Daily Archives: August 1, 2007

Oh, and by the way it really IS about ‘TSP’ … but more importantly …

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First I want to point out it was the TMPmuckraker blog that pointed to the information I'm using below. And it should be noted a poster on that blog also made the same comment I'm going to.

The question is how long the Cheney/Bush administration can claim that Gonzales was/wasn't talking about the 'Terrorist Surveillance Program' (TSP) … or was … or wasn't … errr … separate things … uh … whatever.

Titular president Cheney's recent interview with Larry King contains this fun tidbit:

Q In that regard, The New York Times — which, as you said, is not your favorite — reports it was you who dispatched Gonzales and Andy Card to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft's hospital in 2004 to push Ashcroft to certify the President's intelligence-gathering program. Was it you?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't recall — first of all, I haven't seen the story. And I don't recall that I gave instructions to that effect.

Q That would be something you would recall.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I would think so. But certainly I was involved because I was a big advocate of the Terrorist Surveillance Program, and had been responsible and working with General Hayden and George Tenet to get it to the President for approval. By the time this occurred, it had already been approved about 12 times by the Department of Justice. There was nothing new about it.

Q So you didn't send them to get permission.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't recall that I was the one who sent them to the hospital.

(Interview of the Vice President by Larry King, CNN, White House press release, 07/31/07)

TPM noted the silliness of this “I don't remember” excuse, but as one of the follow up posters noted: “Wait…I thought the visit WASN'T about the TSP!!!”

At a heated Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Gonzales repeatedly testified that the issue at hand was not about the terrorist surveillance program, which allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on suspects in the United States without receiving court approval.

Instead, Gonzales said, the emergency meetings on March 10, 2004, focused on an intelligence program that he would not describe.

(Documents Contradict Gonzales Testimony, CBS News, 07/25/07)

Hmmm, Gonzales doesn't remember except to assure us he wasn't at the hospital about the TSP. Cheney doesn't remember except to assure us it was about the TSP.

And today the Washington Post is reporting:

The Bush administration's chief intelligence official said yesterday that President Bush authorized a series of secret surveillance activities under a single executive order in late 2001. The disclosure makes clear that a controversial National Security Agency program was part of a much broader operation than the president previously described.

The disclosure by Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, appears to be the first time that the administration has publicly acknowledged that Bush's order included undisclosed activities beyond the warrant-less surveillance of e-mails and phone calls that Bush confirmed in December 2005.

(NSA Spying Part of Broader Effort, Washington Post, 08/01/07)

So now we can really muddy the waters. Beyond “I don't remember” there is the “Well, we've really been doing a whole lot of secret crap to you that we're not gonna discuss”.

There's a bigger problem than the dishonesty regarding this subject. The Cheney/Bush administration considers their “war against terror” to be without borders … and that includes the United States of America. That means every one of us is a potential threat in the eyes of our current federal administration. We are being treated as the enemy!

Impeachment of Gonzales a possibility… time to see where Welch stands.

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Things aren't looking so hot for Bush consigliere and attorney general Alberto Gonzales lately, even worse after last week's perjury and evasion testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Even many Republicans can't seem to ignore the stench of Gonzales, and aren't jumping in to support him.

The good news is that there was a resolution sumitted today by Congressman Jay Inslee of Washington's 1st congressional district, that is calling for an investigation into the possibility of impeaching the Attorney General:

Specifically, the resolution would require the House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. The resolution would need to win approval by a majority of the House for the panel to start investigating. If after an investigation the Judiciary Committee, by majority vote, determines that grounds for impeachment exist, a resolution impeaching the attorney general and setting forth specific allegations of misconduct, in one or more articles of impeachment, would be reported to the full House.

I couldn't find the number of the resolution, but you can read its full text here. More below the jump.

Now, as you all well know, many of us are frustrated with the lack of action on impeaching Bush and Cheney. However, as high-profile as it has been lately, and with Gonzales stepping further and further in the poop everytime he opens his mouth, I think this one, should it come to fruition, won't be as much of an uphill climb as getting the guys at the top. Of courese, some will make a stink about it, as the Seattle Times reports:

Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the ranking Republican on the committee, denounced the resolution Monday night.

“The call by Democrats to impeach Attorney General Gonzales is a misuse of congressional power for purely political reasons and a waste of the American public's money and time,” Smith said in a statement.

He said Democrats have chosen “to engage in a politically motivated campaign to slander the Justice Department and undermine the credibility of federal law enforcement.”

 

 J'ever notice how, even still, after all of these years. the typical GOP repsonse to criticism is “the Democrats are just playing politics“? How original. What the hell is that supposed to mean? They're politicians fer Crissake, playing politics is part of their job, isn't it? Inlsee, interestingly enough, took some criticism earlier in the year, when he asked state senators in Olympia to drop a resolution asking Congress to impeach President Bush, saying at the time that promoting impeachment was “grandstanding.” Maybe this is different to him somehow, it doesn't really matter, it's a step in the right direction.

Now,  Texan GOP Blowhard notwithstanding, this is something that, with a groundswell of support, is within reach. It's time to call Peter Welch, and ask him to sign on as a co-sponsor to Inslee's resolution calling for an impeachment investigation into Alberto Gonzales.  You can reach his VT office at (888) 605-7270 (toll free in Vermont), or the DC office at (202) 225-4115. The “I” word elicits some pretty strong emotional responses in some people; it's important to keep it focused on this impeachment, as to not mix the two issues up. I'll have more on this when I get some more information. Please feel free to share some of your responses from Welch's office in the comments section.