It's been a long year, and right now, near midnight I don't recall why this guy is the Newsmaker of the year.

Alberto Gonzales - the 80th Attorney General of the USA. Jon Stewart Gonzales testimony

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The New York Times has found previously unrevealed torture memos written in the second term of George W. Bush. The men responsible are Dick Cheney and his new chief of staff, David Addington (after the last one, Scooter Libby, was arrested). The man who slavishly put into effect these atrocities was Alberto Gonzales. This pathetic man didn't even question his overlords as they got him to agree to one heinous act upon another.

Despite warnings that these interrogation tactics would result in our troops being tortured if they were ever caught, the White House pressed on. They absolutely insisted that the Justice Department write memos that said that obvious violations of the War Crimes Act be considered legal now. And they had their perfect yes-man in Gonzales who never objected and did what he was told.

Since I predicted exactly when, how and why Gonzales would resign two weeks ago (as you can see in the video below), I'd have to vote for Wilson's alleged suicide attempt. That one I didn't see coming at all.

I often times think I am too much of an ass for bragging about my correct predictions. But I have been too right for too long to be able to resist (see, I know I'm being an ass by saying that even if I am 3/4 tongue in cheek about it).

Anyway, here's our celebration of Gonzales's departure on Monday's show -- and the August 13the clip where I told you this was coming and why:



Now, on to Owen Wilson. Some You Tubers have accused us of treating this story too lightly. But I stand by our "analysis." Don't commit suicide when you're on top of the world. It doesn't take a rocket scientist or a legendary prognosticator like myself to figure that out. I honestly don't understand what people are getting all riled up about. And as I say in the video below, my heart goes out to him. We hope he gets better. We're just saying don't do it, because even considering suicide is nuts in a situation like his (let alone most situations).



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Hot off the presses, from the New York Times:

WACO, Tex., Aug. 27 - ­ Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before Congress, has resigned. A senior administration official said he would announce the decision later this morning in Washington.

No video yet, but here is a related Alberto Gonzales video.
*Edit, Okay, I first posted the the James Comey testimony from from May 2007, but it's early Monday and you deserve a laugh, so here is some TDS Gonzales coverage.

There are many, many different reasons why Karl Rove might have abruptly announced his resignation today. The only one we know for sure isn't true is the one he gave -- he wants to spend more time with his family.

That is the lamest excuse in the history of political excuses. It's such a hackneyed, cliche that it smacks of panic and poor timing. If Rove had any time to think or set up another job before he left, he wouldn't have had to go with the desperate, "spend more time with my family" BS.

He said he wants to be closer to his son who is going to college in San Antonio. Which parent leaves the job of a lifetime to stalk their kids at college? Did Rove leave the White House to attend more keggers?

So, what's the real deal here? Let's start out with the most benign and work our way toward the more fun and ugly possibilities.



We outline all the possibilities below:

There is a difference between how the right-wing views the press and the rest of us view the press. The radical right-wing is so divorced from reality, they think the facts that the press bring readers is made up. They claim that they do not believe the mainstream press at all, except for all the times they quote them of course.

When the New York Times quotes the US commanders on the ground in Iraq or the insurgents, they are not making it up. Those American generals and those Iraqi fighters actually said those quotes. You might not like some of the results of that reporting, but it is essentially true.

The problem that we have with the press (when I say "we," I mean people who are centrists but are now called liberals because they believe in science and the US constitution) is that they needlessly buy into Republican talking points that subtly but importantly shade the truth.

Goes well with this Young Turk Post

Former Deputy Attorney General, James Comey gave some damning testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee today. He explained how the White House sent Alberto Gonzales and Andy Card to the hospital to intimidate John Ashcroft into going along with a program that the Justice Department thought was illegal.

Here's how Comey described the situation in the hospital that night:

"I was very upset. I was angry. I thought I had just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man, who did not have the powers of the attorney general because they had been transferred to me."

The New York Times has the dramatic details of that night as recounted by Jim Comey. The story is complete with security details being set on alert that they might be confronted by other executive branch officials. This goes to show how little regard the Bush White House had for the law. They were told their warrantless wiretapping program was not legal and they refused to accept that determination to the point of risking an inter-executive branch standoff.

Jim Comey then contemplated whether he should resign if the Bush administration insisted on breaking the law. He told the Senate, "I couldn't stay, if the administration was going to engage in conduct that the Department of Justice had said had no legal basis."

Remember the old commercials where a kid would be at a friend's house and it would turn out his friend's mom is cooking Stove Top. And he'd exclaim, "Stove Top, I'm staying!"

President Bush, when talking about pre-war intelligence, once bewilderingly said, "We've kind of been stove-piped, is a way to describe it." In this case, we've been stove-topped! Gonzo is staying.

This is unbelievable. Both Republicans and Democrats went after Gonzales during the Senate hearings last week. And he did not fare well under the pressure. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) of all people grilled Gonzales. Tom Coburn (R-OK) asked him to step down. Sam Bronwback (R-KS) questioned the reasons behind the firings and didn't seem to like the answers he got. This man has no support. None.

Today, we had David Keene, Chairman of the Conservative Union on our show -- and he not only said the Attorney General should resign, he said Gonzales wasn't intellectually qualified for the job. That's harsh. So, why in the world is President Bush keeping his embattled Attorney General when there is tremendous pressure from both parties to get rid of him?

Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) of all people corners Alberto Gonzales by asking him the most reasonable questions. See above why his answers were awful.

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Since I can't seem to get an answer as to why the president fired the US attorneys, I've come up with a fun poll.