Comments (48)

Peter Duffy wrote on April 4, 2007 9:36 AM:

Congratulations Mr Attorney General. A welcome sign of the new consensus building by the Bush Admin .

someparisian wrote on April 4, 2007 9:37 AM:

Another day, another shoe dropping.

Legalize wrote on April 4, 2007 9:40 AM:

But ... but ... Nancy Pelosi ...

kentuck wrote on April 4, 2007 9:42 AM:

God bless the day the Republicans come to their senses. What are they to believe? Their esteemed and honorable Leader or their own lying eyes? The Gollum of the White House has had them hypnotized and propagandized for so long, many outside observers wonder if there is still hope for their survival?

Legion wrote on April 4, 2007 9:48 AM:

Alberto Gonzales. He's a "uniter not a divider" but, according to him, not "the decider."

NonyNony wrote on April 4, 2007 9:48 AM:

Eh - look who it is doing the "questioning" of Gonzales's motives - Tom Tancredo and Dana Rorabacher. I suspect that they think he's lying because his last name is "Gonzales" and not for many other reasons.

Austin Cooper wrote on April 4, 2007 9:54 AM:

( Code = nail )

r€nato wrote on April 4, 2007 9:57 AM:

but Michael Kinsley said there's nothing to see here!

Boy Genius wrote on April 4, 2007 9:59 AM:

Attorney Generalissimo Gonzalez will quietly resign on Good Friday evening.

az5762 wrote on April 4, 2007 10:03 AM:

I guess this is what W means when he said he came to Washington to "be a united, not a divider." I mean it only took a lil over 6 yrs. But hey, who's counting?

SeeDee wrote on April 4, 2007 10:05 AM:

Don't claim any special insight, but if TPM checks many e-mails sent to the 'comments' page of the talkingpointsmemo.com, I raised this dis-connect yesterday about the paradox of claiming that Carol Lam was fired for not being aggressive enough on illegal immigrant cases while, at the same time, the Bush administration is pushing amnesty for all illegals.

Talk about speaking with 'forked tongue'.

ken melvin wrote on April 4, 2007 10:05 AM:

Their first impulse is to lie.

Punchy wrote on April 4, 2007 10:08 AM:

Republicans: We know he lied, thus we know he committed a crime, we know the Justice Dept is full of shit, but this is a partisan witch hunt orchestrated by rabid overbearing Dems. And nothing illegal happened. Even though Gonzo committed a crime. And lied. But they serve at the pleasure of the Prez, so everything's Kosher. Ignore Gonzo. LOOK overthere! IRAN's got 3 centrifuges!

Bush LIPS sink ships. wrote on April 4, 2007 10:13 AM:

Things 2 do today:

- Fire AG.

security code: squirm.

LEO A BOYLE III wrote on April 4, 2007 10:15 AM:

Remember, it took a long time for the Republicans to come to their senses in the Nixon scandles. They all wanted the "smoking gun" when all the information was right in front of their eyes. They would not, or could not, believe the truth. The Bushies are just Nixonian rerun with more deadly consequences.

Mark F. wrote on April 4, 2007 10:16 AM:

By the time Alberto gets his day in cour... er, Congress, they'll already have him mostly skinned and greased. He's already well on his way to a very, very hot grill--the first good barbeque of the season. Our current AG is about to get a refresher course concerning his job description, right before he gets a big, fat bipartisan boot up his arse.

Bush LIPS sink ships wrote on April 4, 2007 10:17 AM:

AG serves the president at his leisure. The pres is lucky to get any.

security code: crush. As in crush the m-f'n crew.

Bush LIPS sink ships wrote on April 4, 2007 10:17 AM:

AG serves the president at his leisure. The pres is lucky to get any.

security code: crush. As in crush the m-f'n crew.

Rich wrote on April 4, 2007 10:24 AM:

Republicans almost certainly agree with the Democrats' interpretation, but won't say it for political reasons.

beedee wrote on April 4, 2007 10:30 AM:

How can they admit that they think he's LYING TO CONGRESS, and in the same breath say that they've done nothing wrong??? It's staggering to watch this authoritarian regime crumble under the weight of it's own hypocracies and logical contortions.

vox clamantis in red state wrote on April 4, 2007 10:37 AM:

Poor Pontius Pilate (early version of w)
It's the joyful Easter season. Everyone is calling "crucify him, crucify Abu."
Poor w will have no choice but to wash his hands of the man, and let the angry mob have at Abu.
Just like w had to let them generals go who let Walter Reed go moldy, like w had to punish those bad apples at Abu Garib, like he had to let Libby hang out to dry in court....just like them unpatriotic Democrats not supporting the troops who he keeps sending back for more chances to get shot so he can ignore their homecomings in boxes...so w will stake his claim in history to bein the war presnit.

Ahmadinejad Flinstone wrote on April 4, 2007 10:41 AM:

Thanks to the Bush Administration we get to see what the Attorney General does when he needs a lawyer. And he's gonna need one.

bordersmuggler wrote on April 4, 2007 10:43 AM:

Could this really be the beginning of the end?

From today's AlterNet story:
"About a year from now, pundits and instant historians will point back at the firing of the federal prosecutors and say, 'That's where the impeachment began.'""

http://www.alternet.org/story/50086/

US8 wrote on April 4, 2007 10:50 AM:

I don't put much stock in a handful of Repugs trotting out "it wasn't immigration." I see it as an strategy to clear the table of the many reasons why the USA's were let go. When its all said and done they'll be united in saying "at the pleasure of the President." Like nothing else ever happened. They lost the handle on this story when they tried to explain why the eight were fired in the first place. They should haves stuck to the script for their own sakes.

bibimimi wrote on April 4, 2007 10:54 AM:

And Tancredo knows from immigration cases!!!

Frederick wrote on April 4, 2007 10:59 AM:

The Republicans have been lying for sooo long, they are getting sloppy with the lies. I don't even think they
care any longer, deep inside they know Bush has screwed them royally.

markg8 wrote on April 4, 2007 11:06 AM:

If you like that kind of unity wait until September when Dems and Republicans alike agree that the boy king has killed another x number of US soldiers and Iraqi citizens for nothing.

bibimimi wrote on April 4, 2007 11:06 AM:

"we get to see what the Attorney General does when he needs a lawyer".

Posted by: Ahmadinejad Flinstone

crap. who do you want the bus to hit FIRST?

markg8 wrote on April 4, 2007 11:09 AM:

BTW all you have to do is look at the DOJ emails where they're trying to help Lam out when Issa went after her a year ago on immigration to know Rohrabacher and Tancredo are right for once in their lives.

Johnsnottoodistracted wrote on April 4, 2007 11:13 AM:

Well like I was saying, there are some days when Laura thinks she's the first lady. What can be weirder than that?

Jason Cravatt wrote on April 4, 2007 11:38 AM:

You guys are getting all excited again, which means you're in for quite a fall. Bush and his slimeball aides are going to run out the clock and finish with the smart bomb: mass pardons, beginning with blanket amnesty for Turdblossom. The Bushies have always been dirty fighters and they will use everything in their vast arsenal to make sure their henchmen walks away rich and immune. The Dems who come to power will be blamed for the biggest mess in our country's history... and the bad will sleep well.

Dennis wrote on April 4, 2007 11:40 AM:

Legal or illegal removal, these attorneys were investigating administration cronies who, one way or another, were raking in taxpayer money- legally or illegally - with very little or no oversite from the White House.

And that the cronies were big on collecting election money for Bush/Cheney didn't hurt anything either.

What is really sad, is that the mainstream media is a player in the game and in effect, refuses to put any pressure on the administration by reporting the full nature of these illegalities.

The Sunday morning political talk shows are a disgrace to journalism.

You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

rackNruin wrote on April 4, 2007 11:56 AM:

Gonzales better watch his back in the crosswalks...this might be the first time when somebody really does get thrown under a bus...

DBaker wrote on April 4, 2007 12:05 PM:

My take is that these Republicans want to get rid of Gonzales because he is not conservative enough; it has nothing to do with Gonzales credibility in and among itself. Grover Norquist, for example, has made it quite clear that with conservatives it's about the conservative movement, not whether they lie or not.

The true conservatives had the same complaint about Harriet Miers - she had failed conservatism.

As Digby has pointed out several times, if conservative policies fail, it is because those people are failing conservatism, not that the conservative policies are failures themselves.

I think that, since loyalty is the number one qualifying quality of anyone in the Bush administration, they just haven't been able to find someone who meets this quality. They have already made the decision to ditch Gonzales, just like had with Rumsfeld - they just don't have a proper replacement yet.

parrot wrote on April 4, 2007 12:14 PM:

"forge such unity"

Just sayin'.

sparkplug wrote on April 4, 2007 12:17 PM:

The Republicans should be down on Gonzales. His plan to appoint US Attorneys without outside interference would have circumvented the ranking Republicans in each federal district by letting the White House pick US Attorneys without even consulting the party of the President in the jurisdiction involved. This would be a major change from prior practice where typically the ranking person from the President's party would come up with several names, perhaps one with an asterisk, for open US Attorney slots. Usually these lists of names were populated by persons in favor with the party, but also with substantial credentials and experience for the job. The local/state/district Republicans were going to be as screwed as everyone else by the provision snuck into the Patriot Act at the end of the last Congressional session. They should be part of the chorus demanding Gonzales' resignation asap.

Enronitis wrote on April 4, 2007 12:20 PM:

I heard Ken Lay is not dead.

RBB wrote on April 4, 2007 12:44 PM:

Damn, the dude is a uniter after all.

Arkansan wrote on April 4, 2007 12:53 PM:

Tim Griffin’s resume touts fabricated credentials, it’s fictional. He has no where near the experience he claimed. These people have no shame. At very least, isn’t that grounds for immediate dismissal?

There is much, much more at the link below.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/040307b.html

"Military Lawyer

Griffin’s brief White House service was interrupted in September 2005 when he reported for active duty as an attorney at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. It was there where Griffin claimed to put significant prosecutorial experience under his belt.

Griffin’s Web site states that “At Fort Campbell, he prosecuted 40 criminal cases. One of those, U.S. v. Mikel drew national interest after Private Mikel attempted to murder his platoon sergeant and fired upon his unit’s early morning formation. Private Mikel pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.”

When I asked the Army to identify the cases prosecuted by Griffin at Ft. Campbell, the Army’s public relations office replied, “According to our SJA [Staff Judge Advocate] office, Major Griffin was involved in these three cases (guilty pleas before a military judge alone) as an assistant trial counsel at Ft. Campbell, US vs. Hurst, vs. Mikel, and vs. Edwards.”

Then, after a tour of about three months as an Army lawyer in Iraq, Griffin returned to the United States where the White House offered him the job as U.S. Attorney in Little Rock. Over the preceding two years, White House and Justice Department officials had collaborated to create the vacancy by ousting Griffin’s old boss, U.S. Attorney Cummins."

-----

This explains the real reason that no one at the WH believed Griffin had a prayer of confirmation. It’s just unbelievable.

bcf wrote on April 4, 2007 1:12 PM:

I predict another plateau of irony will be reached when it is finally revealed that the dismissed US Attorneys actually had much better immigration records (from a purely law enforcement perspective) than the one's that stayed...

Sandwichman wrote on April 4, 2007 2:05 PM:

I have no difficulty believing that the firing and replacement of USA's, for whatever reason, was technically legal but politically unpalatable. The cover-up, however, may well be criminal. There's no law that says it's o.k. to commit a crime so long as the act you're trying to cover up with that crime wasn't itself a crime.

Republicans seem wedded to the logic that if the first act in a sequence of acts is technically legal then that absolves all subsequent actions. Clinging to such a convoluted, self-justifying "logic" is the definition of a sociopath. Stop calling them "Republicans". They are the Sociopath party.

salesanalyst wrote on April 4, 2007 4:20 PM:

This picture has been on my website for years, with the caption "Frodo had failed." But I think I've been too defeatist, like those from Gondor in The Two Towers. Thanks to the new Congress, perhaps we're now heading into the final showdown where Good prevails against Sauron and his minions, against all odds.

http://www.geocities.com/mgoodall.geo/recordings/Frodohasfailed-small.jpg

KY3 Democrat wrote on April 4, 2007 5:25 PM:

bordersmuggler says: "Could this really be the beginning of the end?", implying impeachment is near.

I say: Sorry, bordersmuggler. Do not look for impeachment, there will never ever ever be impeachment. No matter what the Repubs say in private about the Presnit or Gonzo or the Waw or Eye-rak or whatever the hell, they will never allow an impeachement, much less vote for conviction in the Senate. That's settled: no Nixon redux.

And we do not need impeachment! The *only* remedy we have, as I see it, is to use constitutional pressures we already hold in the courts and in Congress. Our majorities are slim and HAVE TO BE MANAGED SMARTLY. A drive for impeachment cannot be won, and may just hurt the Democrats.

Believe it or not, Bush is already being brought to heel. Already you see Bush struggling with his veto: he's salivating over the $100 billion, but he's chafing at the strings attached. He's watching his AG and crew getting slowly roasted, and he casting them loose. He sees Pelosi running around the Mid East, and he's bitching. His Repubs are signaling panic; his polls are drying up; his neocon theorists are sullen; his evagelical base is triangulating another position; markets are spooked at events in Iran. Believe me, out of this goddamn crew of apes we've seen so far, Bush is going to be the last monkey standing.

KY3 Democrat: "First we'll rip off his ears, then wipe our collective ass with them"

Sandwichman wrote on April 4, 2007 6:00 PM:

KY3 Democrat: "markets are spooked"?

What markets are those?

chuckles wrote on April 4, 2007 6:30 PM:

Bush is the epitome of "Monkey-Boy". Alberto will be packing soon. Skip the impeachment talk as Big Dick Cheney couldn't provide this much amusement to us as DW does.

Youffraita wrote on April 4, 2007 8:01 PM:

Sandwichman: The markets are spooked. They waver, up and down, this is true (they always did). But I read the NYT daily, and even the business section where, it seems to me at least, investors are getting worried. I would also refer you to an editorial in today's Times: "It Didn't End Well Last Time," which begins "Not since the Roaring Twenties...." The background -- I am not making this up -- is that most if not all of the safeguards put in place after 1929 to prop up our banking system have been dismantled by the GOP, starting with Ronnie ("trickle down") Reagan.

In short, our economy is in much the same state as it was in 1928, with one big exception: the US no longer is a manufacturing country. So any meltdown in our economy -- or any external factors like endless war in the mideast -- will make us infinitely more vulnerable to changes in the global economy, the viability of the dollar, etc.
And god forbid the Chinese call in their markers on the loans they've forwarded.

For any GOPers reading this, might I remind you: Clinton BALANCED the budget. It's YOUR guys who screwed everything up.

Emily wrote on April 5, 2007 12:49 AM:

Beautiful, just, beautiful. Bless you tpm!

s.c. 'pocket' as in,
'Gee, the things that turn up in my.... Now how did that get there?'

DBaker wrote on April 5, 2007 11:24 AM:

"And god forbid the Chinese call in their markers on the loans they've forwarded."

This is exactly right. Also, the second leg of this is when the euro becomes the world wide currency of choice over the dollar (it's already happening to a degree). In other words Petrodollars and Euro-dollars become Petro-euros and Euro-euros. If you remember, Saddam Hussein, when he was captured, had a large stache of Euros (as well as a load of dollars) with him when he was captured.

Luckily, the Chinese economy is still relatively undeveloped as well as being centralized so that the Chinese are still funding our debt since it is more secure than counting on their own people into buying their goods.

In 10-15 years, when the Chinese ecomony has expanded that they start buying their own stuff, THEN they call our debt. It therefore is not completely too late to do something about the deficits we are running, but time is running very short.