Who is/was Gonzales' "senior leadership"?

[nixonwasbetterthanW]

AGAG talked a lot yesterday about how he decided to fire the USAs because he trusted the consensus judgment of the "senior leadership" at DOJ. He claims ex post facto to have discussed the firings with Deputy AG Paul McNulty, who allegedly concurs in the dismissals, even at this late date.

But even if we assume -- and that's a stretch -- that McNulty is a member of the "senior leadership" through which Sampson vetted the list of folks to be canned, that leaves open the question: Who else was actually looking at the performance records of the USAs?

Is there any reason NOT to believe that this "senior leadership" formulation is merely a confection to avoid discussing the real executioners: the law firm of Miers, Rove & Goodling LLP?

[montanacowboy]

1. ROVE

aka....Senior Leadership

[NastyRiffraff]

2. Bingo

Gonzo almost twisted himself into a pretzel shape yesterday to avoid implicating Rove.

[nixonwasbetterthanW]

3. the veil of deceit is thick ...

It's so telling that Gonzales didn't even try to mollify the senators by volunteering, say, the names of a handful of DOJers who were involved in coming up with the list. The absence of such an effort suggests that there was absolutely no one -- Gonzales, McNulty, Moschella, etc. -- at DOJ other than WH liaison Goodling and "off-the-reservation" Sampson who even took more than a cursory look at the prospective firees.

You gotta wonder exactly what Gonzales did/does every day. I am more and more convinced that he has never so much as asked what Sampson was up to and, in a close-to-literal fashion, simply takes marching orders from the White House every single morning. A photo op here, a prepared speech there, a seat on a crime-fighting panel here, a Cabinet meeting there, etc.

[Fresh_Start]

4. must be part of the 150 Regent College grads

they must be purty darn smart if the AG has a twenty-something with no experience as his counsel.

[nixonwasbetterthanW]

5. it's a Utah-Regent cabal

Utah: Sampson, Orrin Hatch
Regent: Goodling, Pat Robertson


A Hatch-Robertson ticket for '08?

Or Hatch for AG, Robertson for Ministry of Ministering?