NYT Analysis: Gonzales On A Very Hot Seat ("not a single Repub... came to his defense...)

[Hissyspit]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/20/us/20capital.html?hp

News Analysis
On a Very Hot Seat With Little Cover and Less Support

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: April 20, 2007
WASHINGTON, April 19 — 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.

It was no surprise that the Democrats on the panel skewered Mr. Gonzales. But it was also apparent that even Republicans had serious doubts about his fitness for the job.

MORE

[Emit]

1. kick n/t