Alberto earns a Schultzie
(Friday update: Looks like the NY Times editorial board agrees. The outstanding question: if it wasn’t Gonzalez or Sampson who compiled the dismissal list, who was it?)
Back to the original Thursday post…
Setting aside the most pertinent issue in the firings of federal prosecutors - that it was done to promote Republican candidacies and subvert the US justice system by turning it into a propaganda tool that sabotages fair elections - it’s stunning that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is utilizing the Sgt. Shultz defense.
Like the hapless follower of Nazi orders in the Hogan’s Heroes sitcom, Gonzalez’ defense is rooted in Schultz’ signature line of “I know nothing.” Though he now admits he was involved in the process, his previous lies are being attributed to his poor memory.
In other words, he was not dishonest; he was incompetent and unable to perform his job properly because his brain doesn’t work too well.
Pretty weak defense, I’d say. The nation’s top cop conducts a war on crime and he can’t distinguish between the good guys and the crooks.
Though bigger issues deserve exploration to be certain no laws were broken and to create new laws to prevent further abuses of the justice system, one answer seems evident. Gonzales is unfit to continue his job. Historians can decide whether he’s corrupt or incompetent. Either way, his performance falls short of the necessary mark any AG must achieve if respect for the law is to have any meaning at all.
April 19th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Senate committee postpones Gonzales hearing…
The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed Tuesday’s questioning of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales …