Gonzales Commits Perjury

I'd say that Fredo's got some 'spainin' to do, but we all know that being Alberto Gonzales means never having to say you're sorry. Still, this is egregious enough that the GOP might even get angry. Okay, I'm kidding there, but still, in any sane world, this would be an outrage:

Documents show that eight congressional leaders were briefed about the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program on the eve of its expiration in 2004, contradicting sworn Senate testimony this week by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The documents, obtained by The Associated Press, come as senators consider whether a perjury investigation should be opened into conflicting accounts about the program and a dramatic March 2004 confrontation leading up to its potentially illegal reauthorization.

[...]

At a heated Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Gonzales repeatedly testified that the issue at hand was not about the terrorist surveillance program, which allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on suspects in the United States without receiving court approval.

Instead, Gonzales said, the emergency meetings on March 10, 2004, focused on an intelligence program that he would not describe.

Gonzales, who was then serving as counsel to Bush, testified that the White House Situation Room briefing sought to inform congressional leaders about the pending expiration of the unidentified program and Justice Department objections to renew it. Those objections were led by then-Deputy Attorney General Jim Comey, who questioned the program's legality.

"The dissent related to other intelligence activities," Gonzales testified at Tuesday's hearing. "The dissent was not about the terrorist surveillance program."

"Not the TSP?" responded Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. "Come on. If you say it's about other, that implies not. Now say it or not."

"It was not," Gonzales answered. "It was about other intelligence activities."

Now, I'm really reluctant to go to impeachment because I believe that it should be saved for the most extreme cases of malfeasance.

This is one of those cases.

Alberto Gonzales lied under oath before the Senate. His lie was directly related to his job in government. He did so in what is clearly an attempt to deceive the Senate in order to cover up prior malfeasance.

Ideally, the president would ask for Gonzales's resignation. Indeed, I would imagine that 42 other presidents would have fired Gonzales by now, but of course, Bush is the exception that proves the rule. With the president unwilling to actually deal with the incompetent, deceitful nincompoop that he's installed at the head of our nation's justice department, congress must act to preserve the rule of law and respect for our nation's democratic institutions. It is not a political calculation that should drive this; had Bill Clinton lied under oath demonstrably and directly to congress I would have been hard-pressed to argue against impeachment. That is precisely what Alberto Gonzales has done, and precisely why congress must move with all deliberate speed to remove him.