Gonzo Grilled

This is my favorite moment from the grilling that Gonzo took at the hands of the Senate Judiciary Committee today. I love Specter's tone when he asks, "do you expect us to believe that?".

This is an amazing moment in our constitutional history, and a depressing one. As opposed to a bold defense of the administration's disdain for the system of checks and balances that our republic was built upon, we get Gonzo's incredibly weak-kneed responses to very personal attacks by the likes of Schumer, Leahy and ultimately even Specter. The senior senator from Pennsylvania has been a disappointment over the past year, particularly in his unwillingness to go all the way and demand the resignation of demonstrably the worst attorney general, and perhaps one of the least competent public servants in the history of our federal government. But each cut adds up, and at some point, even Specter will have enough.

The fact is, all of this was clearly illegal. The FISA law spelled out exactly how the government could go about gathering information, and the executive branch chose to ignore it completely. Gonzales allowed that to happen.

UPDATE: Glenn Greenwald takes apart John Yoo and his WSJ editorial here.