There is a clear and unmistakable pattern here of improper political interference with prosecutorial decision-making. Gonzales has allowed the DOJ to be used as a political arm of the White House. He has allowed federal prosecutors to be intimidated, bullied, and even fired for refusing to cast aside their independent prosecutorial judgment, for refusing to engage in meritless partisan witch hunts or choosing to pursue meritorious prosecutions against Republican officials. That is entirely unacceptable in a free society, and it is grounds for impeachment.Lest there be any doubt about that, I suggest reading this post by Marty Lederman which discusses Gonzales secret order delegating enormous discretion over the hiring and firing of DOJ personnel to Kyle Sampson and Monica Goodling. In short, Gonzales publicly revoked the authority that had traditionally belonged to the Deputy Attorney General and Associate Attorney General and, at least publicly, reclaimed that authority for himself. He then issued a secret follow up order re-delegating that same authority to Sampson and Goodling. This second order was apparently so secret that even the Deputy Attorney General, the person who used to have this authority, was not informed of it.
Soon after Gonzales became attorney general, his then chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, told Comey that Gonzales's "vision" was to merge the deputy's office with Gonzales's own office. That meant that Comey would have lost some of his autonomy, becoming less of a leader and more of a senior staff member. A source close to Sampson says he merely wanted Gonzales and Comey to operate as a "seamless leadership team," with "harmony rather than conflict," and never meant to "degrade the status or authority" of the deputy. Comey didn't buy it. "You may want to try that with the next deputy attorney general," Comey is said to have responded to Sampson. "But it's not going to work with me."
When Comey testified before Linda Sanchez's committee he said something to the effect that it's going to be damned hard to unshit the bed and return the Department of Justice to some semblance of independence and non-partisanship. Getting rid of Gonzales, who has no regard for either the truth nor the rule of law, is imperative and letting the administration drag this out by stonewalling for the rest of Bush's term of office is simply not acceptable.
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ZeD☼
TEAM FDL
hey! zed
Hi Jane!
It’s a little messed up when people care more about the high gas prices than the blatant corruption in this administration. Hell, I’m willing to bet you dollars to doughnuts that a majority of Americans do not even care whether Abu is AG or not. This is so depressing; just when I think it cannot possibly get any worse, it does.
From: .Goodling, Monica
Sent: Monday, March 05,2007 1 1 :I7 AM
To: Moschella, William; Hertling, Richard; Scott-Finan, Nancy
Cc: Sampson, Kyle
Subject: McKay judicial interview
Here’s the WHCO answer:
It’s true that McKay was not recommended by the Republican-led commission in Washington state as a candidate for a
district court position; however, he could claim he was interviewed by the White House for the position anyway. This is not -
really information that WHCO would want used publicly, but the interview came about because McKay knew Harriet Miers somehow and called her to say that he was in town and wanted to come by to say hello. She agreed. Once he was in the White House, McKay then said he was interested in the judgeship and basically asked to be interviewed. My understanding is that Harriet did conduct an abbreviated interview — but only as a courtesy. That’s also why he got a dissappointee call, despite the fact that he was never in the process to begin with (but he thought he was).
&
WHCO would generally prefer this line of question be avoided since the Members shouldn’t have knowledge of the
commission’s recommendations or the fact that the interview was only a courtesy (which, of course, McKay also does not know).
Tracking: Recipient Read -
Moschella, William Read: 3/5/2007 1.08 PM
Hertling, Richard
Scott-Finan. Nancy Read: 3/5/2007 1216 PM
Sarnpson. Kyle Deleted: 3/5/2007 8:46 PM
set 6–page 46 DOJ doc dump
lolo @ 1
Ah, lolo, you crafty minx…
Hi Jane!
Been busy of late getting the house ready to sell so we can move this summer.
I agree with Glenn too. There is no way that Abu is going anywhere unless he is impeached. Snarlin’ Arlen needs to be pressured to cast a vote against Abu. Will he do it? History shows he is full of bluster but when the chips are down he takes his orders from Rove. He no longer chairs the committee so I wonder what exactly Rover has to hang over his head.
The Bush Crime Family is not going down without an all out gang war. I hope our side is getting ready for it.
I don’t know, I think things are looking up. This blatent thuggery has been going on for years - now it’s finally coming under some scrutiny.
GREAT film! Succint and to the point. Thank you Jane for ALL your efforts and may God/Goddess/Gaia/The Supreme entity of your choice provide all blessings on your actions.
Abu is to DOJ as Bush is to Iraq.
here’s the comment thread on TPMMR:
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003261.php
I agree that Abu won’t be leaving of his or Bush’s free will–and that delights me. Nobody loves him, everybody hates him, great chance to tie a big damn proverbial anvil around the proverbial neck of this monstrous excuse for a presidency and toss it into the proverbial river.
I’m always amazed at these people who refuse to leave a position when it’s obvious that nearly everyone wants them to go. They’re so brazen they would continue going to work if the whole building booed them. Most people would feel weird going to work if they felt like people didn’t like them. These people don’t have that problem.
EvilDrPuma @ 13
“Abutross”. As a companion to “Dubyatross”.
Eli @ 11
Gee, you say that like it’s a bad thing… ;)
Just fyi, Marcy is reporting (via thinkprogress) that a Senate no-confidence vote may fall to GOP obstructionism:
Everythingseemssoneat @ 14
Gonzo’s just holding out for his $400,000 golden parachute.
And what do you do with shitty sheets?
Change them.
Eli- That’s true but their gall is unlimited.
‘I don’t recall having anything illegal in the trunk, maaaaan…Some other dude obstructed the justice thing’
;>)
Eli,
Abutross. I like it.
Eli @ 11
Where’s my little pencil? I feel like I’m taking my GREs….
RevDeb @ 22
“Albertross” might be even better, actually.
darkblack @ 21
Excellent. As always.
Did anyone catch the scent of victimhood in Bush’s statement today? About Abu being under enormous pressure and scrutiny? And an interesting word choice as the cherry on top: “sober”
Poor thing. Almost makes me want to run the Harvard alum WaPo ad in abu’s hometown newspaper…
Jane Hamsher @ 23
Oh, no. Please, no. Been there. Done that. Don’t want to have to do that again!
do-si-do @ 26
Attorney Generaling is hard work.
To: Ms. Lam
August 22, 2003
Your district received an overall rating of 4.14, slightly higher than the national average of 3.91. Your scores for each of the sections were:
Anti-Terrorism (5),
Project Safe Neighborhoods (4),
Drugs (4),
Civil Rights (4),
Corporate Fraud (4)
Management (4)
Intangibles (4).
This score demonstrates the quality and thoroughness of your District Performance Report and should not be interpreted to reflect the actual effectiveness of your district’s programs.
Once again, thank you for all of your district’s hard work. I hope that this process
provides you with another tool for successfidly managing your district. If you have any questions, please call me or Bill Goldman (Attomey Advisor) at (202) 5 14-2 121.
Guy Lewis
Director
Set 9-page 16 WARNING PDF
Abu Gonzales isn’t leaving anytime soon.
After all, he’s a human shield for Rove. Gonzo gone, Rove’s soft white underbelly would be fully exposed.
Now there’s an image…
Eli @ 28
Alberto’s doin’ a heckuva job.
I can’t believe the quality of writing from these last three posts. Sure the cons give us good material to work with, but its like I’m reading improvisational genious.
I’m still trying to process toe nails and wurlitzer, garters and gout, and Abu’s lover for “Pleasuring of the President”.
Must think happy thoughts.
Didn’t the Speaker say “impeachment’s off the table?”
She did not say “impeachments are off the table,” did she?
At this point I don’t think I’ll hold my breath waiting for my party to impeach the AG.
Mutant Poodle @ 17
Why are they protecting this clown? What do they have to gain from it? I mean really? Bush cares nothing for his party leaders. Their loyalty has been/will continue to be abused. I can’t get over the dysfunctional family dynamics of it all.
ccmask @ 29
Anyone else find it interesting that illegal immigration isn’t even one of the evaluation criteria?
while i am in the camp that
bets-on — and believes in, alberto
gonzales in fact resigning, at
some point — i definitely see
the wisdom in the other view:
who on earth will be able to
run interference for dick cheney’s
lunacy-du-jour, with ‘fredo gone???
to be fair, the shooter uttered
these gems on may 10, when he firmly
believed it would all blow over, but
most of the “programs” he labels in
this interview as being the source
of his “unpopularity” — goodness,
but he sure is kind to hisssself, here! — are
also very-closely-associated with abu-gonzo. . .
great topic, here — but i was surprised
when wolfie ultimately folded his tent, and
took the circus de shahaha with him — so,
maybe gonzo will be gone-zo, too. . .
i dunno. monica should be a
big help on wednesday, though.
really big.
Eli @ 28
sorta like clearing brush?
EvilDrPuma @ 13
I think you’re right, but my gut (honed by watching hours of Stephen Colbert) tells me that while Abu G is unloved by almost everyone who (in Tina Fey’s memorable phrase) doesn’t think Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs to church, it’s more because he is so transparently slimy and not becuase he has steered the DOJ into the partisan rocks.
[catching breath from run-on sentence]
And I think that’s fine. People will catch up to the details of why he’s a slime, and since they sense it already, almost everything that is revealed about him will simply strengthen that perception.
But he ain’t ever resigning, and unless there’s film of him at the House Page’s dorm, W ain’t firing him.
OT
Has this come up at FDL yet?
National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive
Under that plan, Bush entrusts himself with leading the entire federal government, not just the Executive Branch. And he gives himself the responsibility “for ensuring constitutional government” in the event of a catastrophic attack.
Now that the National Guard has now been replaced by Black Water we should be very worried. This scares me more than anything else these criminals have perpetrated.
My apologies if this has already been discussed,
SteveAudio @ 30
Yes, thank you so much for giving Darkblack ideas.
RevDeb @ 25
I just don’t show the crappy ones, RevDeb. Ta.
;>)
Please help Prime the Pump — to grease the skids under Gonzo-boy, we need proposals for formal Articles of Impeachment against Gonzo, in case the No Confidence thing doesn’t do the trick for us.
Like Jane sez, Gonzo and Georgie are inseparable. Only impeachment can force them apart.
We need specific charges. What has he done that qualifies as
* perjury (must be lots in his “testimony” to Congress)
* obstruction of justice (Carol Lam? Other acts of politicizing the DOJ?)
* other high crimes and misdemeanors?
So far, I haven’t found any that have been developed with proper legalese.
Bob in HI
Josh has a new DOJ document dump.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
No immigration.
No voter fraud.
No kiddie pr0n.
TeddySanFran @ 33
I assume she only meant for the Chimperor. It would be such a conflict of interest, you know, to take down der leader when you are close in line in the order of succession.
Abu, well, that’s a horse of a different color!
Jane said:Abu will never leave voluntarily and Bush will never fire him, they’ll clench each other as tightly as Dick Cheney’s gout hugs his garters.
bbbbbbbwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaahhhhhhh
Eli @ 28
I wondered, when he whined about political theater, why no one asked him about fighter-jetting his way to an aircraft carrier for his “Mission Accomplished” speech, or about how he always talks about Iraq surrounded by uniformed members of our armed services.
That’s not political theater, I guess, it’s leadership.
Blecch.
Eli: Neither is voter fraud on the Lam list.
EvilDrPuma @ 41
Where would I be without the fertile minds of the Lake?
;>)
36 Eli says:
May 21st, 2007 at 4:21 pm
ccmask @ 29
To: Ms. Lam
August 22, 2003
Your district received an overall rating of 4.14, slightly higher than the national average of 3.91. Your scores for each of the sections were:
Anti-Terrorism (5),
Project Safe Neighborhoods (4),
Drugs (4),
Civil Rights (4),
Corporate Fraud (4)
Management (4)
Intangibles (4).
This score demonstrates the quality and thoroughness of your District Performance Report and should not be interpreted to reflect the actual effectiveness of your district’s programs.
Once again, thank you for all of your district’s hard work. I hope that this process
provides you with another tool for successfidly managing your district. If you have any questions, please call me or Bill Goldman (Attomey Advisor) at (202) 5 14-2 121.
Guy Lewis
Director
Set 9-page 16 WARNING PDF
Anyone else find it interesting that illegal immigration isn’t even one of the evaluation criteria?
Nor is “voter fraud.”
Whatever they gave you after taking your blood this morning, Jane, I sure would like some! Wild, fantabulous writing today.
RevDeb @ 46
Never bothered Newt the oppressed…
Jane- Your titles are crackin me up today- funny as hell!!
they’ll clench each other as tightly as Dick Cheney’s gout hugs his garters.
-Jane Hamsher
You been reading some Micky Spillane lately or what, Jane? :o)
Eli @ 15
Synonym: Albertross.
Bob in HI
ccmask @ 49
But immigration was the supposed reason she was canned. I don’t think voter fraud ever even came up in her case.
Of course, all the USAs were presumably evaluated on the same list of criteria.
Eli @ 11
And as long as the Congress doesn’t force the issue on both of these by impeaching Abu and standing firm on a withdrawal from Iraq, as long as Bush gets his way despite the various gyrations and somersaults in Congress, he will seriously and sincerely not give a rat’s *ss.
Bush re: Gonzalesgate…
I find what is going on in Washington now to be pure political theater (paraphrased).
Oh, like strutting around in a codpiece on the deck of an aircraft carrier?
Bob Schacht @ 56
I dunno, when you’re anchored at the bottom, what do you care if it’s by one cinderblock or two?
Mary McCurnin @ 40
I went over to read that earlier. Talk about a threat to our safety. It reads like “hey, come get us so I have the pow-WAH!!!”
I said this a number of weeks ago, but guess it bears repeating: if presidential power increases to the point of existing outside the constitution, would that not, in and of itself, be its own incentive to GO TO WAR???
You might, at this point, stop and ask yourself:
what is wrong with this picture? why is doj doing a doc dump on a tuesday?
answer:
this dump is one big drive by memo-machinegunning of ….
….
wait for it…
MONICA GOODLING!!!!!
gee. what a surprise. any thoughts that she is gonna play “fall on my pen for the team” should now be reconsidered…
(disclaimer: this is based on early read-throughs in TMP’s comment thread. but they’re building up fast and the anti-monica bias seems to be holding…)
I’ve said this before, but IMO Fran Townsend is Bush’s plan B.
Comey will pipe up that he thinks she’s wonderful.
Bush knows she’ll push the envelope to protect him (Judge Lamberth had his own run ins with her when he was in the top seat at the FISA court).
She’s got “liberal” credentials that none of his other picks will have (she was very tight with Dem and first woman AG - Janet Reno).
She’s got her hands moderately clean going in so she’ll look all fresh and shiney.
All fwiw.
In addition to sending an issue to the TX Bar on the classified info, they need to be having them review his conduct in trying to get Ashcroft to sign as AG when he was not and when he was medicated - two capacity issues, one mental and one status.
do-so-do
The thing that scares me the most is the feeling that they would create their own catastrophic attack.
Alfred Kelgarries @ 62
So… I assume the calculus is that discrediting her is more valuable than not pissing her off?
http://www.vanityfair.com/poli....._and_.html
Reading some discouragement here and whenever I’m feeling that way, after reading here, I pop over to Wolcott and scroll through until I find the words I need to see me through.
“The ashy clouds over Mordor have parted, my friends. It was only a year or so ago that the Permanent Republican Majority seemed not only a grim possibility, but a stark near-inevitability. Karl Rove’s master plan seemed to have a mortal lock on the political future.”
snip
“Instead, there’s a shitstorm brewing, the flags are beginning to snap on the flagpoles, and karma is about to pay a nasty housecall.”
Trust me, I’m a nurse, it helps.
Abu can hang on until the very last Bushie cannot say “The Democrats hounded a good man from office.” If that takes no-confidence votes in the Senate and the House, and articles of impeachment in the HJC, then fine. The GOP continues to oppose Abu in order to put daylight between their sorry selves and W.
No political martyrdom for this cretin, please.
Goodling, Monica
From: Goodling, Monica
Sent: Wednesday, February 28,2007 1:42 PM
To: Roehrkasse, Brian
Subject: RE: Updated Draft Talking Points and McClatchy story
Tracking: Recipient Read
Roehrkasse, Brian Read: 2/28/2007 1:53 PM
How about:
David Iglesias was confirmed in 2001 to a four-year term as U.S. Attorney in New Mexico and was allowed to extend his service for an additional year and a half. During his 5 1/2 years of service, we had a lengthy record from which to evaluate his perfonnance as a manger and we made our decision not to further extend his service based on performance-related concerns.
page 40 of this PDF file
Bush wins every time. And I, for one, am getting tired of it. C’mon Dems, what’s the problem here? When you were the minority you claimed you were powerless. Now as the majority, you’re still powerless??
Mary McCurnin @ 64
it’s that twisted. wag the dog and all that. live for today, gang!
darkblack @ 21
darkblack!!!
so good to see you, and your brilliant work.
hiya zenn!~
do-si-do @ 70
I don’t think they would do that, but I do think they would look the other way if they knew an attack was coming. Indeed, I think they already have.
zennurse @ 72
zennurse, as I live and breathe
:)
zennurse!
So good to see you!!
Mary McCurnin @ 64
Wouldn’t a hurricane qualify?
Mary @ 63
while i’m compiling, one note that has finally made this make sense to me is that the signature was needed for the TELCOS to prevent lawsuits under FISA. And that suddenly makes sense. Comey let the TELCOs know that their eavesdropping was now illegal; they told bush, bush said “keep doing it anyhow, i’m the deciderererer!” and they said “not unless we get a signed document from the AG”. and the way the law is written whether or not the AG had “his powers” might not matter. Note that in today’s USNews article, comey flatly says he felt he had to consider “physical action” if they did manage to get Aschcroft’s sig.
and that is what forced Chimpy to reconfigure the program, the TELCOs refusing to comply until they had lawsuit protection, which Comey and the others provided in some unspecified way.
there are links to this all over, hopefully somebody can find them. but for the first time it provides a (to me) rational explanation for the otherwise insane behavior of chimpy and co. the TELCOs could have hung them out to dry real fast if chimpy got shirty with them…
“Bush wins every time”
Not on my scorecard. He hasn’t had a clear win all year- he’s playin defense and ya can’t score without the ball.
Hi Zenn!
Good to see you and everyone else. It feels strange when I’m away from the lake for very long.
Jane,
Great post! But the title confused me. I was hoping to see some nugget of promise that Gonzo-boy would soon be swept into the dust-bin of history, but Alas!
I think Al Gore and Bob Barr were right back in January of 2006: BushCo is daring us to impeach him. Its like we’re on a truck full of chickens heading down Wolf Creek Pass and all of a sudden we find out there are no brakes. After all, remember? Speaker Pelosi said impeachment is off the table. Therefore, no brakes.
Bob in HI
Prime the Pump!
TeddySanFran @ 52
my favorite is “Commander Codpice and his Lost Planet Henchmen”
Solai,
Maybe the hurricane was a _ _ wait for it _ _
dry run.
darkblack @ 74
Hey, db,
Thanks for the nice comment at my place yesterday.
Don’t expect a revelation from Monica. She has had a long time to “prepare”.
The Bush administration is going to give the finger to everything (including subpoenas) Congress does about Gonzo.
Then I suspect it goes to the Supreme Court. Help us out her legal eagles.
Bush is just killing time here. Bush and all of Congress know all the chess moves that can and will be executed.
I suffered through Watergate, can you just wake me when something big happens.
Eli @ 65
correct. she is already pissed off and having to sing to keep her white little butt out of the bad place (federal prison). the dems want to use her revelations to force abu out. wh wants to put out enough slime to say “she was the rotten apple, she abused poor innocent abu’s trust, along with that horrible mcnulty and the evil, evil kyle sampson.”
i’ll bet a nickel on this outcome…
Eli @ 57
yes they were, who will do our bidding and who won’t
I’m not sure Gonzo will leave even if he is impeached. Like you said, the stakes are too high.
Alfred Kelgarries @ 77
Marcy expounded on this very subject.
TeddySanFran @ 72
Hey, you big huggable sweetie! It’s been too long, trying to get back into things here a little at a time, forgot how fast things move.
Send you blessings..
Eli #73, I’d love to hope you’re right…but given the choice between betting the Admin wouldn’t do something like that versus a false-flag terrorist operation to make Bush President-for-life and keep he and his out of jail, I think the odds, frankly, are against you.
RonD @ 90
You really think they could pull it off without getting busted?
Provoking a war with Iran, well, *that* they can probably do.
SteveAudio @ 84
Well, it was a nice post, Steve.
;>)
I’ve had that band on my tiny mind for a while now. Giants in days gone by.
Teddy,
OT We have finally come to terms with the sellers of the house in the Admiral’s district. Going down for the inspection on Friday. . .
The stars seem to be aligning.
rwcole @ 78
He won the big one. The Senate is caving and funding the war with no withdrawl requirements.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have located the white whale: the Kommissar’s Filthy FingerprintsTM on a purgegate email: note the To: field! (from the TPM Doc Dump thread, which has now started to echo my earlier conclusion independently…)
From: Jennings, Jeffee S.
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 10:17 AM
To: ~KR@georgewbush,com’; Fielding, Fred F.; Sullivan, Kevin F.; Perino, Dana M.;
tkyle.sampson@usdoj.gov’
Cc: ‘Sara Taylor’
Subject: NM USATTY - urgent issue
Importance: High -
I just received a telephone call from Steve Bell, Sen. Domenici’s CoS, who urgently
reported the following:
1. Outgoing USATTY David 1glesias.i~h olding a press conference at 11:30 Eastern this
morning. I
2 . He is allegedly going to say that he was contacted by’ two Members of Congress last
Fa11 regarding the investigation into the courthouse construction corruption case.
Information on this is in the following article:
http://www.abqtrib.com/news/20.....siasinvest
ig/
3. He is allegedly going to say that the Members urged him to deliver indictments
before November’s election. He will further say that one of the Members, frustrated with
his answer, hung up on him in anger.
4. He is allegedly going to link these phone calls with the current news - saying that
he believes this ultimately led to his being asked to resign by DOJ. I
Bell said Domenici’s idea is not to respond, and hopefully make this a
RonD @ 90
I am afraid you might be right.
Good evening friends.
Political Theater
Mutant Poodle @ 48
Theater is theater. And one thing you have to do, if you’re in theater, is that you pay a lot of attention to audience response.
If the child on stage observes, “The King has no clothes!” and there’s no reaction from the audience, the producers take note. The audience doesn’t care whether or not the king wears threads, they say to each other. Maybe we need to cut that scene. But if the child observes “The king has no clothes!” and the audience erupts with shouts and applause, then the producers say to each other, “well, this line is hot; how can we develop it?”
So we need to make sure that the producers of our political theater know that we are watching, and what we care about.
Bob in HI
Prime the Pump!
Hi Betsy
Abu’s at it again.
Via John at Americablog. Please read.
Georgesimian @ 87
then we’ll have to pound those stakes down into their hearts.
I too hate to be away from the Lake of Firey Pupsters for long, and hate to post and run too (as I must do right now, alas!) –
but it is so very good to see dear zennurse again! And RevDeb! And all of you Pups so close to my heart.
Have had some health problems, but more concerning was two family members with life-threatening hospital stays. All is well for now, thank God.
Hope to get back here real soon! Hugs and kisses!
RevDeb @ 93
So, you’ll be Sestak-ituents?
Helen @ 98
Hi Helen. How’ve you been?
TeddySanFran @ 102
Sestakular.