Gonzales Denies Pressuring Ashcroft

[RedEarth]

AP) Attorney General Alberto Gonzales denied Tuesday that he and former White House chief of staff Andy Card pressured then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to recertify President Bush's domestic surveillance program during a now-famous 2004 hospital visit.

Gonzales said that he and Card had been urged by congressional leaders of both parties to ensure that the terrorist surveillance program survive a looming deadline for its expiration. To do that, Gonzales said, he needed the permission of Ashcroft, then the attorney general. Ashcroft at the time was in an intensive care unit recovering from gall bladder surgery.

"We went there because we thought it was important for him to know where the congressional leadership was on this," Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee in his first public explanation of the meeting.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/24/politics/main3092888.shtml

[yardwork]

1. Lies. kicking.

[xultar]

2. Maybe we should have sent the gang of 8 to see Teri Schaivo.

[BOSSHOG]

3. So Obviously he did

How do you know when a member of the bush administration or of right wing radio is lying? Their lips are moving. Sadly that is no longer a joke.

[blogslut]

4. Woke up too late to see most of the Gonzo show

Looks like it was a re-run of the usual lies, memory faults and bullshit.

[Mandate My Ass]

5. Lying, perjuring POS. The guy was in intensive care fer chrissakes. No pressure.

and that noise about relaying how important this program was to Congress. Give me an effing break. Bushco and Gonzo have thumbed their noses at Congress every chance they've ever gotten and I'm supposed to believe this crap. :puke:

He has shown so much disdain for Congress with his constant feeble lies, they'd better do something about this shit.

[gratuitous]

6. Astonishing in its recklessness

Gonzales said during his testimony that he and Card didn't go to Ashcroft's hospital bed about the terrorist surveillance program, but another program! Which leads naturally to the question* of just how many unconstitutional balls the Bush administration is juggling.

In any event, Gonzales claimed that he and Card paid their hospital visit knowing full well that Ashcroft had delegated his power to his Deputy (as he is supposed to in these circumstances), but they went anyway. Why? Because Gonzales figured that Ashcroft could have re-assumed his station as Attorney General, given his imprimatur, then ceded it to his deputy again. Gonzales himself said, "There are no rules"** touching on when a government official can or should give up his authority, when the official can take it back, and so forth.

It reminds me of the old Harlem Globetrotter routine where Meadowlark Lemon would call time out, everyone would stop, the referee would walk over to take the ball, then Meadowlark would announce "Time back in!" and whip around his defender for an uncontested dunk. Gonzales apparently thinks that is the template for governance in the Executive branch.

*Well, the question is natural if you're a sentient human being; U.S. Senators like Arlen Specter don't qualify.

**I submit this as the motto of the Bush administration.