The Truffle

The Biggest Loser in American History loses yet another one of his cronies, and he's mad at the mean Democrats for saying mean things about his buddy. Who'll be the next Bush flunky to jump ship? Condi, perhaps? Barney the Scottish terrier?

Looks like the Senate couldn't muster 60 votes to give Gonzo a vote of no confidence. The final tally: 53-38. Before going into detail who voted against giving a disgraced attorney general a no-confidence vote, guess which party these 38 "nay" voters belonged to ? However, let's give credit where credit is due for the senators who voted yes: John Sununu, Gordon Smith, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Norm Coleman, Chuck Hagel, and Arlen Specter. And a pie in the face to Joe Lieberman, who voted no. Trent Lott, meanwhile, proves he simply does not get it: "This is a nonbinding, irrelevant resolution proving what? Nothing," said Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. "Maybe we should be considering a vote of no confidence on the Senate or on the Congress for malfunction and an inability to produce anything." C'mon, dude. That's not the point and you know it. The point is to make a stand and show that the Senate does not support an attorney general who p...

...well, you know the rest. Anyway, Senator Specter predicts that Gonzo isn't going to stick around for a no-confidence vote. He predicts that rather than go through that humiliation, Gonzo will simply step down. Of course, Senator Feinstein was the one who spearheaded the no-confidence vote. Specter's just saying, "Uh...Me too!"

Before Gonzo's testimony, Le Sweetie and I imagined him practicing his answers in advance with his family, trying to keep his stories straight. Yet it wasn't enough to save his testimony or his reputation. One can only imagine why... Gonzo kidlet: "Daddy, why do you have to keep saying, 'I don't know' and 'I don't remember'?" Gonzo: "Because this is a very important hearing. Now you're going to pretend you're Senator Schumer." Gonzo kidlet: "Yo! I'm tawkin' ta you, Alberto!" Gonzo: "Sweetie, Senator Schumer doesn't talk like that." Gonzo kidlet: "You said he was from Brooklyn, Daddy." Gonzo (sighing): "Okay, pretend you're Senator Leahy instead." Gonzo kidlet: "Go fuck yourself, Gonzales!" Gonzo (gasps): "WHERE did you learn to talk like that?" Gonzo kidlet: "Senators say 'fuck' all the time!" Gonzo: "Not senators. Only vice...

Via Bring It On , I've discovered a cool new online resource courtesy of WaPo. The Congress Votes Database compiles how our senators and congresscritters have voted on every issue since 1991. Meanwhile, our attorney general, the Great Gonzo insists he has nothing to hide. He also says he's sorry about the honest mistakes that were made. Yeah, sure, dude. We believe ya. Jeez, can ANYONE in the Bush administration, past or present, stay out of trouble? If it's not Gonzo, it's Paul Wolfowitz, now head of the world bank, who helped his girlfriend get a promotion. From Reuters : Staff and development activists accuse Wolfowitz of breaking bank rules by helping to arrange a high-paying promotion for his girlfriend and bank employee Shaha Riza. They argue the moral authority of the poverty-fighting institution has been left in tatters, especially its authority to make countries who receive aid accountable for the money, an issue that has been a priority for Wolfowitz,...

"It's a dump, it's a dump, it's a dump-dump-dump..." DOCUMENT dump, that is. Oh, and quel surprise! Abu Gonzales was more involved in the attorney firings than he let on. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved plans to fire several U.S. attorneys in a November meeting, according to documents released Friday that contradict earlier claims that he was not closely involved in the dismissals. The Nov. 27 meeting, in which the attorney general and at least five top Justice Department officials participated, focused on a five-step plan for carrying out the firings of the prosecutors, Justice Department officials said late Friday. There, Gonzales signed off on the plan, which was crafted by his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson. Sampson resigned last week amid a political firestorm surrounding the firings. The documents indicated that the hour-long morning discussion, held in the attorney general's conference room, was the only time Gonzales met with top aides who d...

That's what I realized as I was following Bushco Scandals 55 and 78.2. Bush and his cronies hate Muppets even more than they hate liberals, Democrats, Iraqis, French people, the troops, other Republicans, and the 65 percent of the American population who's decided they suck. Don't believe me? There's a word/image association going on in Camp Repuke to sour the public image of the Muppets by associating them with the Bush camp's cast of idiots. First, there's Scooter. At first it seemed weird that a grown man could still carry a nickname like Scooter. Okay, maybe he has a boyish, playful side underneath that law-breaking, amoral exterior. But then I noted people giving our (soon-to-be ex?) Attorney General the nickname Gonzo. And no, I don't think anyone means to invoke the spirit of Hunter S. Thompson. (Does anyone on Team Bush know who Hunter S. Thompson is? C'mon!) It's bad enough that these guys have to trash war veterans, loyal Americans, a...

In response to GOP Scandal Number 845, a.k.a. Attorney-Gate, Senator Specter is sounding a rather ominous note about Abu Gonzales regarding those attorney firings. From WaPo: Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested that Gonzales's status as the nation's leading law enforcement officer might not last through the remainder of President Bush's term, pointedly disputing the attorney general's public rationale for the mass firings. "One day there will be a new attorney general, maybe sooner rather than later," Specter said at a committee hearing where a new round of subpoenas to the Justice Department was considered. After the meeting, Specter declined to elaborate on that remark, but told reporters that most of the blame for the ongoing controversy rests with the attorney general. "It's snowballing, mostly with the help of the Department of Justice," he said. Cue Beethoven's Fifth: "Duhm d...