Mechanical General

by digby

Glenn Greenwald watched the Gonzales hearing today so we don’t have to. I’m glad I didn’t because it sounds like the kind of testimony that invariably makes me want to put a boot through the televison set. It’s a technique that the most closely aligned Bush sycophants have mastered, aping their fearless leader’s stonewalling gibberish, eating up time, boring everyone with mindless platitudes until they finally just give up in suicidal despair of ever getting a straight answer. I call it the McClellan Curse, named for the robot puppy they called Scotty.

This is what I have learned so far: All of the Senators are very “concerned” and sometimes even “disturbed” about many things, almost all of them different for each Senator. Gonzales definitely shares their concerns about everything, and assures them he takes it very seriously and he is happy to sit down with them and explore ways to fix/improve/think about it.

For any information the Senators want, Gonzales does not have it, but he will definitely endeavor to get it for them. When pointed out that he has made the same promises many times before and told them nothing, he assures them them he is working diligently to get it, but that it is a very complex matter, and they are entitled to it and will have it (sometimes he politely denies ever having promised it before but then says he will get it anyway).

Has anyone ever checked to see if he has an electrical socket in the back of his neck?

We bloggers should also be happy to know that we are the “some people” they were referring to when members of the administration claimed that “some people didn’t think the government should ever eavesdrop on anyone.” If by “eavesdropping” they meant spying on American citizens without a warrant or any kind of judicial oversight, then I guess I’m guilty. I’ve never been able to understand why in the hell it’s so hard for them to comply with the ridiculously compliant FISA court unless they were doing something nefarious. And since they are lying,despotic, incompetent sacks of shit I don’t trust them to take out the trash without running it past a proper authority.

Now that there is the promise of legislative oversight, they are running around saying that they will comply with FISA. We guess. The agreement is a secret, naturally.

I wonder what would happen if the Senators got angry and abused him the way they abused Anita Hill — or any number of Clinton’s staff members who were dragged before committees and treated like they were war criminals.

Update: Reports in the comments say the Senators did get hot under the collar. Good.

They also reported this:

Specter: Now wait a minute, wait a minute. The Constitution says you can’t take it away except in the case of invasion or rebellion. Doesn’t that mean you have the right of habeas corpus?

Gonzales: I meant by that comment that the Constitution doesn’t say that every individual in the United States or every citizen has or is assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesn’t say that. It simply says that the right of habeas corpus shall not be suspended.

Depends on what the definition of “rights” in “the bill of” is, I guess.

Does Nino think this was the “original intent” of the framers?

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