SPECTER SAYS GONZALES PRESENCE IS ‘HARMFUL’ (NYT)

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By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO
Published: April 23, 2007

WASHINGTON, April 22 — Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Sunday that Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales’s failure to step down was “no doubt, bad for the Justice Department.”

Mr. Specter’s comments, made on the television program “Fox News Sunday,” reflected a growing lack of support for Mr. Gonzales among key Republicans on Capitol Hill as he faces accusations that the dismissals of eight United States attorneys were politically motivated.

Only one Republican senator, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, has called outright for Mr. Gonzales to resign, though others made their anger at him clear in a blistering hearing over the dismissals on Thursday. In his testimony, Mr. Gonzales cited a faulty memory at least 50 times in responding to questions about the dismissals.

After the hearing, aides to Mr. Gonzales reportedly called the absence of a demand for his resignation from Mr. Specter a “positive barometer.” But Mr. Specter said Sunday that they were misreading him.

“I don’t think they should be celebrating that, because the attorney general’s testimony was very, very damaging to his own credibility,” he said. “Charges are being made that the Department of Justice was the political arm of the White House.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/23/washington/23gonzales.html

[LaPera]

1. Which mean nothing.

Gonzo will just wait it out...until the next scandal... and we forget so easily...he ain't leaving...Bush would be lost without his homeboy killer, as well as Cheney and Rove.

[Swamp Rat]

2. Flowers wilt in his presence.

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3. .