Dems Grub For Bad In Goodling

Not too much came out of the Monica Goodling testimony yesterday except for photos like these, which are priceless, and writing like this, from Dana Milbank at WaPo, that is similarly priceless:

"Was that legal?" demanded Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.). Under the witness table, Goodling wrung her hands and rubbed her bracelet. She drew a deep breath. "I know I crossed the line," she admitted.

Gooding was a witness in well out of her league; a young Republican suddenly jerked from her cushy glitz job and thrown under the bus by mission-driven Dems while the TV lights nicely highlighted her hair.

From what I've read, the only thing they got out of Gooding on the prosecutor firing is her allegation that Assistant AG Paul McNulty was "not fully candid" with Congress about his knowledge of White House involvement in the firings. Not exactly who knew what, when.

Dems also are making hay of her conversation with AG AG, which they say shows his previous statement that he did not try to influence witnesses was a lie.

Here's the exchange:

"Let me tell you what I can remember," [AG AG] said, according to her account.

"He laid out for me his general recollection . . . of some of the process" of the firings and then asked "if I had any reaction to his iteration," Goodling said.

She said the conversation made her "a little uncomfortable" because she knew that she, Gonzales and others would be asked to testify before Congress.

"Do you think, Ms. Goodling, the attorney general was trying to shape your recollection?" Davis asked.

Goodling paused, then said: "No . . . I just did not know if it was a conversation that we should be having, and so I just -- just didn't say anything."

She added that she thought Gonzales was only "being kind."

"Another nail in the Gonzales coffin!" screamed one leftyblog. I'm not so sure; it seems more like a brad, a mere staple, to me. If it's a nail, it's typical Dem witch-hunting, a la Scooter Libby and the Plame Game. Here, they're going after AG AG for politicizing the office (as if they didn't) and firing people who don't play the game (as if they don't), but if that won't stick, it'll do to catch him in a minor, off-topic perjury. Go for a grand slam, hoof out an infield single.

The most interesting passage of the day had more to do with Dem bigotry than AG AG and the prosecutors. Again, Milbank:

The only break Republicans got all day came from a neophyte Democrat on the committee, Steve Cohen (Tenn.) [and not exactly a Goodling-quality looker], who decided to poke fun at the educational pedigree of Goodling, Regent University law school Class of '99 ("top 10.5 percent of class," reported her résumé).

"The mission of the law school you attended, Regent, is to bring to bear upon legal education and the legal profession the will of almighty God," he said. "What is the will of almighty God, our creator, on the legal profession?"

"I'm not sure that I could define that question for you," Goodling answered.

Cohen continued: "Are you aware of the fact that in your graduating class, 50 to 60 percent of the students failed the bar the first time?"

"I know it wasn't good," she conceded.

Republicans erupted in groans and cries of "bigotry." "Regent University students won the American Bar Association's Negotiation Competition February 11," protested Randy Forbes (R-Va.).

Hmmm. I thought this investigation was supposed to be rooting out politicization in Justice, not poking Christianity in the ribs. Cohen's got a point (He went to Vanderbilt, where the pass rate is in the mid-80s to low-90s), but really, what an idiot.

The Dems have an immunity-protected witness who cuts a bit of a sympathetic jib with most of us and he mocks Christians? Do you suppose this useful idiot, whose resume brags ...

Steve Cohen has never faltered in his fight for those who do not have the power bestowed by wealth and advantage, realizing that the American dream cannot flourish without constant rededication to its principle.

... did not apply the will of almighty liberal dogma to the studying he pursued at Vanderbilt? That's Vanderbilt, the university founded by a $1 million (in 1873 dollars!) gift from "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, of whom Wikipedia says:

Ruthless in business, Cornelius Vanderbilt was said by some to have made few friends in his lifetime but many enemies. In his will, he disowned all his sons except for William, who was as ruthless in business as his father and the one Cornelius believed capable of maintaining the business empire. ...

Vanderbilt gave little of his vast fortune to charitable works, leaving the US$1 million he had promised for Vanderbilt University and $50,000 to the Church of the Strangers in New York City.

Yeah, Steve. Keep fighting for those poor, oppressed folk who can't afford the Commodore's law school. Fight loud and obnoxiously. Beat up on young blondes. You're doing your party proud.