Goodling’s Just Deserts
Officials Describe Interference by Former Gonzales Aide – washingtonpost.com
A 1999 graduate of Regent University law school in Virginia Beach with six months of prosecutorial experience, Goodling was among a small coterie of young aides to Gonzales who were remarkable for their inexperience and autonomy in deciding the fates of seasoned Justice Department lawyers, according to current and former officials who worked with the group.
Goodling has been accused of using a “political loyalty test” in the hiring of new Justice Department lawyers, stalling or blocking the employment of attorneys who were “too liberal”.
I can’t imagine that many people who are at all familiar with Regent Law School could have been too surprised by that. While I doubt law students there are specifically told to do anything improper, it’s very clear that Regent Law School sees itself as an incubator for the fundamentalist Christian conservative leaders of tomorrow. In other words, yes — the wacko nutjobs do want to take over the country and they’ve got their own accredited law school for creating the scary young fascists to do just that.
Eek!
And leave it to George W. Bush and his band of civil-rights-denying bureaucrats to plunk the little thugs into positions of power and influence.
“All I ever wanted to do was serve this president, this administration, this department,” Goodling tearfully told a senior Justice official shortly before she quit, according to a transcript of his interview released by the House committee last night.
Notice that? Not serve our country or our citizens. Not even serve the principle of justice. That’s exactly where the problem lies, my friends. These people either don’t understand or don’t care about the big ideas. Justice. Freedom.
That should worry you. It sure worries me.
Posted by RebeccaHartong on May 23, 2007 under Uncategorized
I’m watching Monica Goodling testify to the House Judiciary Committee. She’s got that “deer in the headlights” look about her. Basically, her message is that she didn’t make any of the decisions regarding who was going to be fired (which I believe), that she may have put new attorneys to an improper political test (undoubtedly), and that she’s really a much nicer person than is being implied by lots of people on the internet.
One thing that does occur to me is that this certainly wouldn’t be the first time a naive person was put into a position for which she wasn’t qualified in order for her unscrupulous superiors to work their will through her.
Regent “law school” indeed. Also check out Liberty University “School of Law,” the pet project of the late Jerry Falwell.
And for a real fascist incubator, see Patrick Henry College.
Hank Johnson from Georgia was asking some really excellent questions about who precisely knew that Monica Goodling was “crossing the line” by asking candidates for career positions questions about their political leanings. Alas, he ran out of time. I’m really hoping one of the other Democratic representatives will continue that line of questioning….
AND! As I write this, Representative Sherman from California is doing just that.
Not surprisingly, it’s all Kyle Sampson’s fault. Everything bad that ever happened is ALL Kyle Sampson’s fault. Except for the stuff that’s McNulty’s fault.
Now we’re getting down to it, thanks to Representatives Davis and Schiff. They’re asking Monica Goodling about “inaccuracies” in Alberto Gonzales’ testimony.
Goodling’s attorney tried to interrupt and Representative Lungren, a Republican, has successfully (temporarily) interrupted the questioning. Asshole.
Before the interruptions, Goodling was, in fact, acknowledging “inaccuracies” in the Attorney General’s public statements.
Happily, the committee voted to allow the questioning to continue AND some of the other Democratic representatives have yielded their time to Davis so he could continue his questioning.
Davis and Schiff are both very cool guys — obviously very smart — and it’s such a relief to have them finally asking the questions! To be honest, some of the other Democrats on the committee aren’t very good at this sort of thing. Davis and Schiff are unflappable.
The new representative from Minnesota, Mr. Ellison, did a FINE job of questioning Monica Goodling, too! You all might remember Mr. Ellison for how his Muslim faith stirred up the pinhead contingent.