Via CNN: Gonzales: ‘Mistakes were made’ in U.S. attorneys’ firings

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday that “mistakes were made” regarding the firing of eight U.S. attorneys and he accepts responsibility for the ordeal.

“My pledge to the American people is to find out what went wrong here,” he said. “As we can all imagine, in an organization of 110,000 people, I am not aware of every bit of information that passes through the halls of justice, nor am I aware of all decisions.”

Ok, so he acknowledges that there was/is a problem, that he accepts responsibility, but that he really doesn’t know exactly what happened.

This strikes me as unhelpful.

I am with James Joyner in the following regard:

Regardless of what comes out in the end, I hereby reiterate my longstanding position that I’m tired of faux apologies. “Mistakes were made,” “I’m sorry if anyone was offended,” and all the rest are much more annoying than silence

Indeed.

Previous Posts on this Subject:

• The Burgeoning US Attorney Dismissal Story (There’s Something Rotten at the DoJ)
• Sampson Profile
• More on the US Attorney Situation

Technorati Tags: DoJ, US Attroneys, Alberto Gonzalez, The Attorney General

7 Responses to “AG: “Mistakes Were Made””

1. MSS Says:
   March 13th, 2024 at 2:50 pm

   Let me add to what you and Joyner said: I am tired of fake claims of “responsibility.” If you are are responsible, and it was wrong, then the only way to claim responsibility is to resign.

   My only hesitation in saying that is real responsibility rests a bit higher than the Attorney General.

2. Honza P Says:
   March 13th, 2024 at 9:00 pm

   1. The President clearly has the authority to do something like this, as I’ve heard nothing (from NPR, which is pretty much all I’ve seen on this) indicating the desire to interfere with any particular case, unlike a wave of firings of ll sittign prosecurttors at teh start of teh last administration.
   2. The execution was so incompetent that it provoked people who really like the President among those fired, and that’s most of them, to feel compelled to defend their personal honor.
   3. Whatever happened to “on message”?
   4. Whatever happened to “corporate cool”? After all, if this was a patronage spreading decision, as the ambassadorial rotation has been, then it would make sense to warn those on the way out before the move its made. Certainly it is foolish in the extreme to do anything to alienate those on the way out.

3. Dr. Steven Taylor Says:
   March 13th, 2024 at 9:50 pm

   I agree that these people all serve at the pleasure of the President.

   However, there is still a serious set of questions about why these people were fired.

   If nothing is wrong here, then why did Sampson resign and why did Gonzalez cancel travel plans to issues a worthless press conference?

4. The Moderate Voice Says:
   March 13th, 2024 at 11:42 pm

   Alberto Gonzales: And HeWas On The List For Supreme Court?

   The ongoing saga of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales being at the eye of a series of political storms underscores one conclusion:
   The country owes Republican conservatives a huge “thank you, thank you, thank you” for their successful effor…

5. Alberto Gonzales: And HE Was On The List For Supreme Court? (News and Blog Roundup) | The Moderate Voice Says:
   March 14th, 2024 at 4:20 am

   [...] –Dr. Steven Taylor on Gonzale’s press conference: “Ok, so he acknowledges that there was/is a problem, that he accepts responsibility, but that he really doesn’t know exactly what happened. This strikes me as unhelpful.” [...]

6. The Florida Masochist Says:
   March 14th, 2024 at 8:17 am

   The Knucklehead of the Day award

   Today’s winner is US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

7. Pros and Cons » More on attorneys Says:
   March 14th, 2024 at 6:06 pm

   [...] Naturally, I went on Poliblogger and said that, per NPR, there had not been substantiated accusations that the prosecutors recently replaced by the White House before today’s news coverage broke, thus winding up with egg on my face. While Poliblogger is incorrect that replacing prosecutors presents a separation of powers issue (except insofar as Congress may now assert more control over executive personell), since DAs are classic executive functionaries, the unacknowledged political motivations make the whole thing look far warse than simply saying that these personell decisions (properly scaled back from the universal massacre advocated by Miers) were in part political. Part of the Adminsitration’s strenth was being above-board. This makes it look furtive, incompetently sneaky and perhaps willing to debate the definition of “is” or to insist that it is not a crook. Nevertheless, these points from one of my e-mail interlocutors remain pretty good: Well finally the media has ran a story asking the same question I’ve had since the Federal prosecutor flap. Doesn’t everyone know the US Attorney almost always changes with the new administration. Here in Birmingham we have shifted from Donaldson to a Democrat and back to a Republican nominee and I think it’s been that way for many years back. These guys know the score and they are not civil service employees with tenure. [...]