We’ve been knee deep in the ugliness over at the Department of
Justice for the past several weeks and a few things have
emerged:
1. Some of the greatest mistakes this Administration made were
the nominations of former U.S. Attorneys James Comey and Paul
McNulty to serve as Deputy Attorneys General. Comey begat us Pat
“The Inquisitor” Fitzgerald. McNulty was pivotal to the firings of
eight Bush Administration-appointed U.S. Attorneys, but is trying
to avoid the blame by, apparently, blaming others.
2. One person emerges from this sordid little story of
back-biting and betrayal as clean: Monica Goodling, a senior
counsel to the Attorney General and the White House liason at
DOJ.
From what we hear, Goodling can be intense and focused, but she
is more than highly competent, scrupulous in her approach to her
jobs, intensely loyal to the Bush Administration, and the last
person who would involve herself in something this messy. Yet she
has become central to this Democrat show trial, and has been forced
to take the 5th, not because of anything wrong, but to avoid having
her honest testimony tainted by others.
“She was probably the most ethical person I dealt with at the
department,” says a former Justice media staffer. “She was actually
a pain in the [rear] when it came to what she expected of all of
us. We’re talking about a person who wouldn’t let junior people
ride in a government car if it wasn’t entirely appropriate and done
by the books. Meticulous doesn’t describe her properly.”
From the email that’s been released by Congress and DOJ,
Goodling appears to be guilty of nothing more than doing her job.
Initially, her role appears to be that of trying to find a
temporary slot for the prospective Arkansas U.S. Attorney
designate, because he was in-between a job at the White House upon
returning from this military service. That’s what a White House
liason does. Finds work for people the White House has decided to
hire for the Administration.
She did participate in the meetings related to the firings of
the U.S. Attorneys, but her role appear to be limited to her job as
White House liason. Again, doing her job. At other points, in the
email traffic, she appears to be working as a traffic cop, trying
to make sure everyone who should be involved in what is a serious
process, is involved. This includes McNulty, his chief of staff,
various folks in the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys and
elsewhere. Again, it appears she was doing what she was supposed
to be doing.
So why is she being treated like a second-rate burglar from
another era? Because the Democrats can do it, now that they
control Congress. And because when you get right down to it, they
aren’t nice people, and apparently Goodling is.
At some point, the persons who put Goodling in this mess has to
pay. But who is going to make that happen? Attorney General
Gonzales would earn some points by making sure those beneath him
responsible for this mess - and the pain being inflicted
unnecessarily on Goodling - were hung out to dry as they have done
with others.
