Also, He's a Liar

Although Alberto Gonzales is on his way out, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine yesterday said he will continue to look into the attorney general's stonewalling testimony to Congress regarding NSA surveillance and the termination of U.S. attorneys. The investigation, requested by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), will consider whether Gonzales' statements were "intentionally false, misleading or inappropriate." Not to prejudge, but I'd say probably, yes, and yes. Assuming Gonzales is not suffering from an early form of Alzheimer's, he was lying when he repeatedly said he could not recall his own involvement in the U.S. attorneys' dismissal. And when he denied that there was any disagreement within the Bush administration about the propriety of the NSA's warrantless surveillance, he was either lying or being deliberately misleading (referring to one aspect of the surveillance that everyone thought was OK, as opposed to the part he argued about with John Ashcroft and Deputy Attorney General James Comey). Gonzales' testimony, which prompted incredulous responses from Republicans as well as Democrats, is yet another example of his willingness to subvert the rule of law (in this case, by violating the law against lying to Congress) in the service of executive power.