Goodling Resigns

Monica M. Goodling, a top aide to Attorney general Alberto Gonzales and White House liason, has resigned. Goodling also vowed to invoke her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. It seems to me that Goodling would have no need to require this invocation if a crime wasn't committed. But since crimes were probably committed, Goodling is using this as a lever to extract immunity for her client in exchange for her testimony.

Finally, it's curious and disheartening how postions of power have flowed to people with such slender credentials. In another era, a person in Goodling's position would be expected to be on the law review from a flagship university with experience clerking in the Supreme Court and then perhaps another dozen years as a proscutor. But Goodling's alma mater is Messiah College and Pat Robertson's Regent. As is true with many people in the current adminsitration, her primary credential is the ideology and mediocrity of a zealot.

White House E-Mails

The White House may be reflecting on the role e-mails are playing in the imminent resignation of Mr. Gonzales.

The publication of the several dozen e-mails and blackberry transmissions converys more than just the chatter of evolving policy. It reveals for anyone who cares to contact a Department of Justice or White House official e-mail address formats. These are typically Firstname_Lastname@address or FirstinitialLastname@address. It's encouraging to know that we have such accessible government.

Secondly, it reveals the making of a conspiracy-- not just who said what to who but who cc'd in who. Now, it may be possible although difficult to fabricicate a Mission Impossible-like conspiracy by having an insider get control of Karl Rove's address and e-mail a subordinate a false directive that in turn sets off a chain of more e-mails. But the prima facie evidence that Bush's Brain is behind these e-mails appears compelling.

A common guideline passed down by old White House hands is to never keep a diary. The tale of countless scandels shows that it can take but a single line in your late night musings to politically hang you. In view of the havoc that e-mails can cause, I suspect the use of e-mails as a means to conduct bureaucratic evil may be coming to an end.

"Mistakes Were Made"

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, under criticism from lawmakers of both parties for the dismissals of federal prosecutors, said Tuesday “I acknowledge that mistakes were made here.”

I'm always supicious when I see an apology phrased in the passive. It makes a nodding acknowledgement that something bad happened while evading personal responsibility. Such expressions are inherently unethical because they remove the actor from the action. Whenever you see an expression like that, rest assurred that more lies are forthcoming.