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Republicans in Congress do not trust their president to protect them. That alone is sufficient reason to withhold statements of support for Gonzales, because such a gesture could be quickly followed by his resignation under pressure. Rep. Adam Putnam (Fla.), the highly regarded young chairman of the House Republican Conference, praised Donald Rumsfeld in November only to see him sacked shortly thereafter.
But not many Republican lawmakers would speak up for Gonzales even if they were sure Bush would stick with him. He is the least popular Cabinet member on Capitol Hill, even more disliked than Rumsfeld was. The word most often used by Republicans to describe the management of the Justice Department under Gonzales is "incompetent."
[]
The saving grace that some Republicans find in the dispute over U.S. attorneys is that, at least temporarily, it draws attention away from debate over an unpopular war. But the overriding feeling in the Republican cloakroom is that the Justice Department and the White House could not have been more inept in dealing with the president's unquestioned right to appoint -- and replace -- federal prosecutors.
The I-word (incompetence) is also used by Republicans in describing the Bush administration generally. Several of them I talked to cited a trifecta of incompetence: the Walter Reed hospital scandal, the FBI's misuse of the USA Patriot Act and the U.S. attorneys firing fiasco. "We always have claimed that we were the party of better management," one House leader told me. "How can we claim that anymore?"
The role Novak plays among the GOP elite -- when they are afraid to broach a subject to one another, they all broach it to him. When it reaches critical mass and he realizes they need to speak with one another about the problem, he publishes. This is a very important column today. It could be the beginning of the end if the elite GOP on the Hill start to share with one another what they've shared with Novak.
I mean, I hate the guy, but it's important to understand his role in the party.
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jane . . .
and TEDDYSF 2 ;-)
fitz!!
hi !!
Oh they’ll always have Lieberman.
In the not too distant future…
You’d think that it would have dawned on these guys a long time ago that GWB is in the GWB-protection and promotion business — and nothing else. He doesn’t give a rats ass about the party. He already knows he’ll be cosseted by the big money boys after he leaves office.
He’s got his, and that’s all that’s ever really mattered to him.
Oh Goody! Teddy, this is so cool!!
And just what *is* his role—a greasy little rat? A contract hit man? After all, he publishes and they dispose….
Attaturk @
5
hippo birdie, dr turk!
Marcy is all over the two Waxman letters today:
link
Teddy San Fran!
TSF, nice post!
Novak wants it to be all about the I word.
But it is really all about the C word.
Corruption.
Gonzales aide to invoke Fifth Amendment
link
Monica Goodling, a senior Justice Department official involved in the firings of federal prosecutors, will refuse to answer questions at upcoming Senate hearings, citing Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, her lawyer said Monday.
See also:
link
(in TPMm comments)
“Ms. Goodling’s announcement assures the WH that every MSM hack with a cellphone camera will want to be in the hearing room. My guess is that FDL should extend the lease on the Libby Crash Pad and start asking for more contributions.”
Happy Birthday Fez Man.
Goodling Press Release, Letters to Judiciary Committees
7 pages, two pages press release, 5 pages of letters to committees from Goodling’s lawyers.
All right Teddy!
Congratulations on hitting the “show”, TeddySanFran!
Blue Dido @ 8
My husband likes to say that Novak plays Renfield to Cheney’s Dracula, scuttling around the DC looking for bugs and rodents to devour.
I can’t wait to see the connection between the $140,000 for ‘Cheney’s office furniture & computers’ and the $140,000 (pre-negotiated) for the Duke-Stir.
Actually, it’s a great name for that boat, considering that now the “Duke” is in “Stir”!
On last thread someone had a link to a WorldNetDaily article by Jerome Corsi (of Swift Boat “Fame”) on how the DoJ refused to prosecute in Texas for child abuse/pedophilia at the youth justice center. Big scandal down here. Can we say Abu is under the bus?
Alicia @
20
The boat, when purchased from two flamboyant DeeCee gays, was named BuoyToy. Not sure why Duke changed the name….
“How can we claim that anymore?”
Now, there’s a self-deluded asshole if ever there was one.
I agree that this is an important column. Novakula is and always has been a tool of the repugs. However, pushing the meme of incompetence is a diversion from the willful and intentional perversion of government that this administration has perpetrated.
We can’t let them get away with the few bad apples (i.e. The Bush Admin) argument. They’ve been slowly building this over the last year through the “press,” so repukelickins can reclaim the moral high ground in the next few elections cycles. “It’s not us, it was just that crazy Bush Admin. We’re the real repubs!”
Our current Constitutional Crisis was and continues to be caused by REPUBLICANS, through and through (and the enabling Dems). The Republican principles are wrong. Always have been and always will be. Give them unfettered power, and it will always lead to this. The principles (hey, it’s a dog eat dog world, go get what’s yours) guarantee this end result.
Do not let repubs succeed in separating themselves from the Bush Admin!
Thanks for the birthday wishes. I’d bow but I’m goin’ commando.
“Evangelical Christian” on your resume before you can be a political appointee of Our Messiah’s Administration?
Apparently, this Monica Goodling went to undergraduate school at “Messiah College.”
It is amazing how many of these names are prominent in the evangelical community. I would love to see some application for appointments submitted by some of these USA’s. I’ll beet Evangelical is an important hiring criteria.
Messiah College description from their parent organization:
All of which both verifies and explains Jon Stewart’s theory that he does indeed thrive on the blood of freshly killed puppies.
Attaturk @ 5
“Next Sunday A.D…..”
RevDeb @ 24
Atrios has another example of a Republican moving away from the standard script:
link
When Hacks Stop Hacking
Wingnut Terry Jeffrey just now on CNN:
It’s not good, apparently her lawyer is trying to suggest they’re building a perjury trap for people in the Justice Department. But the truth is, Wolf, Congress - its Judiciary Committees - they have oversight over the Justice Department. It is inexcusable for people in the Justice Department to take the 5th amendment to avoid testifying in Congress. People there must go testify. There’s no question about it.
Tug @ 28
And can only be stopped by a Writ of Douchebaggery.
Brit Hume going nuts over Webb having a weapon….. In other news, Brit still not talking about how VP Cheney shot his buddy last year.
as long as he helps hide the criminal behavior of these co conspirators, it is going to be great. he will help them all lose elections, and put their faith in abu to get them through this little indiscretion of following bushwa and shooter down to the sea in ships
Yay, Teddy. As odious as Novak is, he does make a good barometer of the Republican whining within (and outside of) the Beltway. Interesting that they would all be blaming Bush for their woes, and not take any responsibility whatsoever for enabling him — or is it that Novak wouldn’t take responsibility for anything, ever, even if others actually are? It’s never sure with him, is it?
Rats indeed.I saw this meme come around when that flak Richard Perle,one of the BIGGEST chearleaders for the Iraq war, stated that the plan was fine,it was the incompetent way it was carried out was the problem.
Yeah, they have been trying to weasel out from under Bush for awhile now.
Leahy weighs in on Goodling. He uses the word “criminal”.
A lot.
thinkprogress link
Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) responds to news that Gonzales aide Monica Goodling will invoke the Fifth Amendment:
“It is disappointing that Ms. Goodling has decided to withhold her important testimony from the Committee as it pursues its investigation into this matter, but everybody has the constitutional right not to incriminate themselves with regard to criminal conduct.
“The American people are left to wonder what conduct is at the base of Ms. Goodling’s concern that she may incriminate herself in connection with criminal charges if she appears before the Committee under oath.“
I really believe this Novak column is the sound of Capitol Hill rats deserting the BushCo ship, thus my email to Jane last nite, which she kindly felt deserved a front-page appearance.
Each congresscritter must independently believe the CEO President is destroying the brand, and yet none of them will confront one another with the news. Novak, his slimy self, got several of them (”the cloakroom”) to share their deepest concerns; having reached critical mass, he pushes the “Publish” button.
Just as effective as that lad attending the parade who turned to his parents and said, too loud, “But the Emperor has no clothes!”
PS When Novak uses a phrase like “highly regarded” he’s speaking about a source.
A little late with this, but I was at work. Regarding the 60 Minutes interview with John and Elizabeth Edwards last night…
Some say…
RevDeb @ 24
Incompetence is their redemption meme: “please, please give us another chance to do it all again, correctly this time.”
No fuckin way.
Nice, Teddy.
ccmask @ 32
And not much talk at all of Repug Congressman Hostettler trying to bring a 9mm Glock onto an airplane in his briefcase, I’ll bet….
Thanks TeddySF for such an important
and first rate post.
The News Hour’s second story is all about how much explain’ Gonzales has to do to before Leahy’s committee.
Gee, thanks Jim, nice of you to report this.
*xyz @ 13
and the other C word: criminal
Nice to see you name in lights, TSF!
Jon Stewart reaching out to Novak– cracks me up still.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....mp;search=
greenwarrior @ 43
Hey, that one is even better.
If I were Adam Putnam, I would hire a food taster.
TeddySanFran @ 39
Amen. From your fingers on the keyboard to . . . .
mrsmarks@19: that sounds about right. Scuttle, scuttle….it all adds up to scuttlebutt. Wink, nod, gossip, destroy a career.
Of course, in the case of Gonzales, I don’t object so much.
You’d think Novak would be radioactive,but noooooooooooooooooo.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration’s performance goes beyond incompetence. Incompetence merely implies inability. That’s not what we’re dealing with here; rather, we see the radical manipulation of the Federal Government for partisan political purposes, even when the law forbids it.
The best word I can think of to describe it is “malevolence:” malevolence towards Democrats; malevolence towards the Constitution, malevolence towards Government in general, and malevolence towards anyone who stands in their way.
Bob in HI
Bob Schacht @ 50
And think about what it is going to take to clean this up IF we get the opportunity to do so. It boggles the mind.
Novak always gets pounded, and deservedly so, when his column appears. Now Rep. Darrell Issa of California has decided to folow in his footsteps as he defends the firing of Carl Lam. This is his blog in San Diego with the results one might expect:
Issa’s blogging lesson
I’m gonna be sick. John Yoo is on the News Hour. Talk about guilty party. HE should be frog marched.
I do love it that he needs to spell out the I-word (incompetence) since there really is already an I-word (impeachment). In that regard, this column may have served to shut down Hagel’s weekend heresy.
Kinda like picking through fresh dung to learn your prey’s eating habits: foul and smelly, but ultimately necessary and worthwhile.
AZ Matt @ 52
I see he got both barrels, appropriately..
RevDeb @ 53
Since when is Yoo an authority on anything but giving Bush/Cheney whatever they wanted? This guy is a highly-trained, well-experienced sophist.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 34
Rove got them to trade their institutional pride so that they would have dominion forever over the farthest horizon; now the GOP is looking at being a permanently regional party. How pissed must they be at their end of the bargain?
montag @ 56
Who wrote the memo trying to legally justify torture. Well beyond sophist. He’s a war criminal.
Hey, Teddy!
It’s good to see you on the front page!
And you make a good point. We should be carefully watching these interesting bellwethers, since so much of what’s really going requires talent in Kremlinology to figure out.
It was also interesting to see Joe “Boris” DiGenova come out slamming Gonzo — slamming him for “inaccurate” testimony to Congress is just the delicious hypocritical icing on the rancid cake baked at home by wifey “Natasha.”
It’s also interesting to see Jerome Corsi up to…something…implicating Gonzo in the TYC sexual abuse of minors judicial scandal.
The important point in all of this is not that any of these people are CREDIBLE pundits, oh no. It’s important in the way that paying attention to weather advisories is important when tornadoes are on the way.
at the outset — i think this is a very
cogent observation about novak’s role — sort
of the viser to the powers-that-be, to
determine, in this particular case, whether
enough dissent has fomented within the elites’
chamber-pots to definitively demand that
dubbya toss gonzo. . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
s e g u e
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*xyz says:
March 26th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Leahy weighs in on Goodling. He uses the word “criminal”.
A lot.
thinkprogress link
Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) responds to news that Gonzales aide Monica Goodling will invoke the Fifth Amendment:
“It is disappointing that Ms. Goodling has decided to withhold her important testimony from the Committee as it pursues its investigation into this matter, but everybody has the constitutional right not to incriminate themselves with regard to criminal conduct.
“The American people are left to wonder what conduct is at the base of Ms. Goodling’s concern that she may incriminate herself in connection with criminal charges if she appears before the Committee under oath.“
heh.
. . .i was epu’d on the last thread on this, but
this is significant on several fronts:
d. kyle sampson, the AG’s former chief
of staff, has indicated that he will
speak, under oath, to the committee
about various matters related to purge-gate. . .
we now know that mr. sampson will likely say,
under oath, that he did not mislead mr. gonzales.
tantalizingly, he may say quite a bit more.
so, we now know that the other putative “fall-
person” for mr. gonzales, ms. goodling, will not go
quietly. her invocation of the fifth will likely
simply be a precursor to an agreement under which
she will ultimately testify, in return for immunity.
it is an unusual sign — and not an encourag-
ing one — for the target, at least, when
one of the target’s lawyers — his senior
lawyer, in this case — decides to invoke
a fifth amendment privilege against self-
incriminantion.
i write this because it suggests, to me, that
the target, here mr. gonzales, is going to have
quite a bit of difficulty asserting that he
simply followed good faith legal advice he
sought and received from his staff, related
to the dismissal of the eight u.s. attorneys.
we already know that various public documents
contradict mr. gonzales’ earlier claim that he
“wasn’t very involved” in the decision to
ask for the resignations of these eight u.s. attorneys.
all of this is shaping up very badly for mr.
gonzales — but is quite predictably — almost
uncannily — providing much “noisy cover” and
precious time-delays, for messrs. rove and cheney.
more here.
RevDeb @
24
Agreed. In contrast to the actual skulduggery afoot in the Department of Injustice, “incompetence” is actually a high compliment.
Mrs.K8 @ 59
Interesting to watch them starting to eat their own. We are watching the beginning of Republican Cannibalism.
angie @ 44
hilarious! thanks!
RevDeb @ 62
I guess the appropriate description of that would be “deliciously ugly.” :)
RevDeb @ 62
I don’t suspect this will be rated PG so don’t let your children watch. It will too much for them.
Douchebag!
Hmmm. Anyone else get the impression that Goodling’s decision to take the 5th was unknown to the Bushies prior to her press release?
Folks, let’s put our heads together, in the best emptywheel, Jane, ReddHedd et al. fashion.
You can only take the 5th Amendment protection against self-incrimination if your testimony may incriminate you — that is, if there is the possibility that you may be held criminally liable for some conduct.
What are the possible crimes that Ms. Messiah College/Regent Law School (!) could have participated in committing?
Obstruction of justice?
Interference with federal prosecutions?
Writing statements for Gonzo to say before the cameras that have proved to be false, and therefore may constitute misinforming Congress?
Something else?
Inquiring minds want to know.
More at the WaPo: Gonzales’s Senior Counselor Refuses to Testify
and NYT: Justice Official Won’t Testify on Prosecutor Firings
1,466 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen Hamsher and the Firepup Patriots:
“It could be the beginning of the end if the elite GOP on the Hill start to share with each other what they’ve shared with Novak.”
Indeed, a huge split in the fascist party…that is why I have been yellin’ at the top a my lungs that this thing is movin’ at warp speed and we need to be callin’ for impeachment inquiries and special prosecutors.
I will restate my fantasy scenario: Cheney resigns (or dies) due to health concerns, impeachment inquiries in the House begin, mass resignations of cabinet and sub cabinet folks under investigation gut the day to day operations of the Executive, the Chimpenfeurer resigns in a snit to evade impeachment, Pelosi is sworn in and declares that her first act will be to nominate Al Gore for VP and upon his confirmation she resigns to run in the special election for her old House seat.
The result is that we will get almost 10 years of Al Gore and the fascists (and their fellow corporatists in the Democratic Party) will be set back 150 years.
KEEP THE FAITH AND YER EYES ON THE TARGET!!!
Frank Probst @ 67
Kind of the impression I got too.
They are going to try and spin this like a centrifuge.
Abu interview in NBC Nightly News, coming up…
TeddySanFran @
54
Teddy! Comment above would make a great p.s. addition to the front page post (I’m talking about moving your comment to the post itself).
Another Monica, another presidency in tatters. Whodathunkit?
TSF @ 57
Rove got them to trade their institutional pride so that they would have dominion forever over the farthest horizon; now the GOP is looking at being a permanently regional party. How pissed must they be at their end of the bargain?
Ah, the Faustian bargain. You get what you ask for, but not the way you wanted it, and it’s always less that you were led to believe it would be. (They can have permanent domination, but only in the South. And even then they may not have all of it.)
NorskeFlamethrower @ 69
i like it a lot!
Rats…
The thing about the rat race is even if you win,
you are still a rat…Lily Tomlin
Novak is trying to misdirect the public into believing that the issue is incompetence, and that the sober doucebags of the right are shocked, shocked about it all.
Poor theatre of misdirection. Make the issue incompetence and some of the 2008 re-election cannon fodder might survive, by railing against it.
Pull for Waxman. This is not about incompetence, THAT was Katrina. It is about greed and theft and deceit and cover up and god knows what else.
Ain’t nobody gettin re-elected in no close race with that on the minds of folks, no sirree.
Even the bumpkins can get outraged now and then. Keep it up Rover…if Novak is the best dissembler that you’ve got, I think we are going to do OK.
Teddy quoting Novak above:
“Several of them I talked to cited a trifecta of incompetence: the Walter Reed hospital scandal, the FBI’s misuse of the USA Patriot Act and the U.S. attorneys firing fiasco.”
Interestingly enough, no mention of Katrina, Iraq, Iran and the whole Patriot Act its own self.
RevDeb @
24
My thoughts exactly. There’s a short list of these (it was just incompetence, be bi-partisan, Clinton did it too, yes but in time of war…, and maybe two or three others) that they drag out every chance they get. It doesn’t mean squat.
If you are trying to pervert our democracy the fact that you are doing so incompetently is a distraction, not a defense. Would you vote to acquit an attempted murder suspect because they repeatedly stabbed their victim in the right side of their chest, or a would-be rapist because they got tangled up in their jock strap and accidentally shot themselves in the foot?
–MarkusQ
Prof @ 68
erh — howza’ ’bout the flip-side:
“if ya doesn’t sez nuttin’,
ya can’t be charged wit’ perjury. . .”
that is — this ship has been holed below
the water line so many times lately, and,
as novak hisssself points out, the president
isn’t about makin’ patches — so, her
lawyers decide it is gonna’ be better to
try to salvage my life, post-gonzo for
ms. goodling, on her own. . . ‘cuz damn sure
no one’s gonna’ be lookin’ out for her. . .
Golly, the worst for Alberto & his fam is attacks on his credibility!!! There are any words for this bs.
RevDeb @ 62
Interesting to watch them starting to eat their own. We are watching the beginning of Republican Cannibalism.
I’ll be happy to pass them the mustard and catsup.
Trenchant debut TSF!
“~}
Now let’s help Max find the missing contracts…
Puesto @ 27..What is even better is that she got her law degree from Regent University. That’s Pat Robertson’s school in Virginia. Now why would a nice fundie girl like Monica need to take the 5th to avoid lying to Congress. I’m shocked!!
“attacks on my credibility have really pained me - and my family”. (ABU quote)
douchebag - when your personal definition of “credibility” is based soley upon how well you serve George W. Bush, said “credibility will be attacked.
And rightly so.
OHHH, I hadn’t seen this last part yet.
HT Crooks and Liars.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/
Good point, TeddySF — Novak is a canary in the mine.
“attacks on my credibility have really pained me - and my family”. (ABU quote)
Maybe Abu should have thought about that before he decided to lie repeatedly to Congress.
Memo to the GOP:
You have choice — you can save the Republican Party, or you can save George W Bush. You cannot do both.
greenwarrior @ 77
I noticed the same thing– including no mention of Afghanistan and the tall one.
Um, perhaps it is that the thug boyz and girls are worried about ‘08 as Jane referenced in her earlier post. They never thought we would win in November despite all their plotting and evil machinations, and they just can’t bring themselves to admit that they have completely screwed up and conspired to do so since 2000.
* my response to Abu– Your attacks on our Constitution, torturing POWs, and spying on us have really pained me.
c’est incroyable!
-ck- @ 89
How can they make a choice like that when the Republican Party is owned byt the Bush family. Their heads are going to explode.
Great site to view documentaries online….
http://best.online.docus.googlepages.com/
Scarecrow @
87
More like a vulture on the windowsill.
-GSD
Prof @ 68
Of course, I should use her proper name, since the President may be involved:
M-O-N-I-C-A
What crimes? The mind boggles.
Note: h/t Punchy in comment at TPM Muckraker
Extra credit research: Click link for photo of Monica Goodling.
PS. Problem irrelevant, but in all picnic photos she is standing or sitting next to a man one year older than she named Richard Parker, who graduated from the Robertson School of Government, 1998.
Yes, that Robertson. Regent University was first founded by Pat Robertson as Christian Broadcasting Network University.
Prof @ 68
If they all got together to write Abu’s and McNulty’s replies to Congress and they knew they weren’t true, that would be conspiracy.
If she knew of an attempt to mislead Congress by others, and materially benefitted from that knowledge (promised promotion or preferential treatment in the department, etc.), then that could form the basis of a misprision of felony charge.
But, the interesting line is: “because the above-described circumstances present a perilous environment in which to testify….”
That could mean that a question out of the blue from someone on the committee could open up other avenues of questioning about something quite illegal of which we know nothing right now.
Another possibility might be that this is a peremptory feint, and the next move will be an assertion of executive privilege, something the administration won’t do until they’ve tried the obvious first move.
Is Hagel being set up as the ‘good George?’
the ‘George’ ‘we’ always wanted?
The ‘good George’ who will take Iran down ‘effectively?’
or
Is Hagel antiwar with Iran (in ways Hillary, Obama, Edwards are not?)
Steve @ 84
Yeah.
Anybody got an email addy for Regent’s Alumni Association? You’d think somebody should let them know that one of their own is defiling that sparkling clean image of the value of an education at that institution.
Cough. That last sentence was really painful to write.
Is it just me, or do the gods have a strong sense of irony in all this? First the USA thing in general, which reeks of the Saturday Night Massacre, then the 18 day gap, now a latter day Monica? Honestly, if I’d been reading this as a novel, I’d have come close to tossing it away a few times for being derivative and obvious.
Not to mention the fact that Novak as a character is SOOOOOO over the top.
angie @
90
Novak has such a bad memory. Perhaps we should send him the list? How long is it now? last I saw, it was nearly 100 scandals/failures of the Bush Administration, starting with his appointment by the Supreme Court.
I got a thank you for the donation postcard from the Wilsons today by regular mail….I thought that was pretty nice.
RevDeb @
24
I wonder if this isn’t a matter of “payback’s a bitch!” Seems to me Novakula may not think he’s being stroked and preened enough.
greenwarrior @ 78
Yeah, I thought “trifecta” was significant under-counting. Is there such a thing as a dodecahedrafecta?
TeddySanFran @ 102
An incompetent listing of incompetence.
-ck- @ 89
Or, hopefully, either!
Attaturk @
26
Happy birthday! This is the second happy birthday wishes in one day. I believe the other was “Peterboy.”