How's Your Week Going Mr. President

Judging by his speech on Thursday, not too well.

1) Bush in Ohio to Talk About Terrorism

"My attitude is, if they're still writing about (number) one, 43 doesn't need to worry about it. ..." A good marriage is really good after serving together in Washington, D.C. ... "Politics comes and goes, but your principles don't. And everybody wants to be loved _ not everybody. ... You never heard anybody say, `I want to be despised, I'm running for office. ... The best thing about my family is my wife. She is a great first lady. I know that sounds not very objective, but that's how I feel. And she's also patient. Putting up with me requires a lot of patience. ... There are jobs Americans aren't doing. ... If you've got a chicken factory, a chicken-plucking factory, or whatever you call them, you know what I'm talking about. ... There are some similarities, of course" between Iraq and Vietnam. ... Death is terrible. ... I've been in politics long enough to know that polls just go poof at times."

2) Mass Carnage on the 18th of April.

32 students at Virgina Tech were shot to death by a loner with some major mental problems. The only good thing is that he shot his own face off. Unfortunately, it was two hours too late.

Also on the 18th,

At least 130 172 183 230 people, including women and children, were killed today in a spate of bombings in Baghdad, making it the single bloodiest day since US troops increased their numbers in the city.

The U.S. announced three more troop deaths - two soldiers killed Wednesday by a roadside bomb north of the capital, and another soldier killed the same day in a small arms fire attack in southwest Baghdad. These latest American deaths bring the total to 3,315 since March of 2003.

3) FBI Raid Two Republican Congressmen

Rep. John T. Doolittle's (R-CA) home was raided by the FBI . He was removed from the from the Appropriations Committee the next day.

That would be the same appropriations seat which he used to help steer $37 million to Brent Wilkes (who's accused of bribing Duke Cunningham), and another $400,000 to Jack Abramoff's client, the government of the Marianas Islands.

Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz) had his wife's business raided by the FBI. Renzi has since stepped down from the Intelligence Committee.

You can get all the information you need on FAUX NEWS tonight. Just kidding . They haven't covered this and never will.

4) Rosemary Woods Ain't Got Nothing on Us.

Karl Rove's emails can't be found along with Five Million Other E-mails. Rove said he accidentally deleted them ... four years worth. That shouldn't be a problem since he only used his Republican National Committee (RNC) account for 95% of all e-mails he wrote. [National Journal]

Why use the White House E-mail, Bush doesn't:

“I tend not to email or — not only tend not to email, I don’t email, because of the different record requests that can happen to a president. I don’t want to receive emails because, you know, there’s no telling what somebody’s email may — it would show up as, you know, a part of some kind of a story, and I wouldn’t be able to say, `Well, I didn’t read the email.’ `But I sent it to your address, how can you say you didn’t?’ So, in other words, I’m very cautious about emailing.” CNBC, October 23, 2006

Over Fifty White House staffers used RNC email accounts. Some missing emails involved not only the Gonzales 8 but also Plame and Ambramoff.

See, you need to use separate email accounts to conduct campaigning (Hatch Act) but official government business must be conducted on official servers or be saved (Presidential Records Act.)


5) Gonzo on the Hot seat

The week started out well enough for Gonzales with The American Freedom Agenda, a group of powerful conservatives, calling for Gonzales to resign.

He has brought the rule of law into disrepute, and debased honesty as the coin of the realm. He has engendered the suspicion that partisan politics trumps evenhanded law enforcement in the Department of Justice. ... In sum, Attorney General Gonzales has proven an unsuitable steward of the law and should resign for the good of the country.

Then, on the eve of his testimony, Gonzales leaked his statement. 25 pages long and best he could come up with was: "To my knowledge, I did not make decisions about who should or should not be asked to resign."

His testimony on Thursday didn't go much better. After 47 plus "I don't recalls," and "I don't remember," and at least one "I don't recall remembering," we know three things (which is two more than Gonzales):

1) Gonzales doesn't know who put together the purge list or why any USA was on that list.
2) He knows that he made the decision to fire the USA's but doesn't know why or when.
3) What he does know is whoever made up the list and whatever reason's were used, it was all very proper.

This stellar performance caused Committee member Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), to immediatel asking for Gonzlaes resignation. "I believe that you ought to suffer the consequences. ... The best way to put this behind us is your resignation."

Today's Chance of Resignation: 93%
(From Slate)

Gonzo Update

So on the eve of his testimony, Gonzales leaked his statement. I'd link the 25 page statement but there are no specifics or details in it and only half of it covers the resignations so I won't bother. But here's a gem for you to remember: "To my knowledge, I did not make decisions about who should or should not be asked to resign."

UPDATE:Rove's emails can't be found along with Five Million Other E-mails. 50 WH Staffer's used RNC email accounts and some missing emails involved not only the Gonzales 8 but also Plame

UPDATE: Did Bush and Sen. Pete lie about a conversation that they said they never had?

"I specifically remember one time I went up to the Senate and senators were talking about the U.S. attorneys. I don't remember specific names being mentioned, but I did say to Al last year -- you're right, last fall -- I said, have you heard complaints about AGs, I have -- I mean, U.S. attorneys, excuse me -- and he said, I have. But I never brought up a specific case nor gave him specific instructions." --- President Bush, March 14th, 2007

To recap, neither The Attorney General or The President had anything to do with the firings.

UPDATE: During the March 29 hearing, Kyle Sampson testified that, "I personally did not ... [O]n December 7th, I did not have in mind any replacements for any of the seven who were asked to resign."

But, prior to December 7th he did have four replacements in mind (and writing.)

See? There's no lie contradiction there, is there?

UPDATE: "67 percent in a ABC News/Washington Post poll think the prosecutors were fired mainly for political reasons. , not on the basis of their performance. [But] 45 percent of Americans overall, think Gonzales should lose his job, while 39 percent think he should remain."

So basically, the majority think he's a liar but not that he should lose his job.

UPDATE: And list continues to grow. The American Freedom Agenda call for Gonzales to resign.

Dear Mr. President and Attorney General:
We, the undersigned co-founders of the American Freedom Agenda, urge the Attorney General to submit his resignation and the President to accept.
Mr. Gonzales has presided over an unprecedented crippling of the Constitution's time-honored checks and balances. He has brought the rule of law into disrepute, and debased honesty as the coin of the realm. He has engendered the suspicion that partisan politics trumps evenhanded law enforcement in the Department of Justice. ... In sum, Attorney General Gonzales has proven an unsuitable steward of the law and should resign for the good of the country.
Sincerely,
Bruce Fein, Chairman Richard Viguerie David Keene Bob Barr John Whitehead

UPDATE: (For Brook) Before he successfully prosecuted a democrat (which was immediately overturned, see last update), the Wisconsin US Attorney was on the "purge list." And then, he wasn't.
(From Slate)