No Pardon Anytime Soon

"The second reason Libby will walk is President Bush's dismal approval rating. The number of people who would be angered by a pardon who haven't already abandoned the president could fit in an airport shuttle bus. Given the conservative defections from Bush over his support of immigration reform, a pardon of Libby -- which would be popular with conservatives -- might actually improve his approval ratings. Libby's conviction is seen as such an outrage among conservatives that one former Bush aide suggested 'the consequences of not pardoning, if Scooter is led away in shackles, will be uglier than pardoning.'"

Gonzales Watch

Dan Eggen writes in The Washington Post: "The Justice Department is investigating whether Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales sought to improperly influence the testimony of a departing senior aide, two of its senior officials said yesterday, adding a new dimension to the troubles already besetting the nation's chief law enforcement official.

"The Justice Department officials, in a letter released yesterday by the Senate Judiciary Committee, said their inquiry into the firings of nine U.S. attorneys includes an examination of a meeting Gonzales held in mid-March with his then-aide Monica M. Goodling, who testified last month that the attorney general's comments during the session made her feel 'a little uncomfortable.' . . .

"Goodling's account attracted attention partly because Gonzales had told Congress that he could not remember numerous details about the prosecutors' dismissals because he had purposely avoided discussing the issue with other potential 'fact witnesses.'

"Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse repeated yesterday a previous statement by Gonzales that the attorney general never sought to influence Goodling's testimony. A White House spokesman also reiterated that President Bush 'fully supports the attorney general,' who this week was the target of an unsuccessful no-confidence vote organized by Senate Democrats."

For the record, here is the transcript from Gonzales's May 10 appearance before the House Judiciary Committee. Chairman John Conyers asked Gonzales: "But tell me -- just tell me -- how the U.S. attorney termination list came to be and who suggested putting most of these U.S. attorneys on the list and why."

Gonzales said he didn't know, and explained: "I have not gone back and spoken directly with [former chief of staff Kyle] Sampson and others who are involved in this process, in order to protect the integrity of this investigation and the investigation of the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Office of Inspector General.

"I am a fact witness, they are fact witnesses and in order to preserve the integrity of those investigations, I have not asked these specific questions."

Stewart Catches Snow in a Lie

The White House press corps let it slide, but Comedy Central's Jon Stewart nailed Snow last night for lying. Here's the video.

Stewart explained that Snow "was adamant months ago that the dismissal of these attorneys had nothing to do with politics."

He rolled video of Snow from March 15, saying: "It's pretty clear that these things are based on performance and not on sort of attempts to do political retaliation, if you will."

Stewart: "So anyway, that was three months ago. Three months later, a dozen subpoenas, six hearings, . . . thousands of released e-mails, it turns out that their performances were actually pretty good. And all signs are now pointing to political motivations. I wonder how the White House is going to reconcile this apparent discrepancy?"