I've been hearing all this fuss about how Karl Rove set up the Democrats on the FISA legislation they'll have to revisit before the '08 election. It's important for the Democrats to get out ahead of this issue, and charge the administration with willfully paralyzing this country's ability to fight terror by maintaining allegiance to an Attorney General who is a willful perjurer; one who has been undermined by the nation's top law enforcement official.
How can this administration claim that it has any genuine interest in fighting the war on terror when the Attorney general has so little credibility. Alberto Gonzalez's role as white House stooge ans foil might suit the interests of George W. Bush, but it has the effect of completely paralyzing the FBI and our capacity to find and neutralize real terrorists.
The extent of the disconnect between Mueller an Gonzalez is highlighted by the fact that twice in the past month Mueller has contradicted Gonzalez' sworn congressional testimony. How much operating latitude does Mr. Mueller have now that he has publicly called his boss a liar (albeit unwittingly) TWICE in the past month. How responsive is the Justice Department apparatus likely to be to react to FBI investigations of legitimate terrorist threats.
The democrats need to go on the offensive, immediately, and show that the schism between Mueller and Gonzalez has crippled our ability to respond to terror threats. The Democrats should repeatedly and pointedly describe how FBI Director Mueller is crippled by the disconnect between him and his boss. They need to point out that Mr. Gonzalez repeated (apparent) perjury has completely demoralized the Justice Department. And they need to repeatedly lay the blame for this situation at the feet of Mr. Bush. who values the appearance of fighting terrorism over actually doing anything about it. Mr. Bush's support of Mr. Gonzalez is a major impediment to progress in the war on terror. This needs to be repeated about one thousand times until it becomes part of the narrative.
I offer this notion not simply to score political points, but to illustrate the fact that this administration's behaviors, values, and priorities do not align with the "promotion of the general welfare." The fact that the FBI Director and AG are on such completely different wavelengths right now is a patently dangerous situation. The fact that the President stands by his crippled AG, recklessly maintaining this dangerous disconnect with the FBI, frightens me.