David Pleasant

Straight from the I-Can’t-Recall department, disgraced former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales assures a skeptical nation that if there was any wrongdoing in the Bush administration, he would have investigated it. (h/t Glennzilla)

TL: My question is loyalty versus being an objective counselor. I think a lot of my readers think, "Which one are you, loyal or an objective counselor to the president?"

Gonzales: You’re loyal. Look, someone like an attorney general wears two hats. You’re a member of the president’s team; you’re on his Cabinet. You have an obligation to promote the president’s law enforcement policies and priorities. He campaigned on those policies, and you have an obligation as a Cabinet official to make sure they’re implemented. But you also wear a different hat. You’re the chief law enforcement officer for the country. And if you have to investigate the White House for wrongdoing, you have to investigate the White House for wrongdoing, and I would have done that.

The New York Times interview with Alberto Gonzales is worth the read if for nothing else but the laughs.

Here’s a shining example of Gonzales’ overwhelming intellect.

NYT: You’re scheduled to teach a political-science class [at Texas Tech] called “Contemporary Issues in the Executive Branch.” What kind of syllabus have you put together?

Gonzales: You mean what am I going to be teaching? We’re obviously going to look at the issues that are confronting this administration. I’m going to try to get the studentsa [sic] behind-the-scenes look at how the White House is really organized and how it operates.

You mean what am I going to be teaching? No, nitwit, tell me about what you did over your summer vacation. Geez.

And just like everyone else in the Cheney administration, Alberto did no wrong. He certainly doesn’t deserve the hit he’s taken on his reputation.

NYT: Would you agree that your reputation was damaged by your service as attorney general?

Gonzales: It has had an effect, a negative effect, no question about it, and at times it makes me angry because it is undeserved.

I wonder if all the U.S. attorneys that were fired feel that way? Or Don Siegelman? Or those that were tortured because Gonzales viewed the Geneva Convention as merely “quaint.”

Now, for the icing on the cake: George Bush won’t have anything to do with him.

NYT: Do you still talk to President Bush?

Gonzales: I have not spoken with the president since he left office.

NYT: Have you ever been tempted to pick up the phone and say hi to him?

Gonzales: I do, of course, think about our time together, and there are times when I think about doing that. But listen, I know that he has his life to live. I’ve got challenges and my life to live as well.