Monica Goodling

Well, Monica Goodling has given her immunized testimony. I could not follow it in real time but I gather from news reports that it did not provide any ground breaking shockers. She does admit that hiring was done on a party line basis. This is unacceptable and illegal. The general disarray of the Justice Department, and the perpetual mendacity of Alberto Gonzales, was made clearer.

We need to keep in mind that this is how an investigation proceeds. These Congressional hearings rarely provide great theater, and thy should not be expected to do so. Recall how long it took Fitz to investigate the Plame leak. This story will continue to develop, and will probably do so for years to come.

Remember Alberto

Remember Alberto Gonzales and his dreadful job explaining why the USAs were fired? Yet he is still cooking along as our Attorney General. I explained my reasons for thinking that no matter what Alberto was not going anywhere (the Bush Administration needs an absolute loyalist, too many things hidden, but they can't get one through Congress). McJoan over on Kos gives a bit broader discussion of why Alberto is not going anywhere soon.

Gonzales

Gonzales increased Bush's confidence. Kind of says it all.

Gonzales' future

Via Josh Marshall we learn a bit more about the status of Alberto Gonzales. The money quote Josh refers to is

Publicly, the White House was standing by its A.G. One White House adviser (who asked not to be ID'ed talking about sensitive issues) said the support reflected Bush's own view that a Gonzales resignation would embolden the Dems to go after other targets—like Karl Rove. "This is about Bush saying, 'Screw you'," said the adviser, conceding that a Gonzales resignation might still be inevitable. The trick, said the adviser, would be to find a graceful exit strategy for Bush's old friend.

As I've been saying, Bush is not going to let Alberto go, not easily. Now, I should point out that the reason here is not one of my reasons, but still, the idea that AG was going to leave however poorly he did with the Senators is misguided. The above quote indicates to me that prospects of Bush firing Gonzales are less than I previously thought. According to this adviser, the central issue is to find a "graceful exit strategy". Well with everyone calling for Gonzales to resign, in the harshest terms, there is no graceful strategy.

I've been saying

that Bush cannot let Alberto go. It seems others are agreeing with this take.

White House Reaction to Alberto Gonzales

This is too rich. White House insiders think AG hurt himself with the Senate yesterday, but no one knows what Bush will do. The money quote though is

No one is looking for a replacement yet, sources said, and the White House is waiting to see how this plays out with the public and members of Congress over the next couple of days.

Remember when this was the White House that, unlike that bad Mr. Clinton, didn't follow the polls. No they just "see how this plays out with the public and members of Congress" which is an entirely different thing, just couldn't be moor different. And then they need to watch public opinion to determine how Alberto Gonzales's testimony went over. A more pitiful trainwreck, outside of a six year old caught with his hand in the cookie jar, has not been seen in decades, and they need to watch public opinion to figure out how it went. Sigh.

Gonzales' future

Josh Marshall reports that the buzz is that Alberto Gonzales' stock has crashed. Atrios likewise reports that CNN is giving much the same analysis. Or you can see what Talk Left has to say, not good for the AG. Alberto is in trouble. However, as Josh also says

But let's not get distracted by Alberto Gonzales. He's just a cog. In almost every case, what we're talking about here is Gonzales's willingness to take orders from the White House -- most importantly from Karl Rove and President Bush -- on firing US Attorneys for corrupt purposes and using the Justice Department to suppress Democratic turnout in swing states. Mr. Gonzales is a secondary issue. The real players are in the White House.

The real players are in the White House. I'm not exactly willing to put money on it, but I expect that the White House's players are going to try and brazen this out, for a while longer at least. I think this is the case because I suspect that they cannot afford to try and replace Gonzales. There are many more secrets that they do not want to have come out, and with the current Congress they can not count on a sympathetic AG. Look, for example at what is happening with their new Secretary of Defense, here and here. An AG equally willing to buck the Administration would be a very big headache for these "players". I don't know how long they can hold out, but do not expect a resignation from Gonzales for several days yet, maybe much longer.

Update: I keep saying that our Boy George is not interested in firing Alberto Gonzales. It will be some time more, if ever, that he actually does the deed.

Not Going Well for Alberto

Apparently things are not going too well for our AG Alberto Gonzales. This from Byron York is pretty damning, especially considering that this is from the NRO, generally pretty friendly terrain for members of the Bush Administration. In Byron York's words, for example

The major problem with his testimony is that Gonzales maintains, in essence, that he doesn’t know why he fired at least some of the eight dismissed U.S. attorneys.

or from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham

“Mr. Attorney General, most of this is a stretch,” Graham told Gonzales. “I think most of them [the U.S. attorneys] had personality disagreements with the White House, and you made up reasons to fire them.”

At this point it would seem that Sen. Lindsey Graham, Sen. Sam Brownback, and Sen. Tom Coburn, solid conservatives all, have all been extremely critical of Gonzales. And by that I mean calling for him to resign or accusing him of lying. These aren't the only conservatives on the committee giving the AG a tough time and the Democrats are even less friendly. Alberto is having a bad day.

Alberto Cramming

I direct you to Mark Kleiman, who has found a great commentary on Alberto Gonzales's preparations for his upcoming Congressional testimony. Go check it out.

Latest on Alberto Gonzales

The latest on the Alberto Gonzales front (from the AP via TPM) is that among the latest documents released by the White House are some that show that the AG was directly involved in the firings of the US Attorneys. Josh Marshall seems to think that this might be a 'Bye Alberto' moment. Now, in a normal administration it would be, but this is not a normal administration and I doubt this will drive him out, but it will increase the pressure on him and the White House.

The thing is, I believe, that there are many, big skeletons in numerous White House, and Justice Department, closets. I don't believe that the current administration can afford to have anyone in the position of AG who is not a solid Bush loyalist. And no one that qualifies in that regard could get Senate approval. I also don't believe that the administration could afford to leave the Justice Department to the Civil Servants. So, I conclude that the White House will try and keep Alberto and ride this out, at least for quite a while longer. What happens as this scandal continues though will be interesting.

Link to Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall March 23, 2007 09:54 PM