Cest Moi Political Blog

Summary points of AG Alberto Gonzales' testimony today.

So if I understand you correctly...

You know nothing improper happened but you don't recall any of the events pertaining to this issue.

Yes, they were fired due to poor performance and mismanagement and you made that determination without ever reviewing their performance reports.

You don't recall the list, how the names got on the list, who suggested they be on the list, the reasons they were on the list but after going back and reviewing the documents, you have created a scenario that you absolutely stand by as completely truthful and ethical.

Senator Feinstein reviews a memo that details the "talking points" to adopt when the political firestorm over this starts. That plan was to say only that the administration made the decision, to not ever name a particular person in the administration and to not ever name a particular person in the DOJ. So Mr. Gonzalez, you detailed a clear plan of obfuscation and then when you stick to that orchestrated plan, we are meant to believe it's the truth?

Today you cannot recall what you didn't know in your previous misstatements and what you have come to know by studying the documents but still cannot recall---right?

Our nation's chief law enforcement officer offered more than 5 hours of testimony where the only detail he could recall with any level of clarity was his name.

And the statement from the White House:

President Bush was pleased with the Attorney General's testimony today. After hours of testimony in which he answered all of the Senators' questions and provided thousands of pages of documents, he again showed that nothing improper occurred. He admitted the matter could have been handled much better, and he apologized for the disruption to the lives of the U.S. Attorneys involved, as well as for the lack of clarity in his initial responses.

The Attorney General has the full confidence of the President, and he appreciates the work he is doing at the Department of Justice to help keep our citizens safe from terrorists, our children safe from predators, our government safe from corruption, and our streets free from gang violence.