Clasic Specter. Say all of the right things until its time to actually take a stand.

A review of the comments here at Muckraker will reveal that earlier this morning I posted 2 entries that predicted Specter would wimp out. He does it every time, it's kind of like Lucy holding the football for Linus. He continues to fall for her trickery...

...this guy and harriet miers were both on the short list

Yeah, that makes me feel oh so good about Alito and Roberts. (And after yesterday, I wasn't feeling so good about those guys in the first place.)

It is my sincere hope that Commander Codpiece continues to be steadfast in his support for little brother Fredo. If I thought a (Bush-selected) replacement had a real chance of fixing the mess they've made of the Justice department, I'd want Gonzo gone-zo, for the sake of America, but I don't. This whole administration needs to be excised like the malignancy that it is, and keeping the exemplar "loyal Bushie" Alberto around will help to hasten the much-needed radical surgery.

In the legal parlance, we look for smoking gun: one's signature on a document, or attendance during a discussion should be enough for conviction. But here, we're learning about a new type of defense: "I don't recall."

I want to switch to the "Gonzalez diet" ... have selective amnesia, and expect/hope that it absolves you from all responsibilities.

You mean Specter talked tough but wimped out in the last instance?

Surely not.

What a profile in courage.

I am amazed at some of the comments. Do they expect him to be a traitor to his party?

Senator Specter did everything except literally fire the gun. He made it very plain that he had absolutely no confidence in the truthfulness and credibility of the attorney general albeit that he stated it with nuance.

"Senator Specter did everything except literally fire the gun. He made it very plain that he had absolutely no confidence in the truthfulness and credibility of the attorney general albeit that he stated it with nuance. "

I agree entirely. I can't speak for what he's said/done in the past, but Specter was basically telling the president to fire Gonzo with his remarks. To me, at least, that seems equally as damning as asking for a resignation. At least he's sending a message to the white house, the real snake den.

Sen Whitehouse made the biggest splash again today. In addition to his "Hang Admiral Bing to set an example" in the first round, he had a telling examination of how not to operate a Justice Department in the second round. He mentioned that Sen Hatch had input to the Clinton plan, in fact.

He compared Pres Clinton's restrictions on White House/DoJ authorized-to-interact numbers of 4 WH persons - highest levels only - Pres, VP and 2 others to 3 in the DoJ - also highest levels only - AG, DAG - to the Bush II numbers: 417 WH authorized and 30 DoJ. Chairman Leahy said he'd never seen anything like that in all his years in the Senate.

I don't think Arlen is going to be any too happy with Bush's quick statement of support for Gonzo coming right on the heels of Arlen saying that the Senate hadn't really gotten the answers it was looking for. Arlen may be a wuss but he's a wuss with an ego and the WH shouldn't push it too far. Even with no backbone, Arlen's ego may finally get the job done.

I hope he does not resign. I hope he and every other incompetent Bush appointee stays in there. They are our best gaurantee of regaining the White House in 2008 as well as increase our majority in the house and senate. So just keep backing your losers, George. Drive this ship right into the iceberg. Make our day.

Why is YouTube pulling these videos?

The video is "no longer available" on YouTube. What's up with that?

I think the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are telling Bush that they don't want Alberto around to kick anymore. Gonzales has told so many lies and contradictions. He is trying to state he made the decision, and the decision was made at DOJ, while denying how he knew about this.

It is obvious the decision was made at the White House, and DOJ had the job of doing the political cover work. How they were fired, after a meeting of US Attorneys in Washington ended, so they wouldn't compare notes, show that they were trying to cover any political upheaval.

If the White House fired one or two attorneys, they would had gotten away with it. However they got greedy, and shot themselves twice by blatantly lying about it.

There are still holes in this story, and those holes lead directly to the White House. Gonzales show in his testimony that he was following orders from Rove and Miers. He tried until he had to fired well just move to another part of DOj at first his Chief of Staff, to block and obfusticate this as an "overblown personnel matter".

In general, I agree that Sen. Specter tends to pull back at the last moment, such as when he didn't give a voice vote recently and just left it up to the rest of the committee to carry the baggage. On the other hand, his comments here can be heard as a diplomatically phrased invitation to resign, and for Pres. Bush to accept that resignation. He's not calling for the president to fire the AG, he's asking the AG to do the honorable thing and spare the president of that indignity. Of course, AG is not honorable so, even if he gets the hint, he won't do the right thing. I think however, that he's so dense that the subtle message flew right over his head.

Anyone who thinks Alberto is anything more than a patsy in this whole fiasco, raise your hand please. Now you with your hands up, go to the back of the class and watch replays of the last 6 years. Footage will show Dick "face-blaster" Cheney and turdblossom in charge of foriegn and domestic policy respectively, Dubya standing in as their "cowboy" mouthpiece, and various incompetents and sychophants clustered around Dubya to soothe his sensitive ego. The real criminals are still behind the curtain at the WH. Gonzo's act is just buying them more tap-dancing time while the country and Constitution go to hell.

Not so amazing when you consider that the single qualification for a Bush appointment is how big a suck-up you are. And by the way, that Roberts nomination you agreed with brought us the current majority ruling against abortion in the face of a whole series of decisions they had to reverse. Remember Roberts' blather about how much he respected "stare decicis". Well now it's Roberts to American women "I got your stare decicis... right here!". Quiz: How do you know a Bush appointment is a disaster? Answer: it's a Bush appointment.

I'm starting to think the last thing we want is for Gonzo to resign. Much better to start impeachment proceedings and put him on trial for all his trangressions: torture, denying habeas corpus, illegal wiretapping, signing statements, obstruction of justice -- the entire littany of egregious illegal activity that is at the center of the most corrupt administration in the history of the United States of America. When the Attorney General of the United States shreds our Constitution, he belongs behind bars. Failure to put him there is an encouragement for those who follow him to do the same, not unlike Ford pardoning Nixon set the precedent for this criminal we now all endure.

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