Over lunch on the Hill, a few reporters gathered to hear a high-ranking Republican Congressman talk about the issues of the day. They included Alberto Gonzales, Alberto Gonzales, the war, and Albert Gonzales. Some highlights: On Gonzales stepping down: “You guys have been in Washington longer than I have — a leaked list of replacements? [...]

In this very accelerated political season with its very large field of candidates, the media seem to be getting ahead of the voters. What’s the hurry, 10 months before the first caucus, to winnow the field to a few candidates deemed viable–say, three at most from each party? With fewer moving parts, this very big [...]

If I may interrupt the very enjoyable festival of reading other people’s email for a moment, there was a remarkably under-reported development yesterday that demonstrates, I think, President Bush’s loss of authority in the past few months. Elias Zerhouni, the head of the National Institutes of Health, testified to a Senate committee that he favors [...]

“The Department is not aware of Karl Rove playing any role in the decision to appoint Mr. Griffin.” Uhm, wow. Just… AM I TAKING CRAZY PILLS? It’s like a lie so blatant you have to make sure you’re not wrong yourself. From this group of docs. Pg 10 or so. And, for the have-to-see-to-believe folks: [...]

From his prepared remarks: Attorneys are never — repeat never — removed, or asked or encouraged to resign, in an effort to retaliate against them, or interfere with, or inappropriately influence a particular investigation, criminal prosecution, or civil case. Then, in the margin, marked DELETED: Any suggestion to the contrary is unfounded, and it irresponsibly [...]

On the way into work today, I said to Swamphusband, “You know, the only thing that would make this AG scandal more awesome is if Bush refused to let Gonzales go.” Said Swamphusband, “Oh, he’s gone, he’s got to go. He’ll resign or Bolten will do it or something.” And, for a moment, I thought, [...]

A forum at the Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government got unexpectedly interesting tonight, when Hillary Clinton pollster Mark Penn lit into Barack Obama on the Iraq war, contending that, for all his talk of how he opposed the invasion in 2002, “there’s not much of a difference” between the way Obama voted and the way [...]

They’re up on the House Judiciary site. I’ve just been skimming but my preliminary take is that the Lam thing is still pretty darn interesting. Favorite bit so far: The letter protesting Lam’s “catch and release” enforcement of immigration law signed by Randy “Duke” Cunningham. And that’s actually how he signs it, with quotes around [...]

Thanks for the response, Old Man Kinsley. I’ll try to type something out here before the early bird special ends the second wave of documents goes up (which could settle the whole “scandal” issue to both our satisfaction). First of all, I am clearly more easily amused than you are. For me, the spectacle of [...]