Friday, March 23, 2007

Gonzales points fingers

Gonzales: Don't Blame Me, Blame Bush:

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Setting aside the complexities of whether Gonzales knew the probe would touch on him or not, let's just take a moment to examine what happened here.

For no apparent reason, Bush shut down an internal DoJ investigation that would have examined his administration's possibly illegal wiretapping program. And the guy who heads up that department, whose job is to uphold the rule of law, objected, but let it happen.

According to Jeff Lieberson, the spokesman for Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), the lawmaker who initially requested the OPR investigation, Gonzales' failure to challenge Bush demonstrates Gonzales' inability to do his job.

"The attorney general demonstrated a failure of leadership by not standing up to Bush," Lieberson told me. "He knew [the investigators] should have gotten security clearances, and he had an obligation to stand up on behalf of his agency.

"He's still acting as if he were still White House counsel instead of the head of law enforcement for the United States.... He's made clear to the president that whatever he wants done, the Justice Department is going to do."

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