I got once when I had to make a presentation on a senior paper on college *wretched memory* carry on!
Okay, FirePups, here’s a game for you: Guess what the right-wing Wurlitzer say to provide cover to the White House?
Bargain Countertenor @ 56
That was tried before with Clinton. It wouldn’t have worked out so well for them, except that Brother Bush promised the (stolen) election and the Supreme Court was so compliant. Remember, Gore won the popular vote in that election.
politicalpollyanna @ 105
“Micromanaging” was fine when Shooter was doing it to the CIA, wasn’t it?