Losing control
One of the minor mysteries of the U.S. Attorney
scandal is this: Why is it that the Justice Department has released so many
highly damaging documents? Surely one would expect the Bush Administration to
stonewall Congress rather than reveal this information, given the harm it is
doing to them. There is absolutely nothing in their backgrounds or past practice
to make one believe that they would have provided this information had they been
able to avoid it.
Truth be told, in past times they could easily have avoided disclosing anything, because no one would have asked them to disclose anything. Still, just because Congress is now asking, it is somewhat puzzling that they have they delivered without much of a fight. Of course, there are those who suspect that they gave up what they did so they could hide even worse stuff, but that's not their style. I'm not saying there isn't worse stuff out there, I'm only saying ordinarily they wouldn't give up a thing.
This is a sign of a wounded Administration that has lost the ability to cow the civil servants in theJjustice Department. As Gonzales pointed out, there are 110,000 employees of the Justice Department, and probably 100,000 detest him. Many of them, after all, feel nostalgic about the olden days when this was a nation of laws. After all, a lot of them are lawyers. Say what you will, but most of us believe in the rule of law.
Some of those 100,000 are in a position to get this information out, possibly even to force Gonzales to release it. Bush, Rove et. al., can no longer run roughshod over the career folks at the Justice Department, and some of those career people are in possession of this information already, or can too readily obtain it. When Congress comes a calling with a subpoena, it's not Gonzales who has to find the documents that comply. It's lower level folks, folks who have no love for these people and who, Gonzales and Rove both know, wouldn't hesitate to do their civic duty. The worms have turned, so to speak, and Gonzales will probably lose his job as a result. It must be very satisfying to be vindictive and patriotic at the same time.
As a sidenote to all this, Sidney Blumenthal makes an interesting observation about Gonzales' attempt to absolve himself of responsibility for this mess:
Sampson's abrupt departure was followed by Gonzales' bizarre press conference on Wednesday. Speaking in a passive voice that "mistakes were made," he pleaded ignorance of "all decisions" at his department, explained that it has 110,000 employees, appealed to his modest origins, and promised to oversee the investigation of his own misfeasance. His defense was the very grounds used to fire the U.S. attorneys: poor performance. He used his failure as a shield.
The entire article is well worth reading.
Truth be told, in past times they could easily have avoided disclosing anything, because no one would have asked them to disclose anything. Still, just because Congress is now asking, it is somewhat puzzling that they have they delivered without much of a fight. Of course, there are those who suspect that they gave up what they did so they could hide even worse stuff, but that's not their style. I'm not saying there isn't worse stuff out there, I'm only saying ordinarily they wouldn't give up a thing.
This is a sign of a wounded Administration that has lost the ability to cow the civil servants in theJjustice Department. As Gonzales pointed out, there are 110,000 employees of the Justice Department, and probably 100,000 detest him. Many of them, after all, feel nostalgic about the olden days when this was a nation of laws. After all, a lot of them are lawyers. Say what you will, but most of us believe in the rule of law.
Some of those 100,000 are in a position to get this information out, possibly even to force Gonzales to release it. Bush, Rove et. al., can no longer run roughshod over the career folks at the Justice Department, and some of those career people are in possession of this information already, or can too readily obtain it. When Congress comes a calling with a subpoena, it's not Gonzales who has to find the documents that comply. It's lower level folks, folks who have no love for these people and who, Gonzales and Rove both know, wouldn't hesitate to do their civic duty. The worms have turned, so to speak, and Gonzales will probably lose his job as a result. It must be very satisfying to be vindictive and patriotic at the same time.
As a sidenote to all this, Sidney Blumenthal makes an interesting observation about Gonzales' attempt to absolve himself of responsibility for this mess:
Sampson's abrupt departure was followed by Gonzales' bizarre press conference on Wednesday. Speaking in a passive voice that "mistakes were made," he pleaded ignorance of "all decisions" at his department, explained that it has 110,000 employees, appealed to his modest origins, and promised to oversee the investigation of his own misfeasance. His defense was the very grounds used to fire the U.S. attorneys: poor performance. He used his failure as a shield.
The entire article is well worth reading.
Posted: Friday - March 16, 2007 at 08:27 PM
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Published On: Apr 17, 2007 07:20 PM
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Published On: Apr 17, 2007 07:20 PM