Riveting hearing reveals yet more alarming past behavior.
Published: May 20, 2007
~snip~ As in Watergate, many tried to do the right thing. Those included Ashcroft and Comey, who testified that even after Ashcroft refused to budge, the White House went ahead and reauthorized the spying -- without Justice approval. Comey said he wrote up his resignation, and that he understood Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller and others planned to resign as well. It was only when President Bush learned of these plans that he intervened and Justice's concerns were addressed.
Gonzales' behavior in this account sounds much like his involvement in the White House's crafting of a novel approach to the treatment of detainees. Applicable laws were declared inapplicable as new legal theories were hatched to explain whatever the White House was bent on doing.
Calls for Gonzales to resign, which now include one from Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, have mostly focused on his weak, credulity-stretching testimony about the firings of multiple U.S. attorneys and why they occurred. But his behavior in that matter simply builds on previous indicators that he isn't fit to lead Justice.
The Senate may soon take up a "no confidence" resolution on Gonzales. If President Bush still wants to sing his praises, he may find himself performing solo.
http://www.startribune.com/561/story/1193076.html