Comments (71)

JEP wrote on May 24, 2007 3:51 PM:

and a flip of the middle Heffelfinger to Ms. Goodling and her handlers...

Goodling's "Disney Princess" personae is cracking and the coniving, calculating office bitch is showing through, I can just hear that sneaky little voice again, lying, "I don't remember anything like that" but going on to remember some bit of trivia immensely more obscure and forgettable than the question she refused to answer.

What ever happened to "the WHOLE TRUTH" concept of testimony?

These half-truths, outright obfuscations, whole lies and memory blackouts full of forgetful denials should lose her anmy immunity deal they agreed to.

Goodling's testimony sounded just like one of thier redacted documents.

JEP wrote on May 24, 2007 3:52 PM:

PS Anyone else see a hybrid Tonya Harding/ Ann Coulter character here?

zAmboni wrote on May 24, 2007 3:54 PM:

Hilarious.

With testimony basically admitting that party affiliation and political leanings were used as criteria for hiring and firing within the DoJ....the best excuse they could come up with in firing Graves is that there was an investigation because he had is picture taken with...........Shooter?

Dave wrote on May 24, 2007 4:03 PM:

The job of a DOJ White House Liaison seems to be

1. Attend brainstorming sessions and throw out arbitrary names for firing.

2. Hire whoever you like and block hiring of whoever you don't like, by using random labels like "too liberal"

3. Never have to communicate with any White House people despite the title "WHITE HOUSE liaison"

4. Play the role of Queen of Office Politics and have everyone suck up to you in order to keep their job. Whoever refuses to suck up will have their name appear on the firing list.

No wonder she was crying so hard when it looked like she was going to lose her job at DOJ. WHERE ELSE CAN YOU FIND SUCH A GREAT JOB???!???

Are they still hiring? I'd be interested too.

sharp wrote on May 24, 2007 4:05 PM:

He was spending too much time trying to investigate indian stuff....and getting to close to the real corruption schemes.

Just like Lam, and Black.

Steve5117 wrote on May 24, 2007 4:05 PM:

Sooner or later, and of course we all hope sooner, someone within the administration will come forward and say "I can't take it anymore!" and tell their little story, and then another and another.

Think about it, if I was a little fish I would have to let someone know that I knew my job depended on being a loyal Bushie, and I could no longer consider myself a loyal American unless I told what I knew.

Isn't that right C.P.? (private message)

Dave wrote on May 24, 2007 4:07 PM:

Forgot one item in the job description:

5. Surf the web and look up the political contribution history of any DOJ job candidate.

But then, we can hire a high school intern for that task. I don't think you need a law school degree to know how to surf the web.

The Confidence Man wrote on May 24, 2007 4:09 PM:

Regarding the firing of Heffelfinger due to "his work related to his position as chairman of the subcommittee of U.S. attorneys that deals with American Indian issues," I seem to recall that Thune's defeat of Daschle hinged in large part on vote-suppression on reservations in South Dakota. Obviously, not the same USA territory as MN, but directly adjacent -- and if Heffelfinger was deeply involved in Native American issues, and smelled a rat one territory over ...

Also note that Jackley, the current SD USA, seems to be one of the more recent appointments.

It *always* comes back to the Von Spakovsky ("Dr. Strangevote")-Schlozman-Rove vote-suppression project.

Dave wrote on May 24, 2007 4:15 PM:

So, a White House Liaison doesn't need to communicate with anyone from the White House, huh?

Please, geez, gimme a break.

Her lies are not even logical. No wonder she's not practicing law.

nuncamas wrote on May 24, 2007 4:16 PM:

And Griffin (re vote suppression program). Don't forget Griffin. See the BBC Palast email cache.

rage wrote on May 24, 2007 4:19 PM:

She's so young to be experiencing this tragic level of Alzheimer's Disease!

I'm stunned!

Though, for a good Christian girl who only wanted to "help" the Nation, I must confess, she is quite the accomplished little deceitful liar.

Had she only been as good an attorney as she was a liar! Oh, the humanity...........

dean moriarity wrote on May 24, 2007 4:20 PM:

she got immunity for THAT?

bordersmuggler wrote on May 24, 2007 4:27 PM:

Question for the legal experts. Did the comment about caging in her opening statement preclude her being charged in connection with that conspiracy? If not, she should do time with Griffin, Rove and everyone else involved in that despicable crime.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4594

Dave wrote on May 24, 2007 4:27 PM:

From the wiki page on Kyle Sampson. Unbelievable...

"In 2006 Sampson attempted to get himself nominated to the U.S. Attorney position for Utah. "White House and Justice officials backed Mr. Sampson in his bid to replace Mr. Warner, making that clear to the staff of Senator Hatch. But the senator wanted Mr. Bush to nominate Brett Tolman, a one-time Utah federal prosecutor who had spent the previous three years working on antiterrorism issues for the Judiciary Committee staff....Mr. Hatch finally made a personal appeal to Mr. Gonzales to drop his bid to nominate Mr. Sampson. After a four-month delay, President Bush nominated Tolman for the position in June 2006."

For all the evil Orin Hatch has done, he should at least be credited with blocking this weasel Kyle Sampson from the US Attorney post in Utah. This seems to be the exit strategy of all these young inexperienced administrative staff in DOJ: work a couple years under Alberto, then seek nomination for USA position in your home state.

Another example of this exit strategy is Rachel Paulose of Minnesota. The Minnesotans are now suffering under the jurisdiction of this young inexperienced but arrogant lady. Shame on their senator Norm Coleman for failing to block this nomination. No wonder it looks like Senator Coleman will not make it to another term.

bordersmuggler wrote on May 24, 2007 4:33 PM:

Dave

Lets hope that the offended Minnesotans drape Coleman with the Paulose albatross everywhere he goes during his '08 campaign. Better, make his life so miserable over this affair that he withdraws his name from the race.

SC: crush

KilgoreTrout XL wrote on May 24, 2007 4:37 PM:

I AM OUTRAGED THAT A MEMBER OF THE BAR AND OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT COULD PROVIDE SUCH MISLEADING TESTI- aww.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww........look at her.

She's purdy.

Let's be nice to her, k?

K.

Anonymous wrote on May 24, 2007 4:37 PM:

Why are some folks pushing the caging thing so hard here? I'm beginning to think it's a deliberate distraction.

chuck wrote on May 24, 2007 4:41 PM:

Huh. Hatch Act. Must not have been on the VA bar exam she passed on the very first try. Well, a violation _is_ a violation, dumb is no excuse.

I don't think her resignation should close the matter since her punishment ought to include debarment from Federal employment for some period of time, presumably spanning a number of years, say five or ten.

Since she is a member of the bar, that's probably worth the VA Bar taking a look as well.

She has a very warped sense of "public service" if she allowed loyalty to Bush and party to overcome any awareness or sense of duty to the
Constitution, the law, and her actual employer, the people. Must not have been paying much attention when they had her recite that oath thingy she took when she was appointed to her first position at DOJ. Probably was hoping she looked good for the picture of her all neat and tidy with her hand raised in front of the flag and all. Hope it was a nice photo, so she can constantly be reminded how she turned the experience all to ashes. Sic transit gloria monica.

Hope she's proud. Hope Regents is proud. Maybe they can make her a case study for their class on the Hatch Act.

Dave wrote on May 24, 2007 4:53 PM:

Bordersmuggler, I sure hope so.

How inept can you be as a US Senator if someone tries to slip a 34-year-old with 3 yrs assistant US attorney experience into your state as the US attorney, and you didn't object?? Norm Coleman must be smoking some heavy stuff at the time to be this ignorant.

Pete wrote on May 24, 2007 4:54 PM:

So Graves was fired because he got his picture taken with Vice President Cheney? I believe that. I'm glad to see that the Justice Department was so aggressive in weeding out even the appearance of improper partisanship within the ranks of its USAs.

dan wrote on May 24, 2007 4:58 PM:

It is a stupid/wasteful exercise really by Dems. Unless they can actually prosecure people lile Gonzo, Goodling etc.. for perjury, this is stupid exercise. Waste of time.

Anonymous wrote on May 24, 2007 4:59 PM:

April 12, 2007
OSC Reports More E-Mail Hatch Act Violations

A Government Executive article reports a large increase in complaints about the use of e-mail to forward political information, which can be a Hatch Act violation, depending on the scale of the use. An excerpt from the article notes:

In one of the highlighted cases, an EPA employee was found in violation of the law for forwarding a letter from the Democratic National Committee to 31 agency co-workers that urged support for then-presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. The punishment decision for the employee is still pending, although the lightest sentence under the law is a 30-day suspension without pay.

Copied from:

http://www.iecjournal.org/iec/2007/04/osc_reports_mor.html

modmom wrote on May 24, 2007 5:00 PM:

Why isn't the media going after the Republicans who praised her service knowing she admitted to breaking the Hatch Act. This will make for a great Dem Campaign ad!

Republican Integrity

pan to Monica parsing her way to admitting she broke the law even though she was an attorney, and top Bush Administration official who should be aware of the law.

Then to individual Republicans praising her service and lauding her accomphlishments.

SOUNDS LIKE A WINNER TO ME!

Anonymous wrote on May 24, 2007 5:03 PM:

the pot was simmering

the pot is boiling.

boilover soon.

Woodhall Hollow wrote on May 24, 2007 5:04 PM:

Didn't I hear her say something about how it was not a good idea to dump on USAs?

Anonymous wrote on May 24, 2007 5:05 PM:

HaHa! I figured those guys would be pissed. But their treatment was nothing compared to Iglesias, McKay, and Lam. You would think those three were the worst ever after listening to the Republicans on the committee. The gloves came off which is easy to do, not to mention cowardly, when the person is not sitting there and able to defend themselves. The thing is they were all loyal Bushies but they had to be sacrificed to protect Rove. I would love to see the attorneys get another crack at those politicians who slandered them. Remember how the Republicans were all crying about how shameful it was that the Dems were dragging these attorneys through the mud. Well now it is obvious these folks WERE NOT fired for performance based reasons like Gonzo and the White House claim and yet those politicans insisted on attacking their character. So who is the one who dragged their names through the mud?!

modmom wrote on May 24, 2007 5:11 PM:

Why are folks pushing the "caging" thing? Perhaps because it is illegal, unethical and cost the dems several elections.

In Ohio in 2004, we say predominately Af Am precincts allotted fewer voting machines per registered voter than nearby white precincts, we saw changes in long standing precinct locations and purges of voters in high Dem areas, we saw disinformation directed at minorities, intimidation at the polls. That's why!

Why is caging important? Why not ask karl or Tim Griffin or even Monica Goodling why their opposition research was effective.

Dave wrote on May 24, 2007 5:15 PM:

It's obvious Alberto Gonzales lied repeatedly in his Congress testimony. And yet, Bush called all this a political theater. So, lying in front of Congress is okay with him??

To Bush, I guess things like entertaining the Queen from England, and attending college commencement addresses are important stuff, while making sure the Justice Department is run properly is unimportant.

modmom wrote on May 24, 2007 5:19 PM:

If anyone is interested in reading the effects of caging on the '04 in Ohio, read this journal piece I wrote:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/mod%20mom/1

free bird wrote on May 24, 2007 5:19 PM:

Ann Coulter wanna be

free bird wrote on May 24, 2007 5:25 PM:

Wasn't there some scandal involving a lucrative state contract that was awarded to Graves wife and wasn't that investigated by another U.S. Attorney who got fired? Circular and confusing but not sure that Graves is being totally honest about the "investigation".

Dave wrote on May 24, 2007 5:25 PM:

This video on impeaching Alberto Gonzales is really good, if you haven't already seen it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGlOBPNr7Kg

Youffraita wrote on May 24, 2007 5:35 PM:

Does it seem obvious to anyone else that she basically admitted collusion with Gonzo to get their stories straight so they could tell the same lies? Forget impeachment: let's go for perjury and conspiracy charges, hey?

Bucketochicken wrote on May 24, 2007 5:42 PM:

So what are the odds that a short time down the road she's offered a cush position as a professor at the Regents U "Law School?"

Irina wrote on May 24, 2007 5:48 PM:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/the-rise-of-the-dick-chen_b_49207.html~~O

n the war, same thing. Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL), for instance, today criticized Moveon.org in Roll Call newspaper for asking Democrats to vote down the blank check proposal, saying "I would urge MoveOn and others to recognize that the person who is extending this war is George Bush."

This is the same Artur Davis who whined to reporters that it was "unfortunate" he was exposed for taking thousands of dollars of credit card industry cash in exchange for his support for the credit card-industry written Bankruptcy Bill in 2005.

But, then, Davis is trying to pull the same kind of rhetorical trick that so many other Democrats pull:

Attempting to make us believe they are merely innocent bystanders, and that there isn't that document known as the "Constitution" that gives Congress the power of the purse over George Bush. We're all just supposed to be totally psyched that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) says she is unhappy that this is all happening, even though Pelosi is simultaneously using her power to schedule this vote, and set it up in a way so as to hide it from the public. She would have us believe that September will be "really the moment of truth for this war," as Congressional Quarterly quotes her saying - as if it's no big deal that more troops will die because she and her colleagues are willing to drag their feet from the comfortable guarded confines of the U.S. Capitol.

Dave wrote on May 24, 2007 5:49 PM:

This NY Times Op-Ed is really good too:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/opinion/03bowman.html?ex=1180065600&en=30aa0fe04355dea9&ei=5070

Sara wrote on May 24, 2007 5:49 PM:

It is interesting that the last Representative to Question, Keith Ellison of the MN 5th District, was the one to ask the Heffelfinger questions. He asked two -- one was about the "too much time on Native American issues" and the other was whether Goodling had any communication with Mary Kiffmeyer, former Secretary of State in Minnesota. Both questions have good back stories.

In 2005, Mary Kiffmeyer forced a law suit into state court regarding rules for what kind of ID had to be presented at the polls. She did not win her case, and there was no strong interest in actually making it on the part of Mike Hatch, then state AG, who is a DFL'er. But What Kiffmeyer was attempting to do was challenge the state registeration laws using the Help America Vote legislation -- essentially she wanted to argue that our state law had been trumped by the Federal Law.

Now Minnesota makes is easy for people to vote -- we have same day registeration at the polls. Since we passed this law in 1973, we have had no fraud problems -- we are always first of second in the US in terms of turn out of elegiable voters, and 40% of Minnesotans over the years have used the same day provisions to vote. Kiffmeyer wanted to challenge this with the HAV laws, and most important, she wanted to challenge college students using the provisions to register and vote from their college residences. Kiffmeyer made major efforts in DC at DOJ to force Heffelfinger to join her suit, and he refused, seeing no grounds for any challenge of our system.

What Ellison needs to do now is write follow up questions asking for all communications on this matter between Goodling, or anyone in Main Justice and Kiffmeyer. Likewise -- any DOJ communication with Heffelfinger. This is not exactly caging -- but it is yet another effort to carve out a part of the electorate, and refuse them the right to cast a ballot.

By the way, Mary Kiffmeyer was defeated in the last election. We now have a DFL Secretary of State. Her defeat was largely over this issue. Anyhow, Ellison needs to get Conyers to request or subpoena all the correspondance about this matter from DOJ.

Now the Native American back-story. There are three sub-matters which did or could have involved Heffelfinger. Most well know, The Red Lake School Shooting. While only one student was responsible for the shootings, there apparently were several others who knew Weiss's thinking before the fact. One of these was the son of the Tribal Chief, who was arrested and ultimately tried in Duluth, but tried as a youth offender, with the trial behind closed doors, and the evidence under seal. Heffelfinger was brought under huge pressure to qualify the kid as an adult and try him in public -- but he refused. The Red Lake Band was very strong that they did not want a public trial in this case as the level of awareness of the Chief's son was really quite slight. (Remember, the case involved Weiss killing his grandparents -- and his grandfather was chief of the tribal police -- the point was to kill him to get his guns so as to attack the school.) Anyhow Heffelfinger got a grand jury to investigate all the issues, and they returned a youth offender charge, and he stood solidly behind that. I think this very much might have angered some of the authoritarian types in Main Justice.

The second Native American matter which might be involved dates from 2002 -- and it is about an effort connected with Abramoff to get two tribes to fight each other over a gameing matter. Two bands of Minnesota Sioux have very successful casino operations in Eastern Minnesota, near the Twin Cities -- Mystic Lake, and Treasure Island. Both bands have fairly strong DFL connections that date back years. Wisconsin's Winnebago were propositioned by the Abramoff people to take over a bankrupt dog track on the Wisconsin side of the St. Croix River -- just a mile or so off the 94 interchange on the Wisconsin side -- and turn the track into a Casino in competition with the Sioux very successful operations. Eventually it was settled with the local people had a vote, and decided they didn't want a Casino in their town -- but that was only after much court effort, where Heffelfinger refused to get involved. (It was an interstate matter, with two Indian Tribes -- he clearly could have gotten involved had he wanted to do so). Anyhow it is the interest of the Abramoff gang in this that intrigues me -- and I suspect not doing what Abramoff wanted in 2002 might have been a black-mark against Heffelfinger. Again -- let's see if there are any records.

The third issue is much less direct -- it was about Rove pushing money through Norm Coleman's campaign in 2002 to support the Green Party Native American Candidate in the Wellstone-Coleman race in 2002. (The Greens ultimately settled this by defeating their own candidate in the September 2002 primary). But it was hot news in the summer of 2002 that Rove was spending money through Coleman to support someone who might fool progressives, and take votes away from Wellstone. At the time it was a big issue, Heffelfinger did comment that he might investigate the matter of Coleman's campaign funds being used for two candidates and two parties -- but it never went beyond that. Again, that probably alienated Rove who was shoveling in the campaign cash.

For those who don't know who Heffelfinger is, I would suggest a little research. On one level he is the Nephew of the 1940 GOP Candidate for President, Wendell Wilkie. His first Cousin, Wendell Wilkie IV was a high level administrator in the DOJ during Bush I -- and worked in Bush II's DOJ during the first two years. The Heffelfinger Family itself is Old Minnesota -- I suppose it is three or four greats, but Chris Heffelfinger was one of the leading officers in the Minnesota First that quite literally saved the Union on the day before Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, when he led the Minnesota First to confront five confederate regiments at the Wheat Field, allowing Hancock a window to bring up reserves. The Minnesota First suffered 88% casualities in that operation.

Anyhow -- that's what Goodling wrote off so casually yesterday...a Republican line that runs back through Wilkie and further back to one of Lincoln's more adept officers. Their noses need to be rubbed into all this the way you teach a little pup not to poop in the house.

TheraP wrote on May 24, 2007 5:52 PM:

A. Fill the top level jobs with bozos who take orders and are willing to "cross the line."

B. Get rid of even your own kind if they appear to work hard to fulfill their oath of office and fight for justice.

C. Make up talking points which are so blatantly nonsensical the human brain twists into a pretzel or tunes out.

D. Repeat C over and over if people begin to notice or complain about A and/or B.

E. If all else fails, arrest some bozos and call it a terror plot. Or combine this with a vague terror alert.

F. Suspend habeas corpus. (for reason: 'C')

G. Get evidence by torture. (for reason: C')

H. Start wars (for reason: 'C')

I. Spy on everybody - but keep it secret.

J. Everybody who helps gets a promotion or a medal or a government contract. Payola.

K. Elections.... it's too obvious to suspend them, so they have to 'fixed.'

Have I forgotten anything? Oh, pretend it's all been ordained by the "Almighty" - which bush uses a lot - but does he really mean himself?

Altoid wrote on May 24, 2007 5:54 PM:

Looked to me like she only admitted things that were already on the record and impossible to escape. BFD.

This is Standard Operating Procedure in the Gonzo DOJ, apparently, since he's so open about only caring about what's on the record.

An oath, for people like this Monica, is always subject to a Higher Law that only they know about. It's like a dog whistle or something.

Anonymous wrote on May 24, 2007 6:00 PM:

After listening to the hearing a couple of times
( my poor ears)
Goodling's BS level really becomes clear, esp. under Rep. Davis' questioning. Once she is knocked off her prepared answers, she flounders like a beached fish. This gal appears to have maxed out the
"fake it until you make it" technique.
You can only go so far on blond power.

and, btw...does anyone know what she is doing now? Keeping in mind that the "resigned" folks in the Admin. have a habit of hanigng around...

Anonymous wrote on May 24, 2007 6:04 PM:

They must have been caging because they perceived it would be an advantage. What else have they done?

Dave wrote on May 24, 2007 6:06 PM:

> You can only go so far on blond power.

Her blond power captured John Conyers, though. This is especially obvious at the beginning of the hearing.

If you haven't come across this already, in 2006 John Conyers was accused of using his staff to baby-sit his children:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/12/griffin.conyers/

John Conyers is 78 years old.

If his children still require babysitting, I think he probably had them when he was 70 years old. I don't know about you, but to me, this shows him to have a liking of young women.

Neil Ziemba wrote on May 24, 2007 6:07 PM:

In reporting on the US attorney firings and Monica Goodling's testimony; have you looked at the claims made by Greg Pallast regarding Tim Griffin and caging. If what he says is true regarding the emails he claims to have, it would appear to be an area that the Senate and House should investigate. You can see his post on The Brad Blog. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4594

Dave wrote on May 24, 2007 6:12 PM:

Okay, did a little searching...

In 1990, John Conyers (age 61) married Monica Ann Esters (age 25).

jjk wrote on May 24, 2007 6:29 PM:

Wonderful post/comment Sara, Thank-you!

Herb wrote on May 24, 2007 6:38 PM:

She said something like this at one point in the hearing (paraphrasing):
"different people said different things (about different stuff) at different times..."
SAY WHAT?

Then, it was funny when she pretended
not to know Karl Rove... [Karl who?].

She didn't mention PERVERTING the Federal Courts to steal elections for the G.O.P. -- serving the Republican party... (Prostitution?)
She said her job was: "TO SERVE THE PRESIDENT."
[She didn't mention the PEOPLE...]

Despite her fourth-class education from Pat Robertson, she's goin' to HELL! Have a nice day.

mec wrote on May 24, 2007 6:39 PM:

Immunity deals can be vacated.

Anonymous wrote on May 24, 2007 6:53 PM:

"Are they telling me I spent too much time trying to improve public safety for Native Americans, who are victims of violent crime at a rate 2½ times the national population? If they are, then shame on them."

That is exactly what they were saying. The GOP elite don't give a dead rat's a** about Native American's. He should have been chasing non-existent voter fraud against Republicans and trumping up charges against Democratic politicians.

Mrs. K8 wrote on May 24, 2007 7:01 PM:

Sara --

I too want to thank you for all the detail on the backstories in your comment, and I very much agree with your suggestion for demanding documentation on communications with this Kiffmeyer creature. I'm hoping that you've been on the phone with committee staff about this -- have you?

In addition, telling us the history of the Heffelfinger family helps give the context for the current Heffelfinger's spine -- his loyalty to the Constitution. While even the most recent American immigrant who swears loyalty to the Constitution in the citizenship ceremony will have their blood boil at the outrages of the Bushies, there is also something in the blood of those whose ancestors fought and died to throw off royal tyranny and preserve the Union.

My ancestors fought both in the Revolution and in the Grand Army of the Republic -- and sometimes I swear I feel their own fury in my veins as I fight as a mere citizen against these monsters who have stolen our beloved country.

S Lyons wrote on May 24, 2007 7:04 PM:

Weren't several of the fired USAs on the Native American Issues Subcommittee? Yep. According to this dkos diary, all of them except Lam and Ryan. Maybe it had less to do with voter fraud and more to do with something Abramoff-related that has yet to hit the fan.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/22/5326/71374

Anonymous wrote on May 24, 2007 7:31 PM:

Fuck- that Arthur Davis voted for The War on Poor People Bill, ie, The Bankruptcy Bill?! I got ZERO respect for any Dem that voted for that. What a creep.

lestatdelc wrote on May 24, 2007 8:08 PM:

So the upshot is, we are to believe the Bush White House pushed out a US Attorney because he had a photo taken with Dick "Go Fuck Yourself" Cheney?

lestatdelc wrote on May 24, 2007 8:11 PM:

So the upshot is, we are to believe the Bush White House pushed out a US Attorney because he had a photo taken with Dick "Go Fuck Yourself" Cheney?

lestatdelc wrote on May 24, 2007 8:25 PM:

Sorry for the double post there.

Anonymous wrote on May 24, 2007 8:36 PM:

Freebird, You're right. Todd Graves,his brother US Rep. Sam Graves,Missouri Governor Matt Blunt,and a shit load of other crooked bastards from Missouri should be in jail for these fee office scandals. The only reason these assholes hold office is to enrich family and friends.

The Oracle wrote on May 24, 2007 8:42 PM:

I love it. Security Codeword: Bucket.

As in, Buckets of Bullshit that Monica Goodling threw on everyone at her congressional hearing...as well as the Buckets of Bullshit thrown on everyone by Republican questioners of her. Buckets and buckets of bullshit.

As in, Buckets of Blood spilled in Iraq, the blood of our brave soldiers and the blood of Iraqi citizens, men, women and children.

As in, Buckets of Blood spilled on 9/11 after the Bush administration blew off the al Qaeda threat upon entering the White House in January 2001, claiming that they were too busy developing a "regional strategy" to be bothered with al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

As in, Buckets of Blood shed by residents of New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina hit.

As in, the Buckets of Bullshit that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney throw on everyone anytime they talk. Oh, and the Buckets of Bullshit that describes everyone at Fox News, or Limbaugh, or Savage, or Boortz, or any of the Bullshit artists covering for the worst administration in American history.

Buckets and buckets of Bullshit and Blood: this is the Bush administration legacy.

Cowboy wrote on May 24, 2007 10:42 PM:

Abramoff alert!

Five of the eight were members of this committee, including a sixth, Heffelfinger, the former USA from Minnesota. Among the replacements? Mr. Eid, a former Greenberg Traurig attorney (Abramoffs lobby/law firm). Coincidence? Mmmmmm . . . .

Emptywheel has been following up this angle, but I'm sure there is much more to be uncovered here.

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/
2007/04/native_american.html

Cowboy wrote on May 24, 2007 10:44 PM:

Btw "This committee" equals the Native American Issues Subcommittee (NAIS)

Doc Tomkiel wrote on May 25, 2007 12:23 AM:

Did anyone think that Ms. Goodling was telling the truth? I certainly did not. And, I believe a significant oversight has been made here. While Monica stated that she had no direct contact with Rove or Miers, she did say that she had contact with their staff.

This needs to be followed up on. Monica needs to be re-interviewed.

Anonymous wrote on May 25, 2007 5:55 AM:

Ummm...did you catch the careful parsing of Goodling's statement:

"To the best of my recollection, I've never had a conversation with Karl Rove or Harriet Miers while I served at the Department of Justice, and I'm certain that I never spoke to either of them about the hiring or firing of any U.S. attorney.

Although I did have discussions with certain members of their staffs regarding specific aspects of the replacement plan, I never recommended to them that a specific U.S. attorney be added to or removed from Mr. Sampson's list, and I do not recall that they ever communicated any such recommendation to me."

Goodling didn't use the broader word "communication" as in chat, text messaging, emails, faxes, etc. except towards the end in reference to their staffs and then only to say the staffs hadn't communicated recommendations to her.

Goodling may be a shitty lawyer, but she's still a lawyer.

Suggestor wrote on May 25, 2007 7:33 AM:

A suggestion: Ms. Goodling has testified that she researched political contributions in making hiring decisions for career US DOJ applicants. I suspect she made use of one of the small number of public databases which conveniently list such contributions; I also suspect she made such inquiries using DoJ computers, and that a log of these inquiries may be available from the Department's IT and security departments. This would be a worthwile area of inquiry, perhaps by subpoena.

John S wrote on May 25, 2007 11:09 AM:

IANAL, but wouldn't caging (different meaning)your answers to questions asked under a grant of immunity constitute perjury? For Government Scientists, giving an incomplete picture or withholding evidence is considered falsification and can be penalized.

powkat wrote on May 25, 2007 11:49 AM:

Of course it's okay with Bush to lie to Congress. It's okay with him to lie to everyone - weapons of mass destruction, smoking gun = mushroom cloud, Iraq al Quaeda connection, how many troops equal a surge, firing any one who outed Valerid Plame, Mission Accomplished - need I continue?

Anonymous wrote on May 25, 2007 12:54 PM:

An anonymous poster says: "Why are some folks pushing the caging thing so hard here? I'm beginning to think it's a deliberate distraction."

Caging, i.e. voter suppression of minorities (Democratic voters) is THE POINT of the US Attorney scandal, along with prosecuting Democratic candidates just before elections, challenging Democratic election winners, filing suits on behalf of Republican losers and defending Republican winners. IT'S OUR DEMOCRACY, STUPID. It was part of the 30 year plan for permanent one party rule. And we aren't out of the woods yet. There are many jurisdictions planning on voting on DREs or counting with compromiseable Optiscan machines.

Josiah Bartlett wrote on May 25, 2007 3:50 PM:

With Miss Monica's background of attending schools that one would expect would have heavy religeous indoctrination, one would expect that things that God wouldn't like and you shouldn't do were strongly reinforced. It would be interesting if someone with a similar strong religeous background from our side could question or create a list of questions to lead her down the path of questioning how her actions and responses have limited her chances to get into heaven so to speak. I think it would be very interesting to get her to question her faith.

Bill wrote on June 12, 2007 5:08 PM:

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Bill wrote on June 12, 2007 5:09 PM:

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