appalling, unspeakably appalling

Still, I shall make an effort to speak of it. I have now watched El Torturador's grilling at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the U.S. Attorney firings, both sessions, twice... in a row. I have so much to say about it, I may not be able to spit it out. This is where I will do it if I can gather my thoughts, my spit.... I'm going to go ducking around for that chart Senator Whitehouse used near the end so you can start getting an idea why there is electricity short-circuiting my limbs and organs still....

Nope. The Senate isn't quite as user-friendly as the House. Anyway, the chart made clear the difference between the White House and the Department of Justice interface on criminal cases in the Clinton Administration, where there were four people in the WH and an approximately like number in the DoJ who could interact with each other on criminal cases... a prudent and vital near-separation which I have believed my whole life was part of the bedrock of our nation. Turns out the strict protocols that were observed by every other WH were broadened, I'm assuming by Ashcroft, to include everyone on the WH staff and a bunch of people in the DoJ and other agencies... nearly 450 people in total. Put this together with the fact that up to 150 of those people are graduates of Pat Robertson's "law school" and you may begin to get the idea to just shoot yourself in the head. El Torturador had nothing remotely convincing to soften the impact of this news. For some reason -- though why in the world would I, or any of us, be surprised by this? -- this bit really capped the litany of horrors for me.

The good news is: Gonzales got his ass handed to him by the Republicans in the room. With the exception of Senator Hatch, who was his usual fawning self, all of them were stern; most not very seriously stern; some pretty darn stern; and Senator Coburn outright demanded he resign. I can't tell you how glad I was to see that. Senator Schumer rattled him the hardest in terms of attack, but Lindsey Graham, who came right after Schumer, had him babbling like an hysterical old woman. It was beautiful. Don't get me wrong, I've watched Lindsey Graham cheerfully engaging in the dismantling of our country when they were in the majority, but after hours and hours of Alito confirmation hearings I came away certain he's probably one of the best attorneys in America. Today, that cheerful edge to his demeanor turned to ice. He was in fact giving Gonzales chances to rehabilitate himself from the trouncing he'd just taken from Schumer, and even giving him a better track for him to take his lies more plausibly, but Gonzales reacted to it as though Graham were giving him a series of lethal injections. Clearly, Graham is as appalled by the imposture of a legal mind there on the hot seat as I am and projected it with a mastery so cold that Gonzales was completely unmanned. I thought El Torturador was going to pass out. He is terrified of Lindsey Graham. Missed all ten or fifteen gifts-from-God kind of offers of help, yimmering his head off, worse even than Condi when she's being grilled, and I'm certain Graham was not remotely surprised. I fancy he was in fact pleased.

As for the Democrats, Schumer, as I say, rattled him the hardest, but Feinstein, Durbin, Feingold and Whitehouse were really good too. All the Democrats did a great job, and I'm glad to report that Biden was not there. It might have messed with their rhythm. The despicable part is that I think all they intend to do is hold hearings, not ever do any impeaching. Never mind that Gonzales should be impaled rather than impeached, they're not going to do anything sterner than rake him over the coals in the hearing room. They tried hard to get him to roll on Rove, tried hard to get him to answer about just who it was who put the eight U.S. Attorneys on the list to be fired to begin with. It was not him. It was not his chief of staff. It was not anyone we have deposed on the matter, all of whom would be expected to have contributed to the list -- if there were one iota of veracity to this pig's story -- and none of whom will answer the question: Who made the list of U.S. Attorneys to be fired?

If Lindsey Graham were a true human, take it to the bank he could have gotten the answer to that question today... and it would not have taken him long. But he's not. And he didn't. I'm sorry. I almost love him anyway. Just to have the insight that there is an actually competent Republican in this travesty we call our government makes me feel a little better, even if he is a bad person. That's one.

Seven of the eight fired U.S. Attorneys were working on political corruption cases. All have glowing records. But Gonzales doesn't think summarily firing these eight sends a message to the rest of them, and, anyway, he made it clear to all those left standing that he doesn't want them to slow down or speed up any cases; he just wants them to proceed as normal. Pfeh.

Gonzales said he could not recall nearly a hundred times. And lied about how the list of U.S. Attorneys to be fired was drawn up at least five times. It was clear to the committee that he would not respond sufficiently and so they stopped before going to a third round. Senators Leahy, Specter and Schumer all assure us the matter is not dropped. They will be calling for Rove and Miers next, and will issue subpoenas if needs must. Schumer told the press that it would only be a matter of months, not years, till this was accomplished.

The protesters, led by Cindy Sheehan, were not dragged out of chambers, and I think that is a shame, because it is more powerful when they are... and way more dignified. I think their yammering in the breaks ruined the seriousness of the proceedings. When will we finally be able to win for losing?

[Of course, the look on Coburn's aide's face as he was calling on Gonzales to resign was probably worth all these hours with this soul-sucking bad juju to assimilate.]