Hello Righty's:

Come on. Aren't you even a little embarrassed about your Attorney General? No? Not even a little? Boy, you guys are tough.

excon

It's like a religion to them. Facts are insignificant, it's all about faith.

The Raw Story | Senator stumps Gonzales over authority granted to Cheney to intervene in Justice probes (http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Senator_shows_Cheney_granted_authority_to_0724.htm l)

Senator stumps Gonzales over authority granted to Cheney to intervene in Justice probes


During Tuesday's Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, a freshman Democratic Senator stumped Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on how Vice President Cheney, his chief of staff, and counsel, had been granted authority parallel with the President on intervening in pending matters at the Justice Department.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) questioned the Attorney General about the independence of the Justice Department and communications with the White House on pending cases or investigations.

He then pointed to a May 4, 2006 memorandum signed by Gonzales which showed that the Office of the Vice President had been granted parallel privileges with the Executive Office of the President on communicating directly with the Justice Department's staff on criminal and civil matters.

"What - on earth - business does the Office of the Vice President have in the internal workings of the Department of Justice with respect to criminal investigations, civil investigations, and ongoing matters?" the Senator asked.

Gonzales was stumped, "As a general matter, I would say that's a good question."

Whitehouse then pointed out that in the same memo, the Chief of Staff and Counsel of the Vice President were also explicitly granted the same authority.

"On its face - I must say - sitting here, I'm troubled by this," Gonzales added.

I am . He is a political light weight and has not served his President well. Bush is too loyal to fire him but he should do the honorable thing and resign...

The biggest concern would be the ridiculous treatment his replacement would receive in any confirmation hearing . I'm sure if Pat Lehey and his buffoons in the majority of the Judiciary Committee would pledge to just judge him/her on the merits and not make ridiculous demands for things like special prosecutors embedded in the White House to rat sniff for anything they could hang on the President, I'm sure that would open the way to a new AG.

I'm no great fan of Gonzalez. Like Tom, I think he's a political lightweight.

What I'm embarrassed about is the fact that he didn't stand up for himself and the President aqnd state simply that he has the right to fire the attorneys he fired, and Congress can go shove it up their collective asses. They don't have any authority over the President or the AG on this issue, and they can take their subpoena and use it for toilet paper.

Had he done that loudly and publicly, I would have supported him. As it is, he didn't stand up for himself or Bush, and it has come back to hurt him. They've used his wishy-washy attitude against him to make political hay out of what should have been a non-issue.

Elliot

It's like a religion to them. Facts are insignificant, it's all about faith.

That is entirely incorrect. Fact one is I don't believe any of us "righty's" that ex is referring to are jumping behind Gonzales.

Fact two is US attorneys serve at pleasure of the president and congress knows it, this is just one more episode of "Get Bush."


United States Attorneys are subject to removal at the will of the President (http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title3/2musa.htm#3-2.100). See Parsons v. United States, 167 U.S. 314 (1897).

Gonzales certainly botched his handling of this whole affair which certainly leaves doubt about his competency. He should have cited the above CFR code and left it that.

Fact three is I enjoy proving the critics wrong about us. :D

Steve

It goes beyond the firings however . What they hammered Gonzales for yesterday was going to AG Ashcroft's sick bed to get him to approve the wireless surveillance program . First that was completely unethical and shameable . Ashcroft was unfit at that point to make the call. Second ;I respect Ashcroft a lot . Although I have no problem with the policy enacted I do have to give pause if he had some reservations about it. He should've at least been given a fair hearing about his objections while he was fit to make them.

I have to laugh... Gonzales has been such an empty suit- yes man to the power elite over the years.

Basically, he has no regard for the Constitution, if he understands it.

NO lie is too big for him to reject telling it... or "forget" telling it.

The Justice Department is just his place to destroy--like his masters told him to do.

I don't believe any of the politicians in DC have an inkling of what is in the Constitution with the exception of Ron Paul.

I have never heard why they were fired other than it was politically motivated. Whose proverbial Wheaties did these attorney's pee in to get sacked?

Gonzales should have retired when it became obvious that this was going to be a scab the Democrat's could not stop picking.

Sorry, I'm full of disgusting clichés today.

I have never heard why they were fired other than it was politically motivated. Whose proverbial Wheaties did these attorney's pee in to get sacked?

Doesn't matter. Bush was within his legal authority to fire them. Clinton fired 80+ US attorneys for nothing other than political motivation... they were Republican appointees and he was a Democrat. Clinton had that right, and nobody disputed that. Bush and Gonzalez fired 8 and it's a case of "high crimes" that needs to be investigated by Congress and that the AG must be fired for? I don't think so.


Gonzales should have retired when it became obvious that this was going to be a scab the Democrat's could not stop picking.

He should have retired when he didn't have the balls to call the Dems on their politically motivated mechanations and tell them to shove their subpoena where the sun don't shine.

Elliot

This whole hearing is nothing but a bunch of stuffed shirts trying to bamboozle an empty suit. I'm no Gonzales fan, but Arlen Specter, Durbin, Chuck Shumer, Harry Reid, Pat Leahy spend a great deal of the day embarrassing themselves.

LOL, the board edited Durbin's name!

Not Richard ! Let me try it D*CKEY DURBIN

L.D. didn't work when I typed it out longhand. Poor little tick Durbin. At least the board didn't change what I typed to an anatomically correct term. Because if that had happened, I might have to go to the ER to fix a busted gut.

Oh and Tomder, to respond to your agree sticky above. The president has not learned his lesson. He spent yesterday stumping for Lindsey Graham! Shudder.

If it is the same man responsible for the Military Commissions Act. The man responsible for the unlawful detainment of hundreds, if not thousands of men and women such as the one below. Then id be embarrassed. Very embarrassed.

Law Council of Australia - David Hicks - Five Years Without Justice (http://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/hicksjustice.html)

JURIST - Forum: David Hicks and the US Military Commissions Process: Next Steps (http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2006/10/david-hicks-and-us-military.php)

David Hicks is also a man but wasn't treated like one. He was a man whose initial charges after 2 years in captivity were thrown out because they were considered unconstitutional. So in effect he was man held five years without charge. His charges were written whilst he was in detention specifically to deal with his case.

This whole episode sure made me very embarrassed of my Attorney General. However the word for Mr Gonzales wasn't embarrassment. More disgust!