At Least the Boss was Satisfied

Bush said he didn't watch the testimony, but the testimony increased his

confidence in Gonzales!

More Looney Tunes leadership from the cartoon president.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/washington/24gonzales.html?ex=1335067200&en=8b82a281fb60f763&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

April 24, 2007

At Least the Boss Was Satisfied by Gonzales's Answers

By JIM RUTENBERG and NEIL A. LEWIS

WASHINGTON, April 23 - President Bush said Monday that the Congressional

testimony of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales last week, roundly panned

by members of both parties, had "increased my confidence in his ability to

do the job."

Speaking during a short question-and-answer session in the Oval Office, Mr.

Bush said of Mr. Gonzales's performance before the Senate Judiciary

Committee, "The attorney general went up and gave a very candid assessment,

and answered every question he could possibly answer, honestly answer."

Mr. Bush has repeatedly asserted his confidence in Mr. Gonzales, a longtime

adviser, as criticism has mounted over the dismissals of eight United States

attorneys.

But his statement on Monday was his first direct comment about Mr. Gonzales

since the attorney general appeared before the committee, and it was at

considerable odds with an overwhelmingly critical assessment of his

testimony by members of both parties. It indicated that Mr. Bush, at least

for now, has concluded his attorney general can weather the challenge to his

leadership at the Justice Department, barring any evidence of wrongdoing.

That challenge had seemed all the more daunting as of Sunday, when Senator

Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the committee whom

both sides view as a barometer of support for Mr. Gonzales, appeared on "Fox

News Sunday" and said, "The attorney general's testimony was very, very

damaging to his own credibility," and that his continued tenure was "bad for

the Department of Justice."

Asked to comment on Mr. Bush's assessment of Mr. Gonzales's testimony on

Monday, Mr. Specter said in a telephone interview, "I'm not going to get

involved in evaluating the president's decision to retain the attorney

general."

Mr. Specter added, "I will continue to work with the attorney general as

long as he has that position."

Several other Republican senators who have been critical of Mr. Gonzales,

including Jeff Sessions of Alabama, John E. Sununu of New Hampshire and Tom

Coburn of Oklahoma, did not respond to requests for comment on Monday.

With many lawmakers working in their home districts, it was unclear whether

their unresponsiveness was a result of busy schedules or a concerted effort

to avoid a running, tit-for-tat debate with the White House over Mr.

Gonzales's future.

One senior Republican Congressional aide at work in Washington on Monday,

who requested anonymity to speak candidly, called Mr. Bush's statement that

his confidence in Mr. Gonzales had grown after his testimony "curious";

another senior Republican aide asked, "Was he watching the same hearing as

everyone else?"

White House officials were confronted Monday with questions about whether

Mr. Bush's statements of confidence would ultimately be followed by a

resignation, with reporters recalling that Mr. Bush had pledged support for

Donald H. Rumsfeld shortly before his ouster as defense secretary. "He's

staying," the White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said of Mr. Gonzales in

one such exchange on Monday morning.

Later, asked if Mr. Bush had seen all the testimony, Ms. Perino said the

president had been traveling but had received updates from aides and had

seen some of it on television news reports.

Pressure to push Mr. Gonzales out is likely to continue. Although Mr.

Gonzales has sought to maintain the impression that the country's legal

business is going on without interruption, several Justice Department

officials say that the attorney general and his advisers have been greatly

distracted by the uproar.

Some administration allies had even voiced optimism last week that Mr.

Gonzales would resign and spare Mr. Bush the discomfort of standing by him

as support erodes even within his own party.

Speaking at a news briefing on Monday after announcing an initiative to

fight identity theft, Mr. Gonzales indicated he had no such plan.

"I will stay as long as I can be effective, and I can be effective," Mr.

Gonzales said in response to questions about his plans.

He said he "can't just be focused on the U.S. attorneys situation."

"I've also got to be focused on what's important for the American people,"

he said.

Mr. Gonzales said he needed to spend time on his priorities, like combating

terrorism, drug abuse and the danger to children from the Internet.

Emphasizing the point, the White House released a statement late Monday

commending Mr. Gonzales and the Federal Trade Commission chairwoman, Deborah

Platt Majoras, for their work on identity theft.

Asked how he knew he was still effective, Mr. Gonzales responded: "I think a

cabinet secretary or the head of an agency every day should wake up and ask

themselves that question: Am I still effective in this position? I think

that's a question that all of us should ask, every day."

"And as long as I think that I can be effective," he said, "and the

president believes that I should continue to be at the head of the

Department of Justice, I'll continue serving as the attorney general."

Mr. Gonzales added, "I've already indicated that I've made mistakes, and I

accept responsibility for that."

Mr. Bush has said all along that he would leave it to Mr. Gonzales to regain

his credibility with Congress. And Mr. Gonzales's testimony was viewed

within both parties as a sort of screen test of whether he could remain in

his job.

Members of the Senate committee expressed exasperation as Mr. Gonzales

invoked a faulty memory more than 50 times when pressed about his

involvement in the removal of the United States attorneys, saying he could

not say how the idea of dismissing them originated or remember the details

of a late November meeting with senior staff members at which the plan for

the dismissals was discussed - and which he had attended, according to

administration documents.

"If the attorney general's hearing performance increased the president's

confidence in his ability to lead the Justice Department, then he's setting

the bar fairly low," said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and

chairman of the Judiciary Committee, in a statement on Monday.

He repeated his suspicions that the White House had removed the prosecutors

because of partisan concerns that they were either not doing enough to

prosecute Democrats on voter fraud charges or going too far in pressing

corruption charges against Republicans. The White House denies those

accusations.

In defending Mr. Gonzales, Mr. Bush said the Justice Department was fully

within its rights to replace the prosecutors, who serve at the pleasure of

the president. And, he and other officials said, after releasing thousands

of internal documents and submitting to questioning in the Senate, no

evidence of illegality on Mr. Gonzales's part had surfaced.

"The attorney general broke no law, did no wrongdoing," Mr. Bush said. "And

some senators didn't like his explanation, but he answered as honestly as he

could. This is an honest, honorable man, in whom I have confidence."

Dan Bartlett, the White House counselor, said in an interview that as far as

the White House was concerned, the public was not paying much attention to

the debate over Mr. Gonzales and that there was "a disconnect" between what

he termed Washington's fascination with the issue and the public's interest

in it.

"There's no traction with the public because there is no serious allegation

of wrongdoing," Mr. Bartlett said.

And, if Mr. Gonzales were to step down, officials argued, it would wrongly

lead the public to conclude that he had done something wrong.

David Johnston contributed reporting.

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"A little patience and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their

spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their

government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are

suffering deeply in spirit,

and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public

debt. But if the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have

patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning

back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at

stake."

-Thomas Jefferson