Alberto Gonzalez: you suck.

Simon gives Gonzalez the thumbs down.

When the news about Virginia Tech broke, and it was announced that the Senate Judiciary Hearing would be postponed, my bet is that Gonzalez broke down on the floor of his office and cried tears of joy. Two more days to prepare.

Those two days didn't seem to have done much to help him out - he got crushed by just about every old wind-bag sitting at that admittedly intimidating long-table, even Republicans (when Republicans are nailing you, it's probably time to throw in the towel).

I suppose that, being a Bush-pet, it would be naive to expect him to do anything but what Bush has largely done (stick to his guns, even when the ship is sinking), but I was nonetheless shocked at the extent to which Gonzalez has continued to stick to his "I was at the meeting but don't remember anything said" approach. The smarter approach would have been to admit the reality of what obviously occurred: Gonzalez consulted with the White House and fired the U.S. Attorneys for political reasons.

Sure, he might take some flack initially, but at the end of the day the revelation that Washington is full of politicians will shock only the most obtuse people. If he was paying attention, he would have learned from Clinton (the one with the authentic, not simulated testicles): fuck whoever you want, just don't lie about it.

On the NPR radio show immediately following the end of the hearing, Doug Kmiec, professor of Law at Pepperdine, provided a much more articulate and defensible position than anything Gonzalez stuttered out during the hearing and probably better than his own lawyer's advice. My advice: he should fire his lawyer and hire Kmeic. It's probably the only chance he's got left to keep his dignity (his job is a lost cause).