What Would You Ask Alberto Gonzales?

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Law Related
Posted on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 03:10:53 PM EST
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Josh Marshall's vlog on tomorrow's Alberto Gonzales hearing asks the question "what would you ask Alberto Gonzales?"

Having seen Gonzales too many times before, I know that he can't and won't answer anything, so to me the first question to ask yourself is what are you trying to accomplish? To me this is more of a public relations event than anything else. So what is the goal? Expose Gonzo? He'll do that himself. Expose Rove? Gonzo can't and won't. He'll pretend he does not remember or was not involved. Expose Bush? Same answer.

Here's what I would do. First, make the Senators divvy up the topics. And try, if possible to give them yes or no questions to answer. In this case, that should be easy.

Documents and the testimony of Kyle Sampson allow for the questions to write themselves. For example, show Gonzales an e-mail that discusses the White House's role in making the fired USAs list. Read it. Ask Gonzo if it is true that, for example, "Harriet Miers said . . ." Is it true that "[what Kyle Sampson testified]"

And so on. I would not look to Gonzales to provide anything except obvious obfuscation but let the questions and the documents be the testimony.

What do you folks think?

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What Would You Ask Alberto Gonzales? | 14 comments (14 topical)

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I think (5.00 / 2) (#1)
by andgarden on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 03:21:19 PM EST

that every single Democrat on the committee is smarter than him, but I'd rather that they didn't try to prove it with long-winded speeches. Short, leading, questions are the order of the day. Also, I hope Leahy keeps his hand on the gavel. (Can I come out of the "too many posts" corner now?)

What is "too many posts"? n/t (none / 0) (#11)
by cal11 voter on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 06:26:30 PM EST

: I got a scoop message (5.00 / 1) (#14)
by andgarden on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 07:14:07 PM EST

saying that i'd posted too many comments in a given period if time.

Q's for Gonzo (none / 0) (#2)
by Carolyn in Baltimore on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 03:26:31 PM EST

I would try 3 things:

Ask him questions to put him off guard. ask about the coverup of Bush's DUI for jury duty, asked if he helped scrub info from Nat'l Guard files etc. He's been W's fixer for a long time. Ask about torture memos.
Ask him questions he wants to answer. Ones he'll jump on and show he did know a lot of things, just not the things he doesn't want to remember. Get a record of the contrast between memory and control in 'good' and 'bad' areas.
Have each Democratic legislator ask him what date he proposes for his resignation. Repeatedly. ask if he knows what the laws are re: abuse of power, Hatch Act, Presidential Records Act.

the obvious questions (none / 0) (#3)
by zaitztheunconvicted on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 03:30:51 PM EST

Hey, some of the questions are pretty obvious:

Who made the decision to fire these 8 US attorneys, and on what basis were each one of them fired?
If Gonzales says they were fired for proper reasons, how does that square with the recently released performance evaluations showing good performance from most of them, including Iglesias?
When did the DOJ begin to consider firing Iglesias?
ask DOJ to produce the memo that Battle says Gonzales received Nov 27.
what was the president's role in the firing?
was the firing delayed so that Bush, being back in the country, could personally review the plans for the firings and their replacements?
Did Pres Bush review the list of US attorneys to be fired? Were any reasons given to him as to why those 8 should be fired? Please provide the email or documents provided to Bush before these 8 were fired.

Has them for starters?

1. "Is there (none / 0) (#4)
by Che's Lounge on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 03:32:43 PM EST

any family history of any of the following?":

Anxiety
Insomnia
Depression
Paranoia
Bipolar disorders
Law school
Living in Texas

"What medications are you currently taking?"
"Would you please give us a sample of your urine?"

Also (none / 0) (#5)
by zaitztheunconvicted on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 03:33:43 PM EST

If Gonzales says that it wasn't him who made the decision as to which US attorneys to fire and why, then, how can he say with any confidence that none of them were fired for improper reasons?

If Gonzo wasn't making the decisions, someone else was. And, why should we believe that that person, yet unnamed, has acted honesty, ethically and without political motivation, given the contradictory stories coming from DOJ

Yes (none / 0) (#6)
by Alien Abductee on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 03:57:14 PM EST

Assume he won't give up any actual information no matter how trapped into it he gets or how stupid or uninformed he has to appear to do that.

Use the highly public occasion to get as much of the sordid record into the public consciousness as possible. Break it up into short, killer chunks for him to respond to that will make endlessly recyclable (and entertaining!) video news bites.

Absolutely NO grandstanding with long pointless windy speeches.

a citizen -- please clarify. (none / 0) (#8)
by the rainnn on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 04:27:43 PM EST

why the repeated references
to lawn-cutting? i will agree
that he is not even
remotely a passable
attorney general, but to
my eye, those remarks look
to categorize him with regard
to his ethnicity. why do that?

it takes away from your other-
wise valid point.

I would ask ... (none / 0) (#9)
by Sailor on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 06:13:52 PM EST

... why he thinks Karl Rove shouldn't be prosecuted for violating his WH counsel memo on not deleteing emails.

Mr. Gonzales (none / 0) (#10)
by lyss on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 06:22:15 PM EST

How is protecting our kids coming? I think that should be the 1st question the senate asks him. In light of the tragedy.

By statute (none / 0) (#12)
by Repack Rider on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 06:28:13 PM EST

Only the president can fire the USA. On what basis did the president make each of these decsions?

What reasons did you give him for retention or dismissal of each US Attorney?

Oh yeah (none / 0) (#13)
by Repack Rider on Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 06:29:19 PM EST

If you know so little about what goes on in the DoJ, and people take such actions without your knowledge or approval, what exactly are we paying you to do?

Instead of playing the Democratic questioner... (none / 0) (#15)
by Freewill on Tue Apr 17, 2007 at 03:14:09 PM EST

Instead of placing yourself in a Democratic Legislator's shoes and having to pose your questions, pretend your a Repub Legislator having to ask Gonzo questions!

How will the Repubs, who have been notoriously generous with praise comments before pitching soft-ball questioning to "their kinds" question GoneSo?

Will those Repubs take up most of their time allotted by grandstanding?

Will Repubs throw soft-ball questions as a diversion tactic?

I'm waiting for the Lindsey Graham pulling at Mrs. Alito's feelings, making her cry moment so that Repubs and the MSM can turn this thing into another Evil Lib bashing parade. (Make sure to note who is sitting within camera view of Gonzo.) I'm waiting for that spectacular grand finale from this Administration that, for the last 7 years we all have become so accustomed to.

Sample questions from the Republic Legislators:

Why does the far-left have to turn an obvious right of the President into a partisan witch hunt Mr. Gonzo?

Mr. Gonzales, you are being persecuted just like many righteous leaders throughout history. Can you please, in your own words, explain to myself and the other "overly jealous and hateful" colleagues here about the struggles you have over come in your life just to become the United States highest ranked minority Terrorists Hunter?

Is it true Mr. Gonzales that because you have helped to protect America from being attacked for the last 5 years from Terrorist attacks that your persecution is nothing more than "BUSH HATERS" wanting to destroy America?

These are the kind of questions that I've become so accustomed to throughout this Administration that I'm predicting some (not all) Republican Senators to spew. This ought to be an extremely humorous hearing and I've got my popcorn ready!