by publius
Our Attorney General, July 24:
When we got there, I would just say that Mr. Ashcroft did most of the talking. We were there maybe five minutes, five or six minutes. Mr. Ashcroft talked about the legal issues in a lucid form.
Then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft was "feeble," "barely articulate" and "stressed" moments after a hospital room confrontation in March 2004 with Alberto R. Gonzales, who wanted Ashcroft to approve a warrantless wiretapping program over Justice Department objections, according to notes from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III that were released yesterday.
Hmmm . . . tough call, but I'll go with whichever one is not Alberto Gonzales.
Nice Chris Isaak ref for the thread title. So, again. why isn't Congress impeaching this fool?
Posted by: Phil | August 17, 2007 at 06:33 AM
To be fair, "feeble", "barely articulate" and "stressed" is pretty par for the course whenever Gonzo discusses legal matters.
Posted by: Daniel | August 17, 2007 at 06:53 AM
I don't think those two statements are necessarily contradictory. Comey's testimony showed that Ashcroft somehow broke out of the fog to tell Fredo and his lackey to piss off.
That said, Fredo is a fncking liar that deserves to be in prison.
Posted by: Ugh | August 17, 2007 at 07:03 AM
Phil :"So, again. why isn't Congress impeaching this fool?"
Because they're "feeble", "barely articulate" and "stressed". If this is a Democratic majority, we might as well still have the Republicans.
Posted by: William Bollinger | August 17, 2007 at 07:54 AM
re our feeble democratic congres:
yes, i'm deeply disappointed in them. to my mind, this is the time to charge ahead, not keep the proverbial powder dry.
at the same time, i do think their actions are the result of a strategy of feebleness, not merely temperamental feebleness.
that is, i think they hope to reap massive gains in 2008, and think the best way to do this is by keeping a low profile until then.
this was the thinking behind some really stupid decisions in the run-up to the 2006 elections. but they may feel it was vindicated by the '06 gains.
is calculated faiblesse better than merely temperamental faiblesse? ugh. to think these are our choices.
Posted by: kid bitzer | August 17, 2007 at 08:37 AM
So the then WH Counsel, who is now the AG, lied to Congress about his efforts to convince the then AG to let US intelligence agencies do certain kinds of intelligence gathering that may have been illegal then, but are probably legal now.
Lying to congress is lying to Congress, but the political case would have been a lot stronger if 100% of Republicans and 20% of Democrats hadn't voted for the FISA redo.
Posted by: Model 62 | August 17, 2007 at 09:55 AM
This guy gives lackeys and toadies bad names. They should expel him from the union.
Posted by: norbizness | August 17, 2007 at 10:07 AM
Man this place is dead today.
Posted by: Ugh | August 17, 2007 at 02:08 PM
Nice Chris Isaak ref for the thread title. So, again. why isn't Congress impeaching this fool?
They are apparently too busy giving him the power to spy and wiretap whoever he wants.
Posted by: Fledermaus | August 17, 2007 at 04:04 PM