Gonzo Can't Get a Job

After an extra-ordinary duck, bob and weave performance before several sessions of congress last year. Not to mention extremely virilent protests at his various speaking engagements, (Guess who's NOT going to be earning $10 Mil a year for the next ten years?) former White House Counsel and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales can't seem to find himself a JOB. From the NYTimes.

WASHINGTON — Alberto R. Gonzales, like many others recently unemployed, has discovered how difficult it can be to find a new job. Mr. Gonzales, the former attorney general, who was forced to resign last year, has been unable to interest law firms in adding his name to their roster, Washington lawyers and his associates said in recent interviews.

He has, through friends, put out inquiries, they said, and has not found any takers. What makes Mr. Gonzales’s case extraordinary is that former attorneys general, the government’s chief lawyer, are typically highly sought.

I don't know - why would anyone have a problem hiring a guy who tried to make War Crimes Legal? A man who lied about having and innocent man Rendered from JFK airport to Saudi Arabia where he was tortured? Who once said "Upholding the Constitution was a GRAVE THREAT to the U.S."? A man who couldn't even find someone to defend him ON FOX NEWS!

Seriously,

Here's what Brit Hume said about Gonzales as he slunk he way out of the DOJ back door.

Gonzales was a man almost without fans in Washington at the end, because he was never much appreciated or accepted by the conservative base of the Republican party and the conservative activists in Washington. And he certainly wasn’t popular among the Democrats. He was simply a crony. And I don’t mean that word to sound any worse than it is, but that was the case here.

So it seems not even the Conservatives ever really like this rat-fucker.

That seems to explain quite a bit, particulary why Gonzo seems to be headed for the soup line.

The greatest impediment to Mr. Gonzales’s being offered the kind of high-salary job being snagged these days by lesser Justice Department officials, many lawyers agree, is his performance during his last few months in office. In that period, he was openly criticized by lawmakers for being untruthful in his sworn testimony. His conduct is being investigated by the Office of the Inspector General of the Justice Department, which could recommend actions from exonerating him to recommending criminal charges. Friends set up a fund to help pay his legal bills.

Asked about reports that law firms have not taken up feelers from Mr. Gonzales, Robert H. Bork Jr., a corporate communications specialist and his spokesman, said Mr. Gonzales was talking to many people about the next steps in his career. “He is considering his opportunities in law and business,” Mr. Bork said, “but after many years in public service he is considering his options carefully.”

d Mr. Gonzales “looks forward to the conclusion of the department’s inquiries and getting on with his life.”

Those of us who've been paying attention think Gonzales options should start with prison and end with a plea bargin for War Crimes, Obstruction of Justice and violations of the Voting Rights Act -- and he should take plenty of time weighing them.

Like a lifetime.

Couldn't have happened to a bigger dick-head IMO.

Vyan

But What does Iraq Want?

In the midst of this weeks latest edition of the Dave and Ryan Magic Show on capital hill, where it appears that if things get worse in Iraq, we have to stay and if things get better in Iraq, we have to stay - no matter what we have to again wait until September comes again - everyone seems to have completely forgotten to bother asking what the Iraqis want the U.S. do?

Well, here's what Iraqi PM Maliki says:

The prime minister told Bush during a 20-minute telephone conversation on Wednesday that Iraqi security forces are capable of carrying out their duties and U.S. troops should be pulled out as the situation permits, according to a senior government adviser who sat in on the phone conversation. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the confidential details.

Oops. Does this mean that Maliki wants us to Cut and Run?

Not only has the Bush Administration been completely oblivious to the desires of the American People...

CHENEY: On the security front, I think there’s a general consensus that we’ve made major progress, that the surge has worked. That’s been a major success.

RADDATZ: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.

CHENEY: So?

RADDATZ So? You don’t care what the American people think?

CHENEY: No. I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.

Fluctuations? Do these look like "fluctuations" to you?

They also don't care what the Iraqi people seem to think. (via The Wapo)

...61 percent said the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq is making the security situation there worse.

No matter what the sitaution is on the ground, Patreaus and Crocker have made it clear that they remain hell bent for steel, and will pause the troop draw down, keeping our troops levels in Iraq at or even beyond the breaking point until at least 45 days past July, ensuring that there wil be at least 140,000 troops in the War Zone when the next President takes office.

In a speech at the White House, Bush hailed what he described as Iraqi progress in the political, economic and security realms. However, he said, Iraq remains "the convergence point" for two of the greatest current threats to the United States: al-Qaeda and Iran. He said that despite the reduction of a quarter of U.S. combat power in Iraq by the end of July, U.S. troops would continue hunting down members of the group known as al-Qaeda in Iraq. And he warned Iran to stop funding, arming and training extremist groups battling U.S. forces and the Iraqi government.

"If Iran makes the wrong choice, America will act to protect our interests, our troops and our Iraqi partners," Bush said.

He spoke after two days of congressional testimony in which Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker described significant, but "fragile and reversible," progress in Iraq. Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, laid out a plan to reduce his troop strength to about 140,000 -- down from about 170,000 at the height of a "surge" last year -- and to suspend further reductions while commanders take stock of the situation.

This of course flies directly in the face of Bush previous promise that if the Iraqis asked us to leave - we would go.

BUSH: We are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government. This is a sovereign nation. Twelve million people went to the polls to approve a constitution. It’s their government’s choice. If they were to say, leave, we would leave. [...] We are there at their request. [...] but if they were to make the request, we wouldn’t be there.

Yeah, sure we would.

Vyan

Morgan Spurlock: A Real American Hero to the Rescue

n this midst of this weeks news that President Bush is so intent on "smoking him out of his holes" that he walked out of a recent NATO meeting about Afghanistan because - well, the meeting had gone on too long for him.

Bush is no fan of windy meetings and evidently had had his fill. He left behind Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to represent him for the rest of the session, which concerned NATO operations in Afghanistan, but his departure was so sudden and unexpected that he left some of his motorcade behind, inculding his press pool, when he got into his car and headed back to his hotel.

Who knows maybe it was past his bedtime, what with Jetlag in Romania and all..

So in this bleak time we have but ONE MAN to look toward to help save this nation from itself, and track down the most deadly butcherous mass murderer in all history.

Who is that lone solitary figure of Bruckheimer-ish virility and manhood?

Morgan Spurlock maker of "Super Size Me" and FX's "30 Days".

Let us not forget that on George Bush's Watch, the Taliban and Al Qeada have merged operations, and also that in Pakistan - where Bin Ladin is most rumoured to be - there is a non-aggresion treaty between that government - our supposedly ally - and the Taliban.

Does that mean that the ally of our ally is not our enemy it? Or does it?

In the spirit that this farcical "Search for Osama" has become, Spurlock now brings you : Where in the world is Osama bin Laden?

Coming this Fall.

I know some of you are probably waiting on baited breath for the new season of 24 where Jack Bauer (Sets Congress Straight about Torture - but I for one can't wait for this.

Vyan