Former White House political director Sara Taylor’s testimony yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee committee on the firings of the U.S. attorneys proved to be anything but… testimony:
(1) President George Bush cited executive privilege and basically squelched her from answering the panel’s most significant and probing questions.
(2) She either set a record for or tied Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for the record for “I can’t recall” (and also some thinking, throaty noises).
CLICK HERE to see Think Progress’ montage of her “I can’t recall” moments. It is amazing.
P.S. When you view this there are three possible conclusions:
–She is not answering because it would incriminate higher ups such as the President.
–She really can’t recall.
–If she and Gonzales can’t recall then voters and Congress need to find out how an administration could possibly hire so many people with hideous memories. If they really can’t really can’t recall, then it’s a damning indictment of the quality of people in the administration. And if they really can’t recall, how can they be entrusted to bring together the strands of past policies, present challenges and choices for future action? Shouldn’t they be let go because they can’t remember anything?
UPDATE: Taylor took an oath and took it “seriously.” And who did she say she took it to? See the YOU TUBE VIA MATTHEW YGLESIAS.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.