Among all the norms that the Bush administration has overturned, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's repeated refusal to answer a direct question in Senate testimony without invoking executive privilege or the Fifth Amendment might be the most outrageous yet.
Josh Marshall has the story:
In this exchange Sen. Schumer (D) asks Gonzales who sent him and Andy Card to John Ashcroft's bedside. And Gonzales just refuses to answer. He keep repeating that they went "on behalf" of the president. But he won't say if the president sent them. He just won't answer.
Schumer notes the key point: Gonzales isn't even asserting any kind of privilege. He doesn't say he can't remember. He just won't answer...
It really requires stepping back in this case to take stock of this exchange. Testifying before Congress is like being called to testify in court. You have to answer every question. Every question. You can fudge and say you don't remember something and see how far you get. Or you can invoke various privileges. And it up to the courts to decide if the invocations are valid. But it's simply not permitted to refuse to answer the question. It is quite literally contempt of Congress.
How is this man still the chief law enforcement officer of the United States?
It can all be summed up in the words of my former boss (who I'd like to believe is a first-rate manager):
"First-rate people hire first-rate people. Second-rate people hire third-rate people."
Posted by: Seth | July 25, 2007 at 11:03 PM