FLASHBACK: Gonzales Couldn’t Name A Single Mistake He’s Made
FLASHBACK: Gonzales Couldn’t Name A Single Mistake He’s Made
On Nov. 27, 2006, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and at least five top Justice Department officials held a meeting to implement a five-step plan for carrying out the firings of several U.S. Attorneys.
Just three days later, on Nov. 30, Gonzales appeared on CNN and was asked if he could think of a single mistake he’s made during his service to President Bush during the last six years. He couldn’t do it.
“I think that you and I would — I’d have to spend some time thinking about that,” he said. Watch it:
Now that Gonzales is being held accountable by Congress, he’s changed his tune. Some excerpts from his opening statement he’ll read tomorrow before the Senate Judiciary Committee:
“I apologize”
“I am sorry”
“could have — and should have — been handled differently”
“I made mistakes”
“I would have handled this differently”
“I should have done more”
“at times I have been less than precise”
“I misspoke”
“That statement was too broad”
“imprecise and overbroad”
“I regret that”
“management missteps”
“should have been more rigorous”
“should have been completed in a much shorter period of time”
“owes them more respect than they were shown”
“should have worked with them”
“I should have communicated the concerns more effectively”
“I should have informed them of my decisions in a more dignified manner”
“could have been handled much better”
“I want to apologize publicly”
Full transcript:
BLITZER: Looking back on the decisions that you’ve made, at the White House, now at the Justice Department, anything jump to mind? Anything that you deeply regret, a decision that you made?
GONZALES: Oh, I think that you and I would — I’d have to spend some time thinking about that. Obviously I’m not going to say that I am perfect and that I’ve been perfect in doing my job. Obviously I’ve made some recommendations to my client. Some of those recommendations have not been supported in the courts. In hindsight, you sometimes wonder, well, perhaps, perhaps the recommendation should have been something different.
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37 Responses to “FLASHBACK: Gonzales Couldn’t Name A Single Mistake He’s Made”
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His “client?”
It was my understanding that the Attorney General is supposed to represent the American people (”clients?” and uphold the constitution.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:24 pmI assume that the “client” he is referring to is President Bush and it worries me that he thinks his job is to represent the President.
Maybe he should reread the Constitution?
As I’ve said before, even if he has done nothing to deserve jail time, he definitely deserves to be fired.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:25 pmwoulda, coulda, shoulda……………
April 18th, 2007 at 1:26 pmOr, when is a mea culpa not a mea culpa?
April 18th, 2007 at 1:26 pmThe NeoCon Mantra - It’s not a mistake, illegal, or unethical until you are caught and held accountable.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:27 pmi wish i could laugh.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:27 pmI can name one. If he had brought guns to college campuses, gun violence would have decreased.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:27 pmDon’t bother Torture Boy with these interruptions! He’s busy “servicing” his client!
April 18th, 2007 at 1:32 pmhis clients are gonna be Bubba and SHE-he in jail…
April 18th, 2007 at 1:32 pmThey never make mistakes. Even when they do.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:33 pmYes, nothing like arming drunken frat boys to bring down the death rates on campus.
Funny stuff.
-GSD
April 18th, 2007 at 1:34 pmwhat’s up VK?
April 18th, 2007 at 1:35 pmHow can someone be so sorry and not resign? There seems to be a disconnect between the words and their meaning. A resignation shows one means “sorry”. The person who says sorry but carries on is really just offering critics the finger.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:37 pmyou have to interpret gonzales’ “i made no mistakes” remark in the proper frame… HE was just following a script handed to him by his handlers and so HE followed it as instructed, therefore HE never made any mistakes… in his mind, submitting to an unswerving loyalty and unquestioning stance vis a vis those handlers was clearly a right choice and therefore can’t be categorized as a mistake either…
And, yes, I DO take it personally
April 18th, 2007 at 1:46 pmThese clowns view themselves as “chosen” leaders who never have to say they are sorry. If they have to admit it, then it is understood, that there is no consequence….
April 18th, 2007 at 1:49 pmI don’t think he’s being inconsistent. He is claiming that his mistakes were those of process, not substance. His problem is that it’s so obvious that he’s not telling the truth . Based on e-mails and statements of others in the Justice Department, (1) He was involved in meetings, (2) He was briefed, (3) He made the decision on the names to be given to the president, (4) There is no evidence that these US attorneys had committed any firable offense. If the Justice Department wanted the attorneys to re-prioritize, all they had to do was communicate that. It is the fault of the Justice Department that they did not communicate their priorities clearly. In any hearing on a labor grievance filed against a large company in this kind of case, I believe that the employee would win 99% of the time.
It’s also obvious that he’s being disingenuous when he says that he would never fire US attorneys for political reasons and that he has nothing to hide. The laughable thing about this situation to me is that it is so consistent with how the Bush administration talks to the American people. They do what meets their hidden agenda, and then they mislead the public about it. The Valerie Plame case is a great example of this, but only one example. I believe there are many others.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:49 pmBe a Bush loyalist. Fact is he’s only sorry that the Dems control congress and he’s under scrutiny. He’s sorry for himself and his leader.
These people feel remorse only when they are caught out. The only way I can explain such behavior is that they believe themselves to be serving some idea of a higher morality, which allows them to act in an utterly amoral and unethical manner to serve this higher purpose. They can lie, cheat, break the law, piss on the Constitution and anything else to serve their ideology, which clearly, they hold more important than anything else.
It is not unlike a cult, where otherwise sensible people seem to jettison all logic, reason and judgment to serve their master’s purposes. Truth in only what they need it to be. If it doesn’t fit it with their views, it must be either ignored or attacked.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:52 pmCouldn’t name a single mistake? Sounds like his boss:
“I’m sure something will pop into my head here…maybe I’m not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one.”
April 18th, 2007 at 1:54 pm- President Bush, asked about any mistakes he might have made, 2004.
I think this “apology” or confessions needs to be seriously examined. Is he actually saying he made mistakes and is sorry, or is he doing the typical Bush apology ™? It is one thing to say “I have made some serious mistakes and I am sorry.” It is another thing altogether to say “I am sorry that people feel we made mistakes. In so far as we believe we’ve done things incorrectly, we are sorry.”
April 18th, 2007 at 1:56 pmGonzales’ goal is to make it sound like he’s very sorry and that he’s taking responsibility for what went wrong without admitting any specifics about what he did wrong.
Congress’ goal is to make him admit specifics.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:58 pm“I accept responsibility for my mistakes however I accept no accountability or consequences.” - Alberto Gonzales
April 18th, 2007 at 1:59 pm***shakin my pompoms for congress***
April 18th, 2007 at 2:01 pmBut he’s not proposing to rehire the eight attorneys, right?
April 18th, 2007 at 2:44 pmHIS CLIENT ? God help the United States of America !
April 18th, 2007 at 2:53 pmThis man is a bold-faced liar as proven by his comments just three days after the firing debacle. He’s delusion, inept, and a liar to boot - give him the boot! Hear that Kucinich will bring impeachment charges against the Dick, Cheney, next week.
April 18th, 2007 at 3:07 pmAlberto VO5 is a pathological liar.
April 18th, 2007 at 3:08 pmThe only time Republicans admit to being fallible is when they’re caught red-handed. Is this honesty?? I hardly think so.
April 18th, 2007 at 3:08 pmSo why is he still the AG???? I mean he admits he totally screwed up and then assumes that he should be forgiven???? We can’t assume that he won’t make similar future mistakes, as his record is so replete with too many examples. This confession needs to be taken at face value, as evidence he cannot do the job!!!
April 18th, 2007 at 3:36 pmAG has revealed his true loyalaty and it is not to the Constitution or the American people — it is to “his client” GWBush!
April 18th, 2007 at 4:01 pmThat little Fruedian slip tells it all.
Get rid of this incompetent, misguided, fool - and while you’re at it, get rid of his client too.
I can see a scenario-If Gonzo, Bush’s “capo de tutti frutti”, loses his job as AG, he’ll be teaching Constitutional law at Regent within a month.
April 18th, 2007 at 4:28 pmIs Gonzales admitting that he is incompetent? Wow, he is dumber than I thought.
JohnD…
April 18th, 2007 at 4:58 pmROFLMAO, that’s funny.
Gonzales - “You’re fired”.
April 18th, 2007 at 5:00 pmIt was a tough decision to choose 5 best logos from over 190 sketches. Our choice might not look reasonable for all of you, but you have to keep in mind that the logo should fit perfectly to our color scheme and our site layout. We had to create many screenshots with different logo variation and check, whether the look we get is optimal. Not every beautiful logo we liked first passed this test, so only “bulletproof†logos remained
April 18th, 2007 at 6:42 pmGonzalez is on borrowed time. Let’s see what happens after his hearing.
April 18th, 2007 at 7:32 pmThe only comment i want to hear from this scumbag is “These handcuffs are too tight.”
April 18th, 2007 at 7:41 pmObviously I’ve made some recommendations to my client.
That speaks volumes, right there.
Yo, Gonzales! I never got any recommendations from you. Remember me? One of the PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES?
April 18th, 2007 at 7:42 pmHere’s a mistake Abu Gonzales can claim tomorrow morning:
I got up this morning.
April 18th, 2007 at 8:37 pm