FEINGOLD EXPOSES BUSH'S LIES TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE (AGAIN). GONZALES' NEWEST EXPLANATION FOR BUSH'S LAW-BREAKING: HE ISN'T A LAWYER

Besides giving us his word of "honor" (rotflmao) that he'd protect us from the vastly powerful human-animal cloning industry, Bush told a helluva pacel of lies last week when he addressed the nation. Although, of course, Bush will never deign to be questioned by any elected representatives of the people-- until he's impeached, I guess-- today the Senate Judiciary Committee got as close as they could. They grilled that despicable little weasel Bush has as his Attorney General, Alberto "the torturer" Gonzales. Yesterday here at DWT Helen explained why we can't trust Gonzales, a compulsive liar and sneak, to investigate this Regime, and today Senator Russ Feingold demonstrated it for the whole country-- or at least for anyone who was watching the hearings.

Among Bush's many lies and distortions was his patently absurd claim that "previous presidents" had used the same "constitutional authority" he has been trying to claim to justify his unauthorized, unconstitutional spying on American citizens. Feingold knows first hand what a slippery character Gonzales is-- and that besides torturing detainees, he's also adept at torturing the English language-- so he was very clear and very precise with him in front of the cameras. Going right to the heart of Bush's blatant lie, Feingold started with a very straightforward "Do you know of any other President who has authorized warrantless wiretaps outside of FISA, since 1978, when FISA was passed?"

After some uncomfortable "ums," Gonzales, who had been sitting there while Bush was lying his ass off last week at the SOTU, hemmed and hawed some more. "None come to mind, Senator. But maybe... I would be happy to look to see whether or not that’s the case." Isn't he sweet. Feingold had already checked for himself though. He would just like this scoundrels to face up to their own pack of lies. He followed up by asking Gonzales if he could interpret his answer as a "no" unless Gonzales got back to him with an answer. Gonzales' non-answer: "I can't give you an answer."

Earlier Gonzales has stonewalled Dianne Feinstein when she asked about the authority for Bush to implement illegal propaganda aimed at the American electorate (a clear violation of Section 503 of the National Security Act which mandates that "no covert action may be conducted which is intended to influence the United States political processes, public opinion, policies or media." Since this is the very heart of the Bush governance philosophy and how Rove has been operating since he got control of the domestic policies of the United States, Gonzales was put in a tight corner. "Senator, this will probably be my response to all of your questions of these kind of hypotheticals. Questions as to whether or not— can Congress pass a statute that is in tension with the President’s constitutional authority? Those are very, very difficult questions, and for me to answer those questions sort of off the cuff, I think would not be responsible." Another non-answer from Mr. Weasel, the Attorney General. Before that he had told Feinstein that "the president is not a lawyer," when she pointed out that Bush had deliberately deceived the American public when he said "a wiretap requires a court order". He may not be a lawyer-- obviously he doesn't have the intelligence to have gotten into a law school, let alone the stamina or work ethic to have passed even the Texas bar exam-- but he sure has millions of dollars worth of high-priced attorneys working for him-- including the clown who was on the witness stand.


MONDAY NIGHT UPDATE: WHY IS OUR GOVERNMENT SPYING ON US?

If you were offended that I referred to Gonzales as "a despicable little weasel" (apologies to all weasels) and that I pointed out that "The Torturer" also tortures our language, you must have missed the hearings today. After answering Joe Biden's questions about eavesdropping on Americans who have nothing whatsoever to do with al Qaeda with a flat "Sir, I can't give you absolute assurance"... well if you listen to Al Franken on Air America, you are familiar with the expression "weasel words."
Anyway, he then went on the show that his contempt for his adopted country crosses party lines; he just hates America, Republicans as well as Democrats. Questioned by GOP Senator Arlen Specter he continued to evade and to lie just like he did to Feingold and Feinstein. Specter's jaw dropped when Gonzales sprayed this bomb at the committee hearing late today: "We’ve never asserted that FISA has been amended. We’ve always asserted that our interpretation of FISA, which contemplates another statute and we have that here in the authorization to use force, those complement each other. this is not a situation where FISA has been overwritten or FISA has been amended. That’s never been our position."

Stunned, Specter could only say "That just defies logic and plain English." Well, if Gonzales proved one thing today it is that plain English is totally not his forte. Perhaps if we try this again we should consider sending him down to Gitmo for a little softening up-- only using the methods he approved, of course-- or, if that isn't feasibly, how about a Honduran interpreter?


TUESDAY UPDATE: SPECTER GOIN' FOR THE HIP HOP VOTE WITH HIS OLD SKOOL ATTACK ON GONZALES?

I'm not makin' this up. Maybe the WASHINGTON POST did though. "When Gonzales argues that the Constitution gives the president undisputable powers to conduct warrantless surveillance despite a statute aimed at requiring him to seek court approval, such an interpretation 'is not sound,' Specter said in the interview. '. . . He's smoking Dutch Cleanser.'" Oh man... I gotta call KRS-One and tell him about this!