Posted on 04/20/2007 6:36:23 PM PDT by shrinkermd
...Gonzales had gone to Capitol Hill Thursday with just one mission: to placate Republican and Democratic senators dissatisfied with his account of how eight federal prosecutors were fired.
Apparently, he failed. For the first time, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee broke ranks and said it might be best if Gonzales stepped down.
"It is generous to say the attorney general's communications about this matter have been inconsistent," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., told Gonzales in a packed hearing room Thursday. "The consequence should be the resignation of the attorney general."
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said in an interview after the hearing, "There are some problems that he just hasn't handled well, and it might just be best if he came to a conclusion that the department is better served if he's not there."
Some of the committee's biggest questions went unanswered: How exactly did the Justice Department settle on the eight prosecutors who were fired? Does Gonzales have command of his agency?
"You have been a forceful witness, and you have had a lot of staying power," Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the committee, said near the end of Gonzales' seven hours of testimony.
"But we haven't gotten, really, answers," added Specter, R-Pa. "I urged you to put on the record the details as to all the U.S. attorneys you asked to resign so that we could evaluate. And you have not done that."
Specter threw Gonzales a thin lifeline, declining to call for his resignation but making it clear that he thinks there's little argument for Gonzales keeping his post...
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
First we have to understand memory. Daniel Schacter wrote the classic, popular book on memory. The title of the books is “Seven Sins of Memory.”
He notes, as do many, that most people do not even have an idea of what memory is and how it operates; hence, we have people tried and convicted in court and in the court of public opinion on the basis of memory problems.A succinct quote is:
“…As I showed in my earlier book, Searching For Memory, we tend to think of memories as snapshots from family albums that, if stored properly, could be retrieved in precisely the same condition in which they were put away. But now we know that we do not record our experiences the way a camera records them. Our memories work differently. We extract key elements from our experiences and store them. We then recreate or reconstruct our experiences rather than retrieve copies of them. Sometimes, in the process of reconstructing we add our feelings, beliefs or even knowledge we obtained after the (memory) experience. In other words, we bias our memories of the past by attributing to them emotions or knowledge we acquired after the event….”
What Gonzales showed in his interview is the common failing of “remembering” something in the past that was the product of present circumstances and knowledge.
In respect to who made the decisions,if you have ever worked in a bureaucratic organization--say the Pentagon--you will remember that many consensus decisions are difficult to trace to a specific reason or person. Actually, Gonzales needed no reason at all to fire the federal prosecutors. He probably affirmed the decision on the basis of multiple views and desires.
The there most common influential professions lacking a modern, scientific understanding of memory are judges, politicians and lawyers.
I hope POTUS sticks to his views and keeps Gonzales. Those most critical are getting cheap moral superiority thrills on a MSM effort to destroy a man and his career for nothing. There are enough Republican, ignorant suck ups to give the Democrats support but no one has charged a crime. Until they do, there is little of substance either to say or do.
Based on that, I would suggest Gonzales start taking his personal stuff home.
AG AG needs to get to work on securing the borders if he wants continued support.
I watched that yesterday...and I watched the hearing with Kyle Sampson.
One thing that I distinctly remember Sampson saying in his testimony...was that Gonzo “signed off” on the list of changes at a meeting.
He didn’t say that Gonzo made the list, reviewed the list..or even read the list...he said “signed off”.
I have been supervisor in some capacity in many jobs..where my signature would be needed on a simple piece of paper to put in a cash register in order to okay an overring..or something like that...
But, there were times...that I was just signing something that was handed to me...explained...but I couldn’t swear on a Bible that I knew what was on it....especially a year or so later.
Three GOOD reasons why Gonzales has to step aside:
(1) Ramos
(2) Compeon
(3) Deputy Hernandez
PERIOD
He looked bad at that hearing. After seeing that I wouldn’t trust him to handle a traffic ticket. We deserve better at AG. Problem is if he resigns it will embolden the Dems and they will start going after the competent folks in the administration.
The Attorneys General serve at my pleasure. At anytime, without warning and without notice I can fire one, some or all of them.My administration will have nothing further to say about this matter.
The reason I don’t want him to step aside is because it will merely whet the democrat’s appetite for more!!
Look, in this case, we can’t bluff this one out.
1. His key people quit when this broke.
2. Gonzales said he “couldn’t recall” more than 70 times today.
Bush needs to stop the bleeding, let him go, and appoint Godzilla (someone tough) to step into the AG role immediately. Now, more than ever in six years, we need a really strong AG!
Very good comments. I am disappointed that Gonzales was not more aggressive instead of trying to grovel before these people. They have no power over him. Sure they can play their games but they have no real power. Gonzales should have taken an Oliver North stand and told them the administration can fire whomever they please and remind them that Bill Clinton fired all 93 of them and he doesn’t recall any hearings over that etc.
“The reason I don’t want him to step aside is because it will merely whet the democrat’s appetite for more!!”
You can’t be serious......
President Bush could have placed JESUS CHRIST as Attorney General and the ANTI-AMERICA RAT PARTY would have found fault with HIM.
Gonzales is a weak sister that needs to go away.
Bring back ASHCROFT and let the RATs piss and moan about that.
Do you remember that the DEMS are in the majority in the Senate now??
Anyone that YOU would want as AG would NOT get confirmed.
I mean how far does he have to go to appease Mexico?
He's pathetic and incompetent, but throwing him to the wolves will only embolden the party of traitors and their pseudo-republican enablers.
I would have agreed in a heartbeat. But Gonzales didn't do it. Then, the Republicans started calling for his resignation.
No way we can recover from that.
We can not forfeit any more ground to a party that is so nuts it is literally calling for impeachment of a President simply because they don’t like him.
No more. Not one more inch. NO MORE!
I expect any congressmen that want to retain my vote or financial support in the future to support Gonzales.
“Do you remember that the DEMS are in the majority in the Senate now??”
You are referring to the ANTI-AMERICA, PRO AL-QAEDA RATs, of course.
PHUQUE them.
Republicans would do well to support Gonzalez simply because he is an Hispanic of, yes, basic integrity - and the fact that many Hispanics are justifiably and understandably proud of his serving as AG.
Sorry, supporting people on the basis of affirmative action is a platform of the DEMOCRAT party.
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