Monday, July 30, 2007

Gonzales and Reality

You know things are getting bad when you need a chart to keep track of the misstatements (or, to put it less politely, lies) the Attorney General is accused of. It's hardly the first time we've had reason to question the candor of Alberto Gonzales (does anyone else think of him as "A.G. A.G.," by the way?), but things are getting out of hand.

The latest news is that a credible source -- well, it's only the Director of the F.B.I. -- contradicts (or, as CNN delicately puts it, "appears to contradict") A.G. A.G.'s account of the infamous night visit to John Ashcroft's hospital room. Gonzales says he wasn't there to talk about the terrorist surveillance program; Mueller says he was. But maybe there are two programs? Could they each be using codespeak for something slightly different?

If Gonzales was a pillar of the community with outstanding credibility, this could all be shrugged off as a misunderstanding. The problem is that he's made so many questionable statements that one hesitates to give him the benefit of the doubt. Senator Leahy has sagely given Gonzales a week to "amend" his testimony. A.G. A.G. should take this last chance to set the record straight.

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