Bush: My Confidence in AG Has “Increased”At this point, I think it’s a re-re-re-reaffirmation of his confidence in Gonzales — but I’ll have to go back and check. From this morning:
Q The Attorney General is still getting a lot of criticism over the U.S. attorneys situation. Was his explanation sufficient, or is there more he needs to do to try to turn things around?THE PRESIDENT: The Attorney General went up and gave a very candid assessment, and answered every question he could possibly answer, honestly answer, in a way that increased my confidence in his ability to do the job.
One of the things that’s important for the American people to understand is that the Attorney General has a right to recommend to me to replace U.S. attorneys. U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President. In other words, we have named them, and I have the right to replace them with somebody else. And as the investigation, the hearings went forward, it was clear that the Attorney General broke no law, did no wrongdoing. And some senators didn’t like his explanation, but he answered as honestly as he could. This is an honest, honorable man, in whom I have confidence.
I’m going to assume his comment that Gonzales answered all the questions he could “honestly answer” is just yet another of Bush’s infelicitous phrasings. But that didn’t stop me from snickering.