Joe Conason: "A Gonzales Resignation Is Not Enough" (call for special prosecutor)

[Hissyspit]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2007/04/20/gonzales

A Gonzales resignation is not enough
Congress should demand that a special prosecutor get to the bottom of why the U.S. attorneys were fired.

By Joe Conason

- snip -

Whether the Decider turns thumbs up or down on his pal, however, this must become an accountability moment not only for the attorney general but for all of the ranking Justice Department officials who apparently lied to Congress about the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. For senators of both parties, many of whom have already expressed their disgust with the misconduct of Gonzales and his aides, there could be no greater insult to the integrity of their institution.

The only way to redress that insult -- and to uphold the constitutional balance of powers -- is to demand the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the crimes that may have been committed in the firing of the eight U.S. attorneys and the cover-up that followed.

- snip -

Yet as Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington noted in a stinging letter sent by its director Melanie Sloan to Gonzales last month, an enormous volume of documentary evidence sharply contradicts the testimony delivered on various dates by him, McNulty, Moschella and Sampson (who have also contradicted each other). Everyone can't be telling the truth -- and anyone who didn't tell the truth to Congress under oath may be guilty of a felony. Moreover, anyone who tried to influence that testimony in an effort to conceal the truth may also be guilty of obstruction, conspiracy or both.

- snip -

Astonishingly, despite all the contrary evidence that has emerged since then, Gonzales continued to promote that same discredited line during his Thursday morning appearance in the Senate. As Joshua Micah Marshall noted on Talking Points Memo, Gonzales again suggested that Carol Lam, the former U.S. attorney in San Diego, had been warned by the Justice Department in Washington about her inadequate prosecution of immigration cases. Sen. Charles Schumer swiftly dismantled this blatant fiction, and left the attorney general sputtering. But the telling fact is that Gonzales -- who spent weeks preparing for this appearance in an effort to save his job -- somehow believed that he could lie again and get away with it.

MORE

[BushOut06]

1. We need to investigate every one of their sorry asses

This is by far the most corrupt administration of all time - we should be investigating ALL of them.

[EFerrari]

2. I can't believe any of these felons are still in public office. n/t

[Fresh_Start]

3. The jackass GOP would rather sweep the shit about their

party under the rug then defend the Constitution and the country from their emboldened crime family.

[KharmaTrain]

4. Joe Should Know...The GOOP Gutted The IC

That was the real dirty little secret about the Clinton inquisition. While Repugnicans hated Clinton, they hated the Special Prosecutor laws even more and figured if they couldn't get Clinton, they could deep six the concept of an Independent Council. They pushed to get an IC appointed to snoop around Clinton with Whitewater...and when their first IC wasn't zealous enough (Robert Fiske), they brought in a party hack who ran roughshod and the rest is "history". By the time the IC law was up for reauthorization in '99, Democrats as much as Repugnicans couldn't get rid of the law fast enough...and here's where we are.

Booooosh is daring the Senate to impeach Gonzo...it's a combination game of chicken and playing out the clock. He doesn't think the Democrats have the stones to push any type of impeachment through and that if he and Gonzo hang tough, not only will he tell the Democrats to pound sand, but he can continue with the process of politicizing the judicial system as he can.

[Ganja Ninja]

5. The problem with a special prosecutor is he's appointed by the

Attorney General. That's why Gonzo has to go so we can get non-Bushie AG to appoint real prosecutors. We're going to need a dozen or more by the way things are going now.

[L. Coyote]

6. WHEW!! Acute words AND a long overdue grito for freedom. "Here come the Liars."

"Here come the Liars. Here come the Liars." Un Grito de la Nueva Revolution, as a few sane Senators attempt to restore democracy using the rule of law. How ironic that they have to take the chief law enforcement officer of the Republic to task to make the attempt.

However, a dire situation calls for more than just another special prosecutor, toiling on for years. Before we have a less reasonable Grito, it is time to hang a few liars by their own words in the very halls of justice they are supposed to be maintaining.

"No more Lies" to go to war.

"No more Lies" to steal elections.

"No more Lies" to double the price of energy.

"No more Lies" to overthrow our democratic institutions.

"No more Liars."

[L. Coyote]

7. NPR Politics: Senators Renew Bipartisan Call for Gonzales to Go

Excellent web page with links to the audio of the hearings, NPR's Special Coverage, MP3 Download, links to in-depth articles, and more.

==============================
NPR Politics: Senators Renew Bipartisan Call for Gonzales to Go
by Pam Fessler
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9515295

* Hear Nina Totenberg's Report for 'Morning Edition'

NPR.org, April 19, 2007 · Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced renewed calls for his resignation Thursday during a contentious daylong hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. After lengthy questioning about what led to the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year, both Democrats and Republicans said they had lost confidence in the attorney general and his handling of the department.

................

[EVDebs]

8. The vote fraud that gets them into office, combined with institutionalized corruption

from the M/I Complex and the CIA/GOP money-connection,

"It's all part of a growing ongoing investigation into corruption in defense and intelligence contracts, which already has sent former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham to prison and, legal sources say, may threaten others in Congress and the CIA" ,

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12634250/

leave us all in awe of The Octopus the Republican party serves. The tax-paying public, who sees 25% of DoD's money going "somewhere else",

The War On Waste
Defense Department Cannot Account For 25% Of Funds — $2.3 Trillion
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml

means that we the people have realized 'critical mass' on becoming informed of the true extent of GOP corruption. There is a cancer on the country now, not just the White House. That cancer can only be removed via the ballot box, or a change of heart amongst the hardest of hearts (and heads) in the Republican Party. The clock is ticking but they stubbornly refuse to change course. Fine, let the truth become common knowledge then.

Look who they leave in charge of WH and DoD and DOJ computer systems software, for openers:

Ptech
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptech

and Dollars of Terror
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=17730

"Ptech is used primarily to develop enterprise blueprints at the highest level of US government and corporate infrastructure. These blueprints hold every important functional, operational, and technical detail of the enterprise. A secondary use of this powerful tool is to build other smart tools in a short period of time. Ptech’s clients in 2001 included the Department of Justice, the Department of Energy, Customs, Air Force, the White House, the FAA, IBM, Sysco, Aetna, and Motorola, to name just a few. "

They are STILL there BTW. No 'games of chicken' will be allowed by the wrath of an angry public once word of this gets out and is handed out in pamplets or by word of mouth (the M$M is already in shutdown mode despite the Lisa Myers story on MSNBC above).

The US Congress should not be comparable to the PRI single party rule in Mexico, but today it is. The SHAME of it all should have George Washington et al doing cartwheels in their graves.

[bleever]

9. Gonzo is the firewall shielding the White House's role in these firings.

His carefully crafted non-story is all about protecting Rove and Bush.

[Hubert Flottz]

10. K&R

Don't cut and run from real OVERSIGHT!