The American Mind

It’s make-or-break time to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Today, he answered questions from Senators about the firings of eight U.S. Attorneys. In the Bush White House where loyalty is king operatives understand Gonzales needs to perform adequately. Should he fail Bush sympathizers think Gonzales must resign:

What happens if he does not remains unclear. No one in the White House believes Gonzales can say anything that would get Democrats to drop the matter, but his supporters hope he can be confident and consistent enough to explain his role without providing more ammunition for critics. Should he stumble, some Republicans said, Gonzales has a responsibility to fall on his sword, sparing Bush having to ask.

“The president’s loyalty is the only explanation for the attorney general’s continued service,” said Mark Corallo, a former Bush Justice Department spokesman. “The attorney general’s not a bad person. He’s a smart guy. But he completely mishandled the situation on so many levels that he has completely shattered the trust of the people who work for him. . . . At this point, the attorney general’s loyalty to President Bush needs to trump President Bush’s loyalty to the attorney general.”

Gonzales needed to fix this. He won’t get Democrats off his back. Gonzales’ and his staff’s bumbling and misleading statements have given Sen. Leahy and the gang plenty of ammunition, and they smell blood. But he has to push this story behind him.

In his testimony this morning Gonzalez defending the firings and apologized to the fired attorneys and their families. He also said he “never sought to mislead or deceive the Congress or the American people.” There’s no word on if Gonzales finally got his story straight about how extensive his role was in the firings. From his answer to that question we’ll know better if he’s competent to continue running the Justice Department, is still misleading Congress, or both.

To follow along without C-SPAN Ed Morrissey liveblogged the hearing.

“On the Hill, Gonzales Gets His Chance at Redemption” [via memeorandum]

UPDATE: From the Bloomberg report the hearing amounted to a scoulding. Sen. Arlen Specter got a good jab at Gonzales:

In one of the sharpest exchanges at today’s hearing in Washington, Specter scolded the attorney general for interjecting that he is always prepared for his appearances before the Judiciary Committee.

“Do you prepare for your press conferences?'’ Specter shot back. “And were you prepared when you said you weren’t involved in any deliberations'’ on the firings?

On the question of if Gonzales can effectively run the Justice Department we have this exchange with Specter:

“Do you say it’s a fair, honest characterization to say you had only a limited involvement in the process?'’ Specter asked.

“I don’t want to quarrel with you,'’ Gonzales replied. “I had knowledge there was a process going on.'’ He said he didn’t view discussions about Lam’s performance as part of Sampson’s “project'’ to identify prosecutors for replacement.

“Were you involved in the process? Were you involved to a limited extent only?'’ Specter said.

I don’t want to quarrel with Attorney General Gonzales but his answer was very weak. He didn’t give me any confidence that he has control of the Justice Department. The staffers are running the show. Time for Gonzales to ride into the sunset.