Gonzo Needs a Dog
20 April 2007 10:00 am by Taylor Marsh
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“If you want a friend in Washington, buy a dog,” quipped Missourian Harry Truman. It’s good advice for Gonzo.
These quotes are classic.
“Mr. Attorney General, most of this is a stretch.” – Lindsey
Graham (R-S.C.).
“Why is your story changing?” – Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
“Significantly, if not totally, at variance with the facts.”
– Arlen Specter (Pa.), the committee’s ranking Republican.
“Really deplorable.” – John Cornyn (R-Tex.).
There is a smidgen of honor in resigning when you’ve lost your credibility
and reputation. There is no honor in resigning after you’ve been humiliated,
shown to be wholly incompetent and even unethical, while even your own side
wants nothing to do with your blathering excuses and unending failures of memory.
Explaining his role in the botched firing of federal prosecutors,
Gonzales uttered the phrase “I don’t recall” and its variants (“I
have no recollection,” “I have no memory”) 64 times. Along
the way, his answer became so routine that a Marine in the crowd put down
his poster protesting the Iraq war and replaced it with a running “I
don’t recall” tally.Take Gonzales’s tally along with that of his former chief of staff,
who uttered the phrase “I don’t remember” 122 times before the same
committee three weeks ago, and the Justice Department might want to consider
handing out Ginkgo biloba in the employee cafeteria.
Thanks to Dana Milbank for giving us the headline of the day.
