Dumb Question

Okay, I think we all get that Gonzales is not only a lying sack, and not very good at it, but he's not even trying to be good at it. He really is defying Congress to do something, anything about his blatant falsehoods, changing stories, and tiresome obfuscations. Oooh, a contempt charge. Guess whose prerogative it is to deal with such a charge?

That's right, the Justice Department. Might as well rename it the Ministry of Truth and be done with it.

So Gonzales is all but flat-out telling his questioners to suck on it, that they have neither the stones nor the horses to make anything stick. And he's probably right -- so far, the only Republicans to stray off the reservation even on Iraq policy have only done so rhetorically. Push comes to shove, they meekly tuck their sacks back and side with the same incompetent thugs they made such a show of repudiating when it was convenient. Impeachment, whether of Gonzales, Cheney, or Bush would be no different. It would be several months of tedious bloviating and grandstanding, culminating in a big wad o' nothin', more flippant defiance, more toxic effrontery, just in time for the players to get their campaign faces on.

So here's the dumb question, since it seems that the biggest holes and contradictions in Gonzales' stories seem to revolve around his little midnight prowl in Ashcroft's hospital room: why not depose Ashcroft, even informally? Either he vindicates Gonzales, or he corroborates Comey, simple as that. But let's get some cards on the table, once and for all, and be done with this nonsense. The Republicans have to be badgered into doing what they already know is the right thing, so it's time to force their hand. Ashcroft would seem to be a valuable point witness to accomplish this.

At this point, Gonzales really seems to have the demeanor of a man who knows that whatever respectable career he once had is completely over. He is now bought and paid for by the Bushies, now and forever, and as such, he literally has nothing to lose by serving as an insouciant diversion to buy them time. He'll do it for another six months, if all they're going to do is wave their hands and occasionally vocalize their frustration with his bullshit. It's just another can to kick; clearly, their fallback strategery at this point is simply to run out the clock on everything.

All those backwards counters we have, clicking off the time these criminals have left in power -- and they're doing the same thing. Time's up.