Goodling May Get Immunity This Week

by Steve

If he can get enough committee Republicans to support it, House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers plans to offer former Gonzales counsel Monica Goodling immunity so that she would be forced to testify to his committee about the sacking of federal prosecutors. Both Conyers and Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy and Chuck Schumer are building a methodical case by taking testimony from Gonzales' former senior aides such as Goodling, Kyle Sampson, and Michael Battle while getting Gonzales himself to go on the record this Thursday.

I for one don't think they want Gonzales to quit now, because the drip-drip-drip revelations of the damage Gonzales has done to Justice, and Bush's anticipated unwillingness to deal with it himself only reinforces the already widely-held view by two-thirds of the public that this administration is a politically-driven machine above all else. As Gallup reported this morning, the public isn't yet fully engaged on this issue, even though Gallup managed to downplay a 7-point increase since last month in those who are closely following this story. Yet Gallup also noted that Gonzales received only tepid support from Republicans, before it gets worse for him.

Eventually after more oversight hearings on many subjects, the Democrats will make a case that this administration operates illegally in secret against the public interest. So please Abu, stick around for awhile.