Going Out On A Limb...Well Not Really

Someone out on the intertubes wrote that there is something inherently wrong with the Attorney General having to spend hours preparing for a senate hearing by being raked over the coals by people portraying the angry senators. They're probably just being consistent with the practices before the Democrats took congress.

You can imagine one of those practice sessions:

Some flunky playing Senator Hatch: Mr. Attorney General, you are an inspiration to us all, and you are a good and honest person. You have brought honor to the white house and now to the department of justice. Well?

Gonzalez playing himself: Thank you Senator.

Staff: That's great Al, you really got them with that one. Don't forget that charming looking smile that gives you that deer-in-the-headlights look.

Well those days are gone. I cannot imagine why Gonzalez wouldn't just resign before Tuesday except that it wouldn't prevent his testimony. He is now locked in and has to testify. What is difficult to figure is how they thought all this wouldn't come out because it always has and always will. In fact, the longer it takes for the pressure valve to be released, the uglier it gets and this one is getting really ugly.

So Gonzalez is definitely gone, a sacrifice to the gods of the beltway, to preserve the great Karl, the question is when. The latest earth-shaker from McClatchy:

Another e-mail released Friday underscores the political sensitivity the prosecutors' firings stirred in the highest Republican circles in Washington. That e-mail bolstered Democrats' suspicion that Karl Rove, President Bush's deputy chief of staff and political adviser, used Republican Party e-mail rather than White House e-mail to communicate about the prosecutors' firings.

Rove's deputy, Scott Jennings, sent an e-mail on Feb. 28 of this year to KR(at)georgewbush.com, Rove's e-mail address through the Republican National Committee; it also went to White House Counsel Fred Fielding and other White House and Justice Department officials.

The e-mail warned that ousted New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was going public later that day with his assertion that he was forced out because he didn't bring indictments against local Democrats before the November congressional election.

As late as February 28th they were sending emails to these off-site domains and including white house lawyers in the loop. There really is no question that this is going to get a lot more interesting before it is over. And there is also no question that these are the most arrogant of political animals that ever ran the country.