It was another dismal week for the Republican Party and a Bush presidency now in its last throes. The growing scandals over political motivated firings of U.S attorneys, the conviction of Scooter Libby, FBI Patriot Act law-breaking, the Walter Reed disgrace and continued chaos produced an unusually heavy crop of lies, gaffes and distortions from the usual suspects on the right.
U.S. Attorney Firings
"People have to believe in what we say."
Alberto Gonzales, March 9, 2007.
"One day there will be a new attorney general, maybe sooner rather than later."
Senator Arlen Specter, (R-PA), March 8, 2007.
"I can't even tell you how upset I am at the Justice Department."
Senator John Ensign, (R-NV), March 7, 2007.
"I hope that this episode ultimately will be recognized for what it is: an overblown personnel matter."
Alberto Gonzales, March 7, 2007.
"I would never ever make a change in a United States attorney position for political reasons or that in any way would jeopardize an ongoing investigation."
Alberto Gonzales, January 18, 2007.
"I think that the American people lose if I spend all my time worrying about congressional requests for information, if I spend all my time responding to subpoenas."
Alberto Gonzales, March 3, 2007.
"When I hear you talk about the politicizing of the Department of Justice, it's like a knife in my heart."
Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, February 6, 2007.
Scooter Libby Conviction
"We're gonna f**k 'em."
Harriet Grant, wife of Scooter Libby, reacting to her husband's conviction, March 6, 2007.
"This was a lengthy trial on a serious matter and a jury of his peers convicted him and we've got to respect that conviction."
President Bush, on Scooter Libby conviction, March 7, 2007.
"Knowing what I know today, I would have never said that back then."
Former press secretary Scott McClellan, on his 2003 assurances that Libby and Rove were not involved in outing CIA agent Valerie Plame, March 7, 2007.
Walter Reed Scandal
"If you leave food around in a motel room or a dorm room at a college, you're going to get some mice."
Rep. Phil Gingrey, (R-GA), March 8, 2007.
"They can go to Starbucks. It's just a short trip, and many of them want to get out [of the hospital] anyway."
Paul Boyce, Army spokesman on ending media access to wounded at Walter Reed, March 1, 2007.
Iraq
"There is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq, to the insurgency of Iraq."
General David Petraeus, March 8, 2007.
"General Petraeus tells me we have a one in four chance that Bush's plan will work."
Oregon Senator Gordon Smith, March 2, 2007.
"Well, I don't know."
Tony Snow, asked whether Osama Bin Laden is the head of Al Qaeda, March 1, 2007.
"We didn't create the war in Iraq. We didn't create the war on terror."
Tony Snow, March 1, 2007.
Miscellaneous Republican Pathology
"He's not accountable anymore."
Senator Chuck Hagel, (R-NE), on President Bush, March 6, 2007.
"I have been called - my kids are all aware of this - dumb, crazy man, science abuser, Holocaust denier, villain of the month, hate-filled, warmonger, Neanderthal, Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun. And I can just tell you that I wear some of those titles proudly."
Senator James Inhofe, (R-OK), March 3, 2007.
"22,000 people were so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn't get out of the way of a hurricane."
Newt Gingrich, on Katrina victims in New Orleans, March 3, 2007.