Novak: ‘Poor Gonzales’ Is Terrible, ‘But There Are A Lot Of Bad People In This Administration’
Novak: ‘Poor Gonzales’ Is Terrible, ‘But There Are A Lot Of Bad People In This Administration’
This weekend on Bloomberg Television, columnist Robert Novak offered the following “defense” of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales:
He’s terrible. He shouldn’t be there. But there’s a lot of bad people in this administration.
Novak twice referred to the Attorney General as “poor Gonzales,” casting him as an unfortunate victim of congressional oversight. In a partisan jab, Novak claimed Democrats are “pounding on this poor Gonzales who never should have been in a high government post in the first place” in order to shift attention from the Iraq funding debate. But Novak then acknowledged that Republicans “think he ought to go, too.”
Watch it:
Novak said, “The president is stuck with these subpar people he brought up from Texas. That’s a failing on President Bush’s part.” A failing that Novak would prefer we not pay attention to.
Transcript:
NOVAK: Margaret, the president can get rid of him any time he wants to. There’s no political setback. It would be a benefit. The president is stuck with these subpar people he brought up from Texas. That’s a failing on President Bush’s part. Now, this hearing produced no new evidence, no new questions, no new answers. It is the Democrats that are having trouble with serious questions like funding the iraq war, deciding what to do on it, passing legislation. And so pounding on this poor Gonzalez who never should have been in a high government post in the first place is all they can do. And the Republicans, they decided there’s enough of it, but let me tell you, they think he ought to go, too.
CARLSON: I didn’t say the president couldn’t get rid of him. I said he can’t get rid of him because he needs an enabler like Gonzalez in that job. And by the way, there was new evidence. A ninth U.S. Attorney who was asked to leave. But of course about that, he knows nothing. He didn’t even know how many attorneys he oversaw in the Justice Department. He underestimated it by 50%.
NOVAK: He’s terrible. He shouldn’t be there. But there’s a lot of bad people in this administration. But I think if you weren’t so hooked to the Democratic talking points, Margaret, you would know that they’re in trouble on substantive issues and they have to pound on poor Gonzalez to get anything in the press.
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There are a lot of bad people and Novak is one of them.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:19 pmPoor Novak. He’s exposed as the semi-senile hack that he is.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:19 pmPerhaps a job as a cub reporter would help him out.
The Gospel According to Novakula:
Sure, everything’s going to Hell, but why do you have to keep bringing it up? Don’t you people have ANYTHING better to do?
No, Bob-o. We don’t. Getting people to realize how incompetent this Administration is, and how much damage they’ve caused, so we can hopefully stop the hemorraging of lives and money and goodwill is kind of a priority for a lot of people nowadays. You excluded, of course.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:20 pmyup, a lot of bad people in this administration, and in this entire government. That is just what impeachment is for – to get them out. but, of course, there’s plenty of politicians that tell us it’s “too difficult” to impeach, or it’s a “distraction” or there’s “no basis” or “impossible” or whatever excuses they give. I call that good old fashioned complicity.
Impeachment is a must because it’s about restoring the constitution and the rule of law – which is gone at this point.
Some reading:
“Clarification of the Uses of Impeachment”
May 14th, 2007 at 12:21 pmhttp://www.populistamerica.com/clarification_of_the_uses_of_impeachment
Novak no doubt is referring to the little fish like Goodling when he talks about bad people. He certainly would not apply this appellation to Cheney or Bush.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:21 pmAnd yes, Novak is a bad person.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:22 pmThese guys are really getting desperate. Is it me or is that one of the stupidest comments one of these ‘pundits’ has ever made? It’s somehow the Democrats fault because they want to investigate the actions of one of these ’sub-par’ people?! If they were such bad people wouldn’t it be logical that someone, Democrat or Republican, would be investigating all of their mistakes?
May 14th, 2007 at 12:22 pmNovak is a traitor who outed a CIA agent and her entire cover company.
Novak deserves to be hanging from the end of a rope.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:22 pmPlease take no notice that the Emperor is wearing no clothes.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:23 pmP.S. I think Novak should go too.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:25 pmPoor Gonzales? How about poor *us*?
May 14th, 2007 at 12:26 pmLook, I’m as much a progressive liberal as the next guy, and I detest Bush on a profoundly deep level, but another way of looking at this is that Novak said Gonzales is incompetent, Bush’s personnel choices are a failure and the Democrats are using this issue to play politics.
Is any of that news? Novak is a partisan hack, to be sure, but lately he’s been slamming the administration. We should be at least willing to throw him the ocasional bone.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:30 pmIt’s clintons fault that poor gonzo went bad. gonzo used to believe in our government. He was an honest man who came from a poor background. All that changed when Monica detsroyed the vision of American morals for poor AG-AG.
See, this is all Bills fault. ALl of this corruption, the prostitution, the cronyism that got AG-AG his job. Why the Republicans never would have elected such obvious malcontents such if it weren’t for Bill. It is Bills faut that Abramoff is in jail. Jack and Tom were only trying to save America from the Bills in the world.
/sarcon
May 14th, 2007 at 12:32 pmWe should be at least willing to throw him the ocasional bone.
Comment by cltamaz
I think we should leave the bone where it is and throw Novak..
May 14th, 2007 at 12:35 pmI am really looking forard to the long, long section of my life that will have no Bob Novak or David Broder in it.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:36 pmI would be happy to throw a bone…right at Novak’s head.
A big enough bone should do some damage to that traitor.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:39 pmWhy does anybody care what this guy says? He outed a covert CIA agent for partisan reasons, and should be doing time, not appearing on TV. Please do NOT feed the troll. TP should just ignore him and hope he’ll go away.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:40 pmAlthough it soulds like Novak is slamming the administration he’s actually using the incompetence of the administration in order to slam Democrats.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:40 pmIs it just me or are these rightwingers trying to pretend that they DIDNT sell their souls to bush?
May 14th, 2007 at 12:43 pmNovak did admit that Chimpy brought a lot of incompetent cronies with him to Texas and that Gonzales was way over his head.
A major admission from a Chimpyloving cheerleader.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:43 pmWhy does anybody care what this guy says? He outed a covert CIA agent for partisan reasons, and should be doing time, not appearing on TV. Please do NOT feed the troll. TP should just ignore him and hope he’ll go away.
Comment by Eric’s Brain
Hope is for the meek and the religious. I say keep exposing them.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:44 pmHmm. Going to Heck in a Bush-basket? Going to Quag in a Bush-mire? Why, it’s just Bush stupidity as usual. Most of the “leading” main stream corporate journalists in Washington, DC have been paid by the CIA for years and years. Most of the television “news” (right-wing propaganda) shows are also populated by CIA paid off talking heads.
We are all living in a CIA world shadow play: our CIA helped installed Saddam in Iraq; in the early 1980s, under President Reagan, the CIA helped create the forerunners to both al-Queda and the Taliban in Afghanistan: the US and its CIA wanted to harass the Soviet-backed Communist regime in Afghanistan. That worked out only too well…
Now we don’t seem to like the fruits that are falling from our fruit trees…
Cheers.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:48 pmSubpar is as subpar does. Bush brought in his peer group and toadies from Texas-and the results speak for themselves.
The truly competent achievers in this administration are the marketers, handlers, and propagandists who maneuvered a Supreme Court crowning for 2000, and the Swift Boat smears in 2004. They succeeded, much to the detriment of the nation.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:50 pmStrangely, I sort of agree with Novak that throwing Gonzales’ against the wall is probably not the most efficient use of Congressional time.
If they can pin Gonzo with misleading Congress, then they should do that. Otherwise, find the other bad people in this administration and start piling up the corpses.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:51 pm“But there’s a lot of bad people in this administration.”
Novak is right about that much. That’s about it, though.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:53 pmp.s. Subpar “DECIDERS” appoint subpar cronies.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:55 pmSometime when I screw up at work I’ll try this out.
“Well, you gotta blame my boss for this. She was the one that decided to bring in sub-par people like myself. What did you expect?”
May 14th, 2007 at 1:05 pmSo Novak, enabler of the treachery, throw’s his hands up in the air and spits (literally) what are you going to do?
Why is this guy not indicted?
May 14th, 2007 at 1:06 pmi thought Novak was a Clinton man? Why would you make any attempt to defend Gonzo?
May 14th, 2007 at 1:07 pmNovak: “produced no new questions” –> Because the last one’s weren’t answered.
Novak: “produced no new answers” –> Because gonzalez only parroted the same answers of “I don’t remember” or “I don’t know”.
Novak: “if you weren’t so hooked to the democratic talking points…” –> So, uncomfortable facts are reduced to partisan “talking points”. What kind of state are we in when facts are no longer even acknowledged as facts, but are subject to interpretation depending on your political affiliation?
May 14th, 2007 at 1:07 pmWaking up after all that Rove/Pearl koolaid, all the destruction, lives lost, billions spent, the drunk illusion that this administration had a vision for the good; that they were somehow competent. Ouch!!!
Get use to it Novak, it’s gonna get a lot darker facing the consequences of YOUR PARTY’S actions over the last 5 years.
We tried to warn you.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:10 pm“Subpar is as subpar does. Bush brought in his peer group and toadies from Texas-and the results speak for themselves.”
A classic example of the peter principle at work.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:10 pmSo according to Novak, that fact that Gonzo shouldn’t have been there in the first place is reason enough not to “pick on” him?
May 14th, 2007 at 1:13 pmNovak looks like, and still is, a retarded, stoned bullfrog.
Let’s all hope he does Americans a big favor & croaks.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:14 pmBut there’s a lot of bad people in this administration.
There are a lot of bad people and Novak is one of them.
Comment by Spudge_Boy — May 14, 2007 @ 12:19 pm
LOL.. that should be the Last post… End of Disscussion.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:26 pmWhy is he still getting air time? Rove leaked Plame’s name to Novak. Rove was fired under Bush Sr because of a leak to Novak.
People who participate in this kind of treachery agains the public should be banned.
Unplug your TV’s and take their ad revenue away. Maybe then we’ll get their attention.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:29 pmNovak is a traitor who outed a CIA agent and her entire cover company.
Novak deserves to be hanging from the end of a rope.
I’m surprised he’s not as anyone knows you just don’t piss off the CIA.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:30 pmJust ask JFK.
So Novak the traitor is using the don’t blame Gonzo because he’s a moron excuse? Well then, that’s all right. Can’t blame a guy for doing a bad job when he’s too stupid to do a good job, now can we? I think Novak’s shelf life has expired.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:42 pmSeeking to remove ‘terrible’ Attorney Generals when ‘even the Republicans think he should go’ – ‘Thats all the Democrats have…’
Jesus, isnt that enough. Why the hell arent the Repubs doing this? Oh wait, they have so many ‘good’ ideas floating on the war. ‘Poor Gonzales’ – Poor Americans having to suffer corpses like Novhack…
May 14th, 2007 at 1:47 pmNovak is a partisan hack, to be sure, but lately he’s been slamming the administration. We should be at least willing to throw him the ocasional bone.
Comment by cltamaz
I get the feeling that the other DC insiders of the rethug party have decided that come 08 everything from katrina to the occupation is going to be the fault of the incompetent boy king and his equally ate up texans (sic).
Everyone is expected to forget how the entire rethug machine put him in office, kept him there and enable everyone of his criminal acts. And you know what it may work. Sorry but I’m not willing to throw that effing criminal novak a bone for that.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:53 pmSinister, sick, and just like a traitor thinks.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:58 pmNovak is sounding like the late Senator Roman Hruska of Nebraska, who when confronted with complaints about the mediocre Nixon Supreme Court nomine, Harold Carswell, stated: “So what if he’s mediocre? There are a lot of mediocre judges, people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they?”
Hey bob. All the terrible people are entitled to bushs’ terrible appointments, aren’t they?
LMAO
May 14th, 2007 at 2:04 pmThis just in from Captain Obvious:
F*ck off Dracula, I’m the Real Captain Obvious.
May 14th, 2007 at 2:19 pmElegant attempt by Novacula to pardon the President for purposely choosing incompetent or corrupt managers, while slamming the Democrats for demanding that they be removed and replaced by competent managers.
If the President is “stuck” with these managers, it’s because he daren’t hire anyone honest; they might point fingers at him and not leak to Bobby N. Now that would be progess, ya think?
May 14th, 2007 at 2:29 pmI offer my translation services:
NOVAK: He’s terrible. He shouldn’t be there. But there’s a lot of bad people in this administration. Of course, I’m saying this now rather than staying so hooked to the neocon talking points, Margaret, because, as you know, we’re in trouble on substantive issues and we have to pound on people pounding on Gonzalez to try to get anything supportive for us in the press.
May 14th, 2007 at 2:31 pmNow Novak tells us. Man…
May 14th, 2007 at 2:47 pmFor Novak to accuse anyone of being hooked on partisan talking points is like a crack head calling a coke head an addict. Come on Bob you can’t spin this one and make a silk purse out of a sows ear. This guy is such a partisan moron he can see the forest or the trees. And for him to say Gonzo shouldn’t have been in this job is the under statement of the century. As watched Gonzo *Fredo) testify and he hasn’t got a clue how to do his job. He’s just a Bush lap dog and he’s only out to enable Bush when it comes to breaking the law. How Gonzo ever became a Texas Supreme Court Justice is beyond my comprehension. Apparently if you can breath you are qualified to sit on the highest court in Texas. I quess it’s no wonder they execute so many people in Texass. Yes, I misspelled Texass on purpose.
The last three letters shows what I think of the elected officials that come out of that sorry State. I’ve watched them from Delay to Cornyn to Bush and the ones in between and they all such. I’d never ever ever live in Texas of my own free will. That State has some very very serious issues and they need to stop electing these idiots to represent them.
May 14th, 2007 at 3:23 pmNovak’s conservative mea culpa is pretty interesting given that the whole cult of republicanism meme in 2000 was: ’sure junior is an ignorant inexperienced twit, but he will surround himself with the best and brightest.’ (Doesn’t say much for the conservative best and brightest now does it.)
May 14th, 2007 at 3:24 pm.
This is the noise of the neocon’s covering their asses. If they can successfully argue that the failure of the Bush administration was not a consequence of their ideas and ideals – the nature of the stuff they were pushing, but rather that the failures were a consequence of bad execution, then they can sell us the same rotting slime through another retail outlet once this one is out of comission.
It is vital that the argument be made that Bush’s incompetence is not the issue. Bush may or may not have executed badly; but the ideas themselves deserve most of the blame.
May 14th, 2007 at 4:33 pmCURSE Novak…
…and his bloodline…
…may they suffer hell-on-earth…
…NOW!
May 14th, 2007 at 5:05 pm#1 Spudge; BULLSEYE!!! Novak is a loyal Bushie, a party hack, apologist, and enabler. TP- FORMATTING STILL NOT WORKING, 3 WEEKS NOW. WTF?
May 14th, 2007 at 6:39 pm“He’s terrible. He shouldn’t be there. But there’s a lot of bad people in this administration.”
OK, Bob, I’ll agree. let’s fire/impeach ‘em all.
Cheers,
May 14th, 2007 at 9:37 pmI’m a dedicated leftie but I don’t think Gonzales is “poor” or “subpar”, I do think Novak is though and a criminal to top it off, as everybody knows. Get real Novak.
May 15th, 2007 at 2:34 amWell, this is more of the same old “blame everything on the Democrats” Republican nonsense. Novak is getting as senile Paul Harvey.
The problem with them both is that they never really grew up out of pugnacious puberty. There’s nothing so ridiculous as a senile, neo-con sophomore who can only denigrate in a “B.M.O.C.” style.
Let Novak go “lie on his back. Let him squirt if he jerks it. Let him jerk it, he’s worth it.” And nothing more than that. Neo-con mental masturbation.
A pugnacious old pig fart.
Old fashioned Lincolnite Liberal
May 15th, 2007 at 1:30 pmWell, Jerry Falwell has died, so that makes one less bad person in the world.
May 15th, 2007 at 3:44 pmThe truly competent achievers in this administration are the marketers, handlers, and propagandists who maneuvered a Supreme Court crowning for 2000, and the Swift Boat smears in 2004. They succeeded, much to the detriment of the nation.
May 15th, 2007 at 4:23 pmAnd don’t think that they will try again – and they could be successful !
Watch your back – most Americans do not get their news on the Internet, so they believe any old s**t.
RE: Unknown Democrat’s rant about Texas:
A few facts to temper your tirade. Supreme Court justices are elected by popular vote in Texas, unless, as in the case of AG, you work for the governor and a spot opens up on the court in between elections. Bush appointed AG to the court, and he won confirmation from the TX Senate….much like Alito, Roberts, Thomas, Scalia, etc. won US Senate confirmation.
As for “never, ever live in Texas” – well, to each his own. Not to defend any of the idiots you cite, but you should realize that some of the most progressive members of Congress are from the TX delegation, including Lloyd Doggett. Look up his voting record – you may learn something.
May 16th, 2007 at 3:50 am[...] Be There” Posted on 5/15/2007 11:02 AM by brianrApprove (3) | Reject (3) | My vote: None Think Progress You can watch the video through the link of Novak saying this on Bloomberg TV. This weekend on [...]
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:57 pm