Why Georgie will not fire Gonzales

Because he is a loyal Bushie and bestest friend.

Glenn Greenwald:

But -- historically at least -- this President does not fire people under pressure. When political pressures are exerted on Bush, he does the opposite of what is demanded of him -- for no reason except to defy the requests of others. As but one example, the endless and years-long demands from many circles that Donald Rumsfeld be fired by itself ensured that Rumsfeld remained, until he was days away from becoming the longest-serving Defense Secretary in our nation's history.

Bush fires those who are disloyal. Those who are subservient and loyal are never fired, no matter their level of incompetence or corruption. Roughly a month ago, Chuck Schumer went on CNN's Late Edition and called for Gonzales' resignation and, in response, Lindsey Graham said: "I think the fact that Senator Schumer asked for him to step down means he won't."

That is how Bush works. If someone demands that Bush take action, he will petulantly refuse simply to demonstrate that he does not comply with anyone else's will. He is The Decider, nobody else, and nothing is more important than for him to demonstrate that. And loyalty to the Leader is valued infinitely higher than either integrity or competence, which are not remotely required for positions in the administration.

TRex at Firedoglake:

Ah, yes, when you've been to the well way, way, way, WAY too many times with "I don't remember", it's always handy to fall back on "I don't understand". No matter that your seeming inability to wrap your pointy little Texas ambulance-chaser head around such a simple concept screams loudly for all the world that you have about as much business in the US Department of Justice as a pack of javelinas.

This is the core truth about the thick-headed criminals, religious fanatics, partisan hacks, and dead-enders who work for BushCo. They will say literally ANYTHING to try and weasel out of trouble. But that, of course, was Alberto's precise problem on the Hill today. He'd said ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING so many times that there was nowhere to run.

Let's hope that this is the beginning of the last set of public appearances this little weasel will be making. I can't fucking stand the sound of his voice anymore. Why is it than when our heap big manly Republican men get backed into a corner, they all turn into these hissing, pissy, prissy little bitch-queens, anyhow? Especially Preznint Fauntleroy, there. He makes Bill Frist look about as macho as Henry Rollins when he's mad.

There's been some difference of views as to the hecklers in the audience today, who were apparently almost as much a part of the testimony as Gone-zito Hisself. They cat-called and booed. At the end of the testimony, they erupted into song, singing "Na Na, Hey-Hey, Goodbye" and one heckler was caught on C-SPAN saying, "Seventy-four times, 'I don't recall.' How did he get through law school?"

Josh Marshall:

I think it's fair to say that Gonzales has lost the confidence of at least half the Republican senators on the committee. He's given people too many causes of termination to choose from. You can want him to go for subverting the federal justice system. Or if that's too much for you to handle you can say he should go for running Main Justice like some ungainly combination of a Young Republicans summer camp and Michael Brown's FEMA. And if even that creates too much collateral damage for you to deal with you can just say he should go for lying about everything that happened.