I watched with interest as Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee grilled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Tuesday. In full disclosure, I don’t find Gonzales particularly media-savvy under the spotlight and wasn’t surprised to see him shifting, weaving and dodging under scrutiny over the terrorist surveillance program. This is not intended to be a slight to his actual job performance – he may or may not be a great AG, I’m not qualified to accurately assess it. But when it comes to political grandstanding, it’s no real secret of what’s going on in any given “hearing” on Capitol Hill.
Today, we learn that Sen. Schumer and others have officially requested that the Solicitor General appoint a Special Counsel to investigate whether or not Gonzales perjured himself on the stand on Tuesday.
So at the very least, it’s fair to say that AG Gonzales sufficiently tied some knickers in knots and now he’s going to have to endure serious attempts at character and career assassination. At the very worst, he may have potentially broken the law which undermines the credibility of the entire Bush Administration.
And considering that Washington is pretty much one big sieve of secrets, one would have thought the AG might have known something was brewing yesterday, right?
I don’t know after reading this in the Washington Post today:
Alberto Gonzales and his family lunching at the ESPN Zone yesterday. The attorney general arrived just as the sports restaurant opened; he ate queso chips with blackened chicken, ribs and Asian chicken salad.
Ummm? Okay… So is the AG one these stress-eaters that handles crisis by chowing down or is he a grace under pressure guy – able to ignore Washington’s fiercest storms and maintain his average Joe diet?
He eats, we report and YOU decide.
