On a Very Hot Seat With Little Cover and Less Support

By Sheryl Gay Stolberg, The New York Times

It did not bode well for Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales when, before he uttered his first word to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, looked at him as if he were headed to the gallows and offered this advice: “Be alert and direct and honest with this committee. Give it your best shot.”

Things only went downhill from there for the attorney general, as the people he desperately needed to come to his rescue – fellow Republicans – proceeded one by one to throw him overboard.

Not a single Republican, with the possible exception of Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, came to Mr. Gonzales’s defense – not even his old Texas friend Senator John Cornyn. And Mr. Gonzales did not help himself with his testimony that while he took full responsibility for removing federal prosecutors, he did not have a clear idea of why he had done so in some cases until he reviewed paperwork after the dismissals.

(Original Article)

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