Josh Marshall had this post yesterday about this AP story:

As the embattled Gonzales sees it, his close relationship with Bush, which spans decades, is inherently “a good thing” for everyone.

from the AP story: 

“Being able to go and having a very candid conversation and telling the president: ‘Mr. President, this cannot be done. You can’t do this,’ — I think you want that,” Gonzales told reporters this week. “And I think having a personal relationship makes that, quite frankly, much easier always to deliver bad news.”

“Do you recall a time when you (were) in there and said, ‘Mr. President, we can’t do this’?” Gonzales was asked.

“Oh, yeah,” the attorney general responded.

“Can you share it with us?” a reporter asked.

“No,” Gonzales said.

Josh goes on:

Now, I think there are two ways to look at this.

1. Gonzales is lying about this little story, and there’s never been a time in which he’s had to keep the president from going too far. He’s the quintessential “yes man,” who does as he’s told.

2. Gonzales is telling the truth, and the Attorney General/WH Counsel — the one who’s approved of abandoning the Geneva Conventions and the rule of law — believes some of the president’s other requests are beyond the pale.

I’m struggling to decide which is worse.

No doubt.

It’s not a matter of “you can’t do this”,  but “how can we make this LOOK legal or SEEM legal?”  After all,  what are friends for?  It also happens to fit the pattern of every other department of government that this administration has absolutely corrupted and turned into an ideological arm.

Perhaps the reason why Gonzalez answered “No” when asked to share if there was a time WHEN he said “you can’t do this”,  perhaps Gonzalez was thinking ,  oh yeah,  I never said that…..it’s more like “how can we DO that under cover of manipulative usage of interpretations,  and twist into some ‘common sense’ notion?  Oh…..I dunno how to do that since that requires some know how at the law,  and I suck at it.  Let’s let Karl get to work on it.”

Source: Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall May 19, 2007 08:59 PM