Video: Gonzales’ Amnesia
Video: Gonzales’ Amnesia
The Washington Post reports that Alberto Gonzales used the phrase “I don’t recall” and its variants 64 times during the five-hour hearing, “treat[ing] the committee to a mixture of arrogance, combativeness and amnesia. Even his would-be defenders on the Republican side were appalled.”
Last night’s Daily Show featured a video compilation highlighting the absurdity of Gonzales’ “amnesia.” Jon Stewart: “After weeks of mock testimony, there you have it. Alberto Gonzales doesn’t know what happened, but he assures you what he doesn’t remember was handled properly.” Watch it:
Here’s a sampling of the types of questions Gonzales evaded:
SESSIONS: Do you recall [the November 27 meeting before the firings] and where it took place?
LEAHY: Did the President ever tell you specifically to fire a U.S. attorney?
DURBIN: In the situation with Carol Lam, did you have any conversations with Karl Rove about her fate?
BROWNBACK: Daniel Bogden of Nevada: Why was he terminated?
BROWNBACK: Margaret Chiara, the Western District of Michigan?
KOHL: So then my question is, why was [U.S. attorney Steve Biskupic] then taken off the list?
SPECTER: Weren’t you involved in the decision on the removal of Arkansas U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins, as Kyle Sampson testified?
FEINSTEIN: Did anybody that was involved in the [firings] ever look at [the attorneys'] performance reports prior to putting them on the list?
As Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) noted yesterday, “if the attorney general cannot answer a straightforward, factual question from a senator about recent events, how can he possibly run the department?”
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So, Gonzo practiced for weeks to say “I don’t recall?”
April 20th, 2007 at 2:12 pmGonzo has no amnesia, he is just a pathological liar like Pres. Bush.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:12 pmReagan did it, too…I mean Clinton.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:15 pmRush Limbaugh did the same thing to Bill and Hillary Clinton’s testimony back when. Yeah, yeah, very funny.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:18 pmsorry, michael, I don’t recall that…………..
April 20th, 2007 at 2:24 pmWow.. I hadn’t caught Leahy’s expression when Gone-zales said he can’t recall when he made the decision. Priceless.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:25 pmSo, on the one hand, Alberto wants you to know that he fired prosecutors strictly for competence issues and on the other hand, Alberto has the memory of a drunken sailor, which I would think affects his competence. Hmmmm.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:26 pm#4 so are you arguing that Bush should be impeached?
April 20th, 2007 at 2:26 pmCooking Your Own Goose for Dummies
– Alberto Gonzales
And, yes, I DO take it personally
April 20th, 2007 at 2:26 pm#5 (snot bubble)
April 20th, 2007 at 2:26 pmOh now that’s funny, gotta love Stewart….I just can’t recall why? Mmmm….
Hating the Repuke Mafia and their followers daily
April 20th, 2007 at 2:29 pm#9…hilarious
April 20th, 2007 at 2:30 pmLestatdelc,
Yeah it was. The thought that crossed my mind was, it looked like he was talking to his teenage son who was getting home after curfew, a mixture of exasperation, and bemusement.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:31 pmI FINALLY figured out who Alberto is : remember the movie “Fargo”, when Mr. Lundergaard, the car salesman, was being interviewed by the Margie, the detective….
this is the EXACT evasiveness, the same mannerisms, the stuttering, the outright deceit that is so clearly exposed. Man, I wish I had that clip to post here somehow.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:33 pmHe doesn’t remember, he can’t recall, recollect or have any recollection.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:36 pmFor having all of this time to prepare, it looked like he was about as capable as his hero, Junior Booosh.
No, lestatdelc, are you arguing that Clinton was impeached for something other than obstruction of justice and perjury?
April 20th, 2007 at 2:40 pmMarge Gunderson: You have no call to get snippy with me; I’m just trying to do my job here.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:41 pmJerry Lundegaard: I told ya. We haven’t had any vehicles go missing.
Marge Gunderson: Okay! But are ya sure? ‘Cause I mean, how do you know? Do you do a count, or what kind of a routine do you have here?
Jerry Lundegaard: Maam, I answered your question!
Marge Gunderson: [long pause] I’m sorry, sir?
Jerry Lundegaard: Maam, I answered your question. I answered the darned… I’m cooperatin’ here!
Marge Gunderson: Sir, you have no call to get snippy with me, I’m just doing my job here.
Jerry Lundegaard: I’m… I’m not arguing here! I’m cooperating. So there’s no need to… we’re doin’ all we can here.
Marge Gunderson: Sir, could I talk to Mr. Gustafson?
Marge Gunderson: Mr. Lundegaard?
Gonzales is the best obfuscater ever…
absurd thought -
God of the Universe loves
abusive prosecutors
sacrificing lives for votes
April 20th, 2007 at 2:41 pmpander to insanity
.
Makes you wonder how bad he was BEFORE “preparing” all this time. Absolutely pathetic.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:42 pmFargo, one of the best movies ever, that was a great scene…
April 20th, 2007 at 2:44 pmIf the AG was human he would simply STEP DOWN. This is proof that Republicans are from some other planet (I hope for their sake). I think that we citizens have been quite patient in all of this and it seems that if the winds of change are to blow then we need to throw down the gloves.
Honestly, how much more of this cra* are we expected to tolerate? I don’t even believe in tolerance. I do believe that some of us should get tar and others should get some down pillows and we should coat these carpet baggers with both like in the good ol’ days then kick’em out of town!
April 20th, 2007 at 2:45 pm#16 So then why did you bring up Clinton, since Clinton isn’t in office and Gonzalez can’t be impeached?
April 20th, 2007 at 2:46 pm#19 No kidding. Imagine what this clown would have been like without the murder boards. How this guy managed to get through law school is beyond me.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:47 pmReminds me of The Gipper. When in doubt, recite the lyrics to Peter Gabriel’s “I don’t remember”
I Don’t Remember
I got no means to show identification
I got no papers show you what I am
You’ll have to take me just the way that you find me
What’s gone is gone and I do not give a damn
Empty stomach, empty head
I got empty heart and empty bed
I don’t remember
I don’t remember
I don’t remember, I don’t recall
I got no memory of anything at all
I don’t remember, I don’t recall
I got no memory of anything
-anything at all
Strange is your language and I have no decoder
Why don’t you make your inentions clear
With eyes to the sun and your mouth to the soda
Saying, “Tell me the truth, you got nothing to fear
Stop staring at me like a bird of prey
I’m all mixed up, I got nothing to say
I don’t remember
I don’t remember
I don’t remember, I don’t recall
I got no memory of anything at all
I don’t remember, I don’t recall
I got no memory of anything
Anything at all
I don’t remember, I don’t recall
I got no memory of anything at all
I don’t remember, I don’t recall
i got no memory of anything
absolutely anything at all
I don’t remember
Also, from 2 years ago
http://www.noble-gas.com/ilovetorture.mp3
April 20th, 2007 at 2:47 pmHarvard ‘C’ students running the WH & DOJ. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
Michael,
Clinton was an Oxford scholar.
Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Gore won an Oscar & may win a Nobel Peace Prize.
Bush holds grade school books upside down to read them.
Cheney shoots friends in the face while drunk.
Foley fingers Pages, but doesn’t read books.
Grinch cheats on his wife while indicting Clinton.
Alberto lies to congress. More than once.
I could go on, but I think you get the point…
April 20th, 2007 at 2:51 pm“I remember there were cookies at the meeting.”
“I do recall that it was National Meth Awareness Day”… but “I don’t recall what happened at the meeting that day.”
DUH… it’s getting better all the time… Comedy Central needs to create a new show, “The Bush White House Years” – staring, Bush appointed incompetent fools. They wouldn’t even need screen writers for this show because the Bush appointed incompetents already wrote the script.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:52 pmIt reminds me of when I was a kid and my brother and I watched the Watergate hearings and we would walk around saying “To the best of my recollection”, every time my mom would ask us about some incriminating act we had just committed. Sam Ervin had the greatest accent. Ah the good ole days, The White House bleeding corruption, a President with ratings in the dumper , massive failure in a warrant-less war and congress finally getting to the bottom of just what the hell was going on. Pretty erie.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:52 pmWe can assume Gonzo’s prep time was used learning how to get away with not answering questions.
What they need to subpoena is his calendar. Also isn’t it interesting that he didn’t take any notes at meetings. Of course if the FBI was to raid his residence maybe they could find some notes he’s hiding.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:53 pmThe longer Gonzales fights for his post and the longer Bush is “pleased” with his performance, the more foolish and corrupt they look and the more people will think first before voting Republican.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:55 pmAlberto Gonzales appears to be an approval-seeker who has found upward-mobility by attaching himself to the Bushmobile, which has required lies and deception to justify its twisted agenda, because it cannot stand the light of truth.
The mantra inside the organization is to fight rather than give in, and he knows too much for Bush to let him go without strongly supporting him first, ala Rumsfeld.
April 20th, 2007 at 3:01 pmoff topic, but/
Get busy ya’ll:
APRIL 28 NATIONWIDE IMPEACHMENT ACTIONS
April 20th, 2007 at 3:03 pmhttp://www.a28.org/
I believe the Attorney General is a “Civil Officer” subject to impeachment, lestatdelc. That’s why I brought up the last person impeached. Can you answer my question now?
April 20th, 2007 at 3:11 pmI heard that there were demonstrators in audience…
…one in particular within camera view (behind Abu Gonzo)…
…with a poster reading “I don’t RECALL”…
…and the protestor placed a mark each time Gonzo uttered the Repulsivescum mantra…
…until Leahy had him/her removed…
…PRICELESS!
April 20th, 2007 at 3:19 pm#32 ………impeached, but not convicted.
April 20th, 2007 at 3:20 pmEven the Republican juggernaut could not bring themselves to convict a sitting president for what we now know they were doing in their own closets…
Republicans were lying under oath and obstructing justice in their closets, Raven?
April 20th, 2007 at 3:30 pm#33 – Leahy requested that posters be taken down because the posters were blocking the views of other spectators. I heard the request and I didn’t hear anything about having anyone removed, just the request for the posters to not block other peoples’ view.
April 20th, 2007 at 3:32 pmSocialites, climbing the ladder right to the top of the US government.
“I don’t recall how much meth I took that day. Anyone here go to that kick ass party last night?”
April 20th, 2007 at 3:34 pm#34 Raven – yeah, wasn’t Newt the adulterer having an affair and getting ready to hand his wife divorce papers while she was still in the recovery room post cancer surgery while at the same time he wanted Clinton impeached for Monica’s cigar smoking? And what about Dick Army… having an affair? So many Republican hypocrits and just not enough time to expose them all.
Speaking as a woman, I think the Republicans were jeaolous that Monica wasn’t smoking their cigars.
April 20th, 2007 at 3:37 pmExactly, CDwF, was Mark Foley scurrying around in the bushes outside the page dorms yet back then?
April 20th, 2007 at 3:41 pmAlberto Gonzales once again offered his Sgt. Schultz defense. Like the bumbling German guard in Hogan’s Heroes, Gonzales essentially claimed “I know nothing, nothing!” Sadly, his own recent statements show that while Gonzales may be similarly stupid, he is not ignorant.
The Attorney General’s recent op-eds show his dilemma. While claiming to have played no role in the evaluation of the fired attorneys, Gonzales claimed they lost his confidence nonetheless…
For the details, see:
“Gonzales’ Sgt. Schultz Defense.”
For the latest news, document dumps, email archives, hearing transcripts and other essential materials in the firings of U.S. attorneys, see:
April 20th, 2007 at 3:44 pm“The U.S. Attorney Scandal Documents.”
among other things, mountain boy…….
April 20th, 2007 at 3:48 pmI think Alberto needs to be “tuned up” in an NYPD box to help with his memory
April 20th, 2007 at 4:03 pm>are you arguing that Clinton was impeached for something other than obstruction of justice and perjury?
michael,
As a matter of fact….Clinton was impeached because the Republicans had a majority, and a scorched earth policy on the part of the GOP, was deemed an effective way to for the Republicans to retain power.
And look at the Republicans now!!
They are incapable of governing….and are throwing our money down a rat hole, and are forced to deal with an embarrassing lame duck who can’t get anything right.
Heck of job, Michael!
April 20th, 2007 at 4:12 pmStewart’s take on it last night was priceless.
April 20th, 2007 at 4:17 pmHow the heck did ThinkProgress embed a Daily Show video? Inquiring minds want to know for future reference!
April 20th, 2007 at 4:19 pmWe’ll have to agree to disagree, nanorich. I’ve can post a webpage of the Articles of Impeachment for Clinton, if you need that too.
April 20th, 2007 at 4:40 pm#32 Wrong. AG is a cabinet level post and not subject to impeachment.
April 20th, 2007 at 4:45 pm“I’ve can post a webpage of the Articles of Impeachment for Clinton, if you need that too.”
I bet you sleep with it under your pillow.
April 20th, 2007 at 4:50 pmAnn (48),
I really don’t want to think what else is under there!
April 20th, 2007 at 4:59 pm“A retentive memory may be a good thing, but the ability to forget is the true token of greatness.â€
April 20th, 2007 at 4:59 pmAl Gonzales…a truly great man.
I do not sleep with a webpage of Clinton’s Articles of Impeachment under my pillow.
April 20th, 2007 at 5:01 pmBTW: lestatdelc, I think you are mistaken. At least one other cabinet officer, William W. Belknap (Secretary of War) was indeed impeached, but he resigned before his trial, and was ultimately acquitted in the Senate.
April 20th, 2007 at 5:04 pmMichael, maybe this will make you feel a little better:
Article I: The president provided perjurious, false and misleading testimony to the grand jury regarding the Paula Jones case and his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
Approved by House 228-206
Article III: The president obstructed justice in an effort to delay, impede, cover up and conceal the existence of evidence related to the Jones case.
Approved by House 221-212
To review, only two of the House Articles passed. One was for lying about his illicit bj’s and one was for looking in on his secretary and asking her if the repubs were treating her alright. The Senate didn’t agree.
There you go. Are you proud?
April 20th, 2007 at 5:06 pmI’d had some friends go through law school, and I specifically recall the fact that they had to MEMORIZE details of court cases…
No way do I believe that anyone who graduated from law school – who stored countless laws, cases and rulings into their brains in a couple of years couldn’t remember that many major events in their own lives…
Either Abu’s law degree is a sham, or he has a brain disease/brain damage, or he is a liar. In all theree cases, he shouldn’t be Attorney General of the United States.
April 20th, 2007 at 5:07 pmOh, by the way, the comment by #54 unbelievable should have added. The Attorney General, Gonzalez, did not attend just any Law School; he attended HARVARD LAW SCHOOL.
April 20th, 2007 at 5:42 pmThat’s the thing about Alberto. Everyone knows he’s lying. Everyone knows that his memory is just not that bad. It’s like theater. Everyone knows he’s Bush’s man and will always protect Bush, period.
April 20th, 2007 at 5:54 pmI don’t KNOW he’s lying.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:01 pm#52 Thank you (sincerly). I stand corrected and actually learned something.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:06 pmOf course you don’t, Michael. Gonzo evidently did well enough in his undergraduate work and his LSAT to get into Harvard Law School. Bush has told friends that Gonzo has a mind like a steel trap. He was a Texas State Supreme Court Justice. But, he can’t remember any details from an important meeting he had a few months ago in which they discussed attorney firings.
Now, an intelligent person might assume that I meant “know” figuratively, because any thinking person knows that things just don’t add up here.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:18 pmEvery GOP supporter in America is a TRAITOR!
…they have ZERO morals…
…they are murderers…
…they are racists…
…they are liars, thieves, misogynists, homophobes, xenophobs and demons…
…why would ANY human being want to reconcile with these abominations?
April 20th, 2007 at 6:19 pmYou’re welcome, lestatdelc. Any day you learn something is always a good day.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:24 pmmichael, I’m guessing you got that little factoid on Belknap from an article on impeachment by John Dean. You should read his book, “Worse then Watergate.”
April 20th, 2007 at 6:39 pmYou’d be guessing wrong about that too, Bluedog49. John Dean is a traitor.
April 20th, 2007 at 6:47 pmAnd that is why I say you are stupid and/or not paying attention. Considering that you are here trying to argue, then you are paying attention, so that only leaves stupid.
April 20th, 2007 at 7:02 pmActually, John Dean is a PATRIOT.
I AM THE ONE WHO IS THE TRAITOR…
See you in hell mikejake (cause I’LL be THERE),
Mr. Bush
April 20th, 2007 at 7:03 pmMURDEROUS WAR CRIMINAL
COXUCKER PUNK TRAITOR TO THE USA (TM)
It may be time for him to go, I hate to admit. Join the conversion at:
http://osi-speaks.blogspot.com/2007/04/alberto-gonzales-appears-on.html#links
April 20th, 2007 at 7:33 pmI can’t believe that Sen Reid would have the nerve to state the obvious. How dare he call a spade a spade. I am Army veteran who served 11 years, 3 of which was as an Infantryman and I knew from the beginning that these cowards didn’t know what they were doing. When you take to rich draft dodger and put them in charge of our military bad things happen.
That’s the problem with Chicken Hawks, they are cowards who will fight with other people children blood, but are afraid to spill their childrens blood. Anyone who avoided going to Viet Nam purposely is a COWARD and that’s all there is to it. All of the people who support these cowards should be ashamed because all of those poor young men who died saving their (cowards) sorry A-ses.
How would these so called conservatives think if young men stopped going to Iraq right now. I think young men of today should do what the cowards did back then, like dodge the war by joining the Texas Air National Guard and getting deferrments for college. Then thirty years from now that could become a Republican President with a record of dodging a war and calling a war hero a coward.
April 20th, 2007 at 7:52 pmAh the good ole days, The White House bleeding corruption, a President with ratings in the dumper , massive failure in a warrant-less war and congress finally getting to the bottom of just what the hell was going on. Pretty erie.
Comment by the fly-man — April 20, 2007 @ 2:52 pm
Does this mean I get to relive the 70s? Whoo hoo!
April 20th, 2007 at 8:07 pmserves at the pleasure of the president. serves as a pleasure to the president. serves the president pleasurably. pleasurably serves as he recalls on occassion.
gosh darn, if we ain’t in good hands now, by golly.
April 21st, 2007 at 3:14 pmHey Jon,
When are you going to talk about impeaching and imprisoning the whole filthy, treasonous lot of them?
What about Crimes Against Humanity?
What about September 11th high treason, deliberately allowing those attacks without doing a God damned thing to try and stop them?
Or the numerous Mossad operatives arrested, made classified, and released in the wake of 9-11?
I guess to call the Bushies treasonous and war criminals, you’d have to admit that the top Dems are also treasonous and war criminals for going along with them?
And admitting we’re in a tyranny with no opposition isn’t all that funny.
Crimes of the State
April 21st, 2007 at 3:17 pmhttp://crimesofthestate.blogspot.com/
APRIL 28: NATIONWIDE IMPEACHMENT PROTESTS!
April 22nd, 2007 at 1:59 amReply to number 33: I was there for the afternoon session, and the protestor was there till the end. I believe he counted 74 “I don’t recall”s. I got a couple photos of him and have seen some posted on various sites.
April 23rd, 2007 at 7:18 pm