Snow at it again: what looks like a contradiction is nothing more than a confusion of terms

[dajoki]

Snow: Congress creating 'controversies' over Gonzales
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/27/gonzales/#cnnSTCVideo

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House and Justice Department say what looks like a contradiction between testimony of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller is nothing more than a confusion of terms.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Friday that Gonzales "has testified truthfully and tried to be very accurate" when discussing a controversial surveillance program.

But when publicly discussing "matters of classification," Snow said, "Sometimes it's going to lead people to talk very carefully and there's going to be plenty room for interpretation or conclusion."

In a statement Thursday night, Brian Roehrkasse, acting Justice Department public affairs director, wrote, "Confusion is inevitable when complicated classified activities are discussed in a public forum."

Mueller told Congress on Thursday that a 2004 discussion between Gonzales, then White House counsel, and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft in Ashcroft's hospital room concerned the surveillance program. Gonzales had told a Senate panel on Tuesday that the program wasn't the subject of the conversation.

[napi21]

1. Owe, old Tony is just doing his job! I'd bet, behind the doors, he's

as unhappy having to do this as we are hearing it!

[emulatorloo]

2. Snow's job description = "Create Confusion wherever possible"

EOM

[Dinger]

3. Is There Any Official Word On his Condition?

Why does he look so terrible? Treatments, or is he getting sicker? Serious questions, not trying to start anything.
Hope he'so.k.

[gulliver]

4. Oh what a tangled web.

I think it really wasn't a contradiction by Mueller. I think Mueller sullied himself by reluctantly buying into the sickening deception the Bushies are using to save Gonzales from a perjury rap and, more importantly, protect Bush. Snow is setting up the media reason for the "confusion" as caused merely by "matters of classification." This is another step in getting Gonzales out of the perjury charge and protecting Bush.

The Dems are going to have to be really cagey to reel in the fish on this one. I think the fish could be Bush, not Gonzales. I can't think of any reason for Mueller to parse his words so carefully except to protect Bush or at least not be the one who puts Bush in extreme hot water. Maybe Mueller is in jeopardy himself.

If it turns out obvious that Bush directly told Gonzales to go to Ashcroft's hospital room, all hell will break loose, IMO. That means Bush would have known the result of the meeting (no dice from Ashcroft) and that he knew why the meeting was taking place (illegal behavior at the NSA). The program continued for weeks after that. That ties Bush to a decision to continue a program deemed illegal by his own DOJ. And all he has is Gonzales -- his own lawyer -- to dispute the illegality. What happens to presidents who ignore their own appointed and confirmed DOJ and go instead with their own attorney's opinions? I certainly hope we get to find out.

I kind of wish Sheila Jackson Lee had taken Mueller to the mat and made him say "TSP" (or not). He looked like he was going to throw up.

http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=628

[dajoki]

5. Bush personally called Ashcroft's room...

to set up meeting.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bush Personally Intervened To Arrange Ashcroft Hospital Visit And Kneecap Comey
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/16/bush-comey/

During his testimony yesterday, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey noted that John Ashcroft’s wife “had banned all visitors and all phone calls” to the hospital due to Ashcroft’s poor condition. So how were Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card able to make it into Ashcroft’s room to pressure him to overrule Comey and reauthorize the warrantless spying program?

Comey explained yesterday:

COMEY: Mrs. Ashcroft reported that a call had come through, and that as a result of that call Mr. Card and Mr. Gonzales were on their way to the hospital to see Mr. Ashcroft.

SCHUMER: Do you have any idea who that call was from?

COMEY: I have some recollection that the call was from the president himself.

Comey’s statements show that President Bush was directly involved in the effort to override the administration’s own lawyers and reauthorize the warrantless spying program despite an “extensive review” by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel stating “that the program did not comply with the law.”

This hardly comes as a surprise. As Newsweek reported in January 2006, Bush was “miffed” at Comey for not being a “team player” on the spying issue.

[Supersedeas]

6. not only was Gonzo given the questions ahead of time--he has option for closed door session