Breaking News: Generalissimo Gonzalez is a liar

If someone in the Administration is responsible for misleading the Congress, you might think he should lose his job, at a minimum.

If you caught Generalissimo Gonzalez’s press conference on Tuesday, you got quite an earful.

The Attorney General took full responsibility for the fact that Congress was misled in the matter of the firing of the eight Assistant U.S. Attorneys. Of course, when Generalissimo Gonzalez says he takes full responsibility, he means, “I will not be held accountable, so let’s just stop talking about it.”

But he didn’t stop talking about it. Instead, he went on to describe what happened.

As a general matter, some two years ago, I was made aware that there was a request from the White House as to the possibility of replacing all the United States attorneys. That was immediately rejected by me. I felt that that was a bad idea and it was disruptive.
…
I was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions about what was going on.

He’s lying.

First of all, you can tell just by the way he was speaking: he’s not as slick a liar as some of the more polished politicians in his party. His speech was pressured, and he looked acutely uncomfortable. It was way out of proportion to the main message that he was ostensibly delivering, namely, There’s nothing wrong, or even unusual about firing a few AUSAs. I had nothing to do with it. My underling may have misled Congress, and he has been fired.

Some of the stress in his voice may have been related to the fact that the underling in question, Kyle Samson, is, Gonzalez told us, “still at the department, as he transitions out and looks for another employment.”

I mean, how much shame and disrepute to you have to bring upon the Department of Justice before they say, “clean out your desk, and never darken our towels again.” If he is responsible for misleading Congress, he should be off the payroll and on the Criminal Docket, not drawing a paycheck while he looks for a job.

A lot of folk would overlook a little fib about Kyle Samson because he was a trusted associate of el Generalissimo Gonzalez, who could be excused for spinning the truth. But what to make of the assertion that he immediately rejected the suggestion that all of the AUSAs be fired and that he was not involved in any discussions of the matter?

The head of the Department of Justice, (who never prosecuted a case) must have forgotten that when you send emails there is an electronic record and it doesn’t just go away.

Today, ABC News is reporting that soon-to-be released emails show that Turd Blossom and Generalissimo Gonzales were intimately involved in the scheme to replace all U.S. Attorneys.

White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters Tuesday that Miers had suggested firing all 93, and that it was “her idea only.” Snow said Miers’ idea was quickly rejected by the Department of Justice.

The latest e-mails show that Gonzales and Rove were both involved in the discussion, and neither rejected it out of hand.

Can’t wait to see those emails.

Actually, Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) has seen them. What they show is that Kyle Samson had a playbook that was implemented to get around Senate confirmation of Assistant United States Attorneys. The scheme involved stalling the Senate and lying to the members. The email says that all of this will be done in “good faith.” [quotation marks in original]

Senator Pryor – one of only six Democrats to vote for Gonzalez’s confirmation –reported on the floor of the Senate today that the plan was implemented and that pursuant to it, El Generalissimo performed exactly as directed. He says,

When the Attorney General lies to a United States Senator, I think it is time for that Attorney General to go. And again, he not only lied to me as a person, but when he lied to me he lied to the Senate, and he lied to the people I represent. And for that reason I am asking him and demanding that he resign today.

“… and tell ’em Big Mitch sent ya!”