If Clinton can be impeached for lying about a blow job, I'm sure there's enough evidence to impeach this whole administration.  What more do they need?  I guess that's why WH lawyers are requesting miers, bolton, and the rest be questioned in private and not under oath in from of the judiciary committee.  There's no penalty for lying if you're not under oath.  What a bunch of idiots?  And they have actually think the American people are ok with this?  Well at least they have still have Wayne on their side.

People LIKE Gomzales shows what kind of LEADER Bush is,Bushs People will do enything to cover for Bush.

I 2nd that on the post script "not surprised" about this story making it in the major papers. But also, "Where in the World was Matt Lauer"? It's all about Harry..

    We can only hope that this is the straw that breaks the camel's back, and the dominos that are this adminstration start falling, one by one.......

    Put any one of us "regular" folk into that same circumstance, of having to testify before the Judiciary committee, and then giving testimony that conflicts with the official record. I'm sure that we'd be put in the slammer faster than GWB can put his moniker on a signing statement......  

Karma-rific, indeed! In the words of the great Homer Simpson, "D'Oh!!"

Let's all save some time, here are Karl's talking points:

"There no underlying crime!"

"If you indict him, you're actually helping the terrorists"

"Clinton did the same thing."

"It's a witch hunt!"

"The memo was only temporarily de-classified, Bush just now Re-classificated it, so shut up."

"It's an on-going investigation so we can't talk about it."

"TERROR LEVEL ORANGE, TERROR LEVEL ORANGE."

Interesting day so far. Leahy is now going to subpoena Karl Rove.

they have some momentum now, I hope they get some things accomplished before break.

Looks like ol' Abu Gonzales keeps living up to his nickname of "Fredo" every day.

OK I've seen Steve from Cedar Falls (welcome back) and seen the sign off by Pam, but where's Sue from West whatever in Wis?  There's been nothing in days.  Anyone in the know about this?

   Matt - Is it possible that our illustrious elected officials might consider this matter important enough to forego their recess?

   One could only hope so.....

Hey Lurking (1:10 pm post), if memory serves, she's got family in from out of town, so that may cut into her blogging time.

He did not have sex with that Vice President!
He did not have sex with that Rover!
He did not have sex with that Dubya!
He did not have sex with that Condi!
He did not have sex with that Barney!
But he sure is screwing around with the Truth!

wou people if " we can trust our legal department" how can we expect the rest of the world to trust them? It's getting to a point I don't think people realize that we not only looking bad to the middle east, but more important we looking really bad to the rest of the world. After 9/11 the world was with and behind us. Bush wasted all the good will of the rest of the world. What happen next time a crisis happen to us? You think the rest of the world is as willing to fallow us blindly into war?  Or don’t you think they remember the lies they been told by this administration?  We have last more than the war in Iraq, but allot of people don’t get that part.

I hope Sue is with her relatives.  Maybe she's had her assets seized.  I'm pretty sure the government would consider her computer one of her assets.

We the peolpe need not stand for this any longer,we are getting sit belt tickets and wondering what Paris Hilton is doing. These "Lawmakers" are cannot follow the Laws they write.

Why isn't anyone seeking to have Gonzales disbarred for his inability to tell the truth.  President Clinton lost his license to practice law as should Gonzo.  Without a law license, he certainly can't be the AG -- oh wait, that would be just another silly rule put in place to defeat America and help the terrorists.

Let's not forget folks those immortal words of Tricky Dick Nixon. "Perjury is a hard rap to prove"

As the days go by this feels more like the Vietman era than the Iraq era. This administration has more tricks than Nixon did. I agree the whole bunch should be impeached.

You are doing a heck of a job, Gonzo.

Clinton perjured himself, but Libby and Gonzo didn't cheat on anyone or have immoral sex.  

It's okay to be busy, to forget, to obstruct unfair justice, to keep secrets from the American people, who have no need to know what they're doing.  It's none of the American people's business.

Long live KING GEORGE & KING RICHARD!!!!!

I think know we are in a position to understand BushCo's interest in providing testimony from Miers, Bolton and Rove in closed session, with no transcripts and not under oath.  What they are worried about is not just lying to Congress, committing perjury, or obstructing justice, but getting caught committing perjury on C-Span.  Here's what I mean:

With two years (we hope) to go on this God-awful mess of a presidency, BushCo wants to run out the clock on these scandals. They can't afford to put in an Attorney General who will actually do the job, and they need a firewall between WH personnel and a flood of indictments.  

On the Democrats' side, with less than two years to go and a scandal under every rock in sight, the political calculus is trickier.  They must re-establish oversight over the executive branch, but BushCo fights them at every turn.  Putting aside those people whose interest in just the presidency, those who are genuinely concerned about the separation of powers, habeas corpus, and executive over-reaching have to figure out how to block BushCo from doing more damage and how to re-establish the rule of law when in an evenly divided Senate they need over 60 votes to get anything done.  The issue of how difficult it is to get a special prosecutor to investigate Gonzales when either he or the Solicitor Gen. appoints those prosecutors shows exactly how important having an honorable man--and one not primarily loyal to the president--in that position.  

So, we can see that even when someone pretty openly lies to the Judiciary Committee, it ain't all that easy to hold him or her accountable when he is the guy who should be holding EVERYBODY accountable. He won't investigate himself, and even if he did, he would just lie some more.  His buddy the Solicitar Gen. is not likely to appoint a prosecutor.  Congress can impeach him--and that might be the best route.  But impeachment ties up the whole works for a long time, and a moment when everybody is trying to get enough votes to get out of Iraq.  I'm not arguing against impeachment of Torture Guy;  I'm just saying that it might come at a cost for the troops in or on the way to Iraq.  

And (at long last) here's my point:  if it isn't a slam dunk to get rid of an Attorney General who lies, obfuscates, and makes a complete mockery of Congressional testimony;  who has allowed the D of J to become improperly politicized; who tried to strong-arm a man in intensive care in spite of the fact that the man had transferred his powers of office to another; and who can't, after over six months, tell Congress who authorized the firing of a group of his own employees, AND WHO DOES ALL OF THIS IN FULL VIEW OF THE TV CAMERAS, how easy would it be for Karl and Harriet and the other BushCo criminals to lie and get away with it? When there was NO chance that the lies and contradictions would be on Countdown, on the Daily Show, or on some chart at the next Congressional hearing?

This is a PR sount-bite presidency;  they want only closed-door hearings because they fear what will happen when ordinary people get to actuall hear Karl Rove explain himself.

When KO gets to moderate a presidential debate, he ought to ask every candidate: What do you think is the most important qualification for Atty General? Who do you think would do a good job in that role and why?

'Let's not forget folks those immortal words of Tricky Dick Nixon. "Perjury is a hard rap to prove"'

Unless you have documents that say different than what the perjurer says.

And unless the director of the FBI basically says, "Yeah, he wasn't telling the truth."

And unless the "bipartisan group" the perjurer is using for cover steps up and say, "Sorry, that's not what happened!" I mean, if you want an indicator of their truthfulness, look at Bill Frist's comment. He won't confirm or deny what he remembers. Back in the good old days of Watergate we called that a "non-denial denial." Nowadays it's called "CYA."

Immoral sex...as in Foley, Gingrich and Vitter?  

"He did not have sex with that Vice President!
He did not have sex with that Rover!
He did not have sex with that Dubya!
He did not have sex with that Condi!
He did not have sex with that Barney!
But he sure is screwing around with the Truth!"

Well, now that depends what your definition of "is" is...:)

All I know, is what I hope is happening; That the congress have just been silently waiting, like a large cat waiting to pounce on it's unsuspecting prey.  Never letting on about their secret investigation and wiretapping of the White House.  (I believe Dick and George fit the criteria for the Presidents wiretapping program, don't you?). Then, when Congress comes back from their break, much to our surprise, and glee.  They are going to announce that they, not only have enough evidence to impeach Bush, Cheney, and their Pool boy, Alberto Gonzales.  In fact they have enough to hand Dick Cheney and George Bush their Indictments, and notices of eviction, as they walk through the front door of the White House. LOL (and I aint talking 30 day notice of eviction either, three days is plenty; GET OUT!!!) That is my fantasy anyway.



If this country and its courts, do not hold these men responsible for their action, and at the very least impeach them both.  We will never be able to regain the respect and reputation of a civil nation, with pride in its people, and true pride in our Democracy.  We need to show the rest of the world that, we get it.  He's out of the White House.  As a matter of fact, we are making him walk back to Texas.  



The world is watching and it appears to me, that we are giving one hell of a bad example of what a Democracy looks like.  It is beginning to look a lot like a dictatorship to me.



Or here's something to ponder; do you think George is doing everything in his power to get them to impeach?  So that just like everything else in his life, someone else has to clean up this mess, and take responsibility for the failure.

Well put Hunter. I was waxing cynical on that post.

I'm an even-handed critic. Because I had contempt for the presidency of Bill Clinton I probably won't be very popular on this blog.  I refused to vote for him in 96' because I suspected he was liar then, and the future affirmed my suspicions. I won't get into the business about the nature of his lie, and that it was “only about sex.”  I agree with those who say it was about much more than that.  Clinton's lies offended many people whose values and sensibilities should be respected, and I understand - at least to some extent - why the integrity of the highest public officials matters even if it relates to personal behavior.  I was in support of Clinton's impeachment.  I believe there is a blind eyed denial by Democrats over the damage Clinton did to his office.  And at least some historians will someday make reasonable, respectable arguments that by seriously undermining his credibility Bill Clinton impaired the nation's ability to effectively address the emerging terrorist threat as it was becoming more recognizable in the latter half of the 1990's.  



Having said that, there is no president who has disserved this country more egregiously than George W. Bush.  Whether we call ourselves liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican we should at least agree that the American people have an absolute right to the truth, especially over questions of war and peace.  Abuse of power to the magnitude in which it is reasonable for us to believe it has been committed by the Bush Administration is totally unacceptable.



What is bothering me more than the lies is the widespread public acceptance of lies.  Outside of this blog, which attracts people who passionately care about whether our wars are fought (and whether our dedicated service people die and lose limbs) for justifiable reasons, the public still seems curiously insensate and apathetic. Talk about malaise!  I am really concerned that lying is something politicians are now expected to do, so why punish them when caught?  In that mendacity-tolerant climate, I'm afraid we're in danger that an insidious public attitude of cynicism will further undermine whatever credibility our political system has left, and what little respect it might deserve after Bush is finished desecrating it with virtual impunity.  



The Democratic Congress is feckless.  Its members seem incapable of doing anything more significant than making their angry little speeches to confront Bush's misdeeds.  He doesn't care.  He's not listening!  Will these Democrats have the hutzpa, and sense of responsibility, to initiate impeachment proceedings if requests for a special prosecutor to investigate perjury by Gonzales are denied?  That remains to be seen.  A major test is coming of their political courage.  A major test is also coming for our country to demand at least some minimal level of integrity and honorable behavior of its leaders, no matter which party.

There is a divisive system which, as I understand it, is a method to mix people up, with tactics which elude the truth, or prevent being caught in the act... I believe it is called; "Bait and Switch."
Gee, doesn't this seem a bit like the methodologies of this administration, since just before the Iraq "military action"?
Now, being confronted with all their lies - finally - they are using these kind of tactics with less and less proficiency.  However, the distortion of facts, and truth = lies... continue to be used as a tool for  abuses of power, abuses of our Constitution, and abuses of the people's Rights!
If the 'Gonzo-gate' continues without real confrontation, and without the Congress actually following up on their subpoenas, we will simply become a Nation without peoples' rights - and the whole of the Congress will be held responsible.  This actually means Republicans must get on board and confront the lawless administration, as well.
I challenge the Republicans to have integrity, and join the Democrats in pursuing JUSTICE, for ALL Americans!  Stop allowing this administration to break the laws of OUR land!
It is way past time to stop allowing the "fear tactics" as a means of controlling the citizens of the U.S.A.! I challenge the Republicans to pursue the TRUTH, for a change, and stop pandering to the p.Resident.  For those who continue to believe whatever this p.Resident tells you - please, for the love of God and Country - seek out the real Truth!  Be open-minded and look into your souls, if need be, to find your own place in the his\her'story' of this good Nation.

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