Sean Hannity's interview with Albert Gonzales..annotated smileys edition

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,185948,00.html

HANNITY: Mr. Attorney General, good to see you.

ALBERTO GONZALES, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Good to see you, Sean.



HANNITY: We appreciate you being here. Let's start with the ports issue. It's gotten a lot of news. You were on the Committee on Foreign Investment, part of the vetting process. There's been a lot of controversy over this, even within Republican circles. Is there anything to be concerned about? Tell us about that vetting process.

GONZALES: Well, it's a very thorough vetting process that we're required to go through, in connection with acquisition of a U.S. company by a foreign company or by a foreign country that may impact in an adverse way the national security of our country.



The Department of Justice is a member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. We have 30 days to do our own independent review and see whether or not we should raise an objection to the transaction going forward. And so the department, like the other members of the committee, did our own independent assessment and made the determination that we had no reasons to raise an objection to this transaction going forward. We, all of us, have as our objective to ensure that our national security is not impaired in any way by this transaction.



These transactions, we had 60 that were approved by CFIUS last year, something like 50 the year before. So this is not something that is unusual or rare. We engage in these kind of evaluations all the time. And we're very careful in evaluating this transaction.



I think part of the problem is that a lot of people don't have information about the parties involved, about the transaction, about the security measures that are going to be imposed in connection with this transaction. And I'm hopeful that, as we get more information out to the public and the Congress, that people will become more reassured about this transaction.



HANNITY: Let's talk about that, because I think the question a lot of people have is, is 30 days long enough? This committee was first formed and created in 1988. It formally has only rejected one of 1,530 transactions in that time. What do you say to the critics who say, in that sense, it seems rubber-stampish?

GONZALES: I would say it's not rubber-stampish. We take this responsibility extremely seriously. The reason why there is such a high approval rate is because we do work with the parties. And to the extent that we have concerns, we seek assurances from the parties. The parties make certain representations, certain agreements to the United States government that assures us that the national security of this country will not be compromised. And to the extent they can't give us those assurances, from the parties, the transaction doesn't go forward. And so, again, always the focus on ensuring that the national security of this country is protected.



For more fun with Sean and Alberto, visit Fox News...

[wake.up.america]

1. The Attorney General goes to Sean H.'s show . Not much class for...

either.

[flordehinojos]

2. the man has the face of a liar.

it is easy for him to accommodate facts in order to meet his own ends.

[tularetom]

3. Have you heard Jim's (Stephanie Miller voice guy)

impression of Gonzales. It really captures the creepy essence of the man.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

4. No, I'll have to check it out...

Gonzales' voice definitely has that creepy, sort of Peter Lorre edge to it.



:evilgrin:

[tinfoilinfor2005]

5. Yup, you nailed it!

(even though I must confess that I dearly loved Peter Lorre and miss his wonderful talent)