Gonzales grilling

He took more kicks to the teeth today than I think he did in his last two appearances on the Hill combined. It was really something to watch. Steve Benen has more here. Here's what the Washington Post says about one part of the testimony.

Gonzales said his visit to Ashcroft's bedside, accompanied by Andrew H. Card Jr., then the White House chief of staff, came after an emergency meeting with Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate about "a very important intelligence activity," which was about to expire because Ashcroft's temporary replacement had refused to renew it.

"We never had any intent to ask anything of him if we did not feel he was competent," Gonzales testified at an oversight hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying that Ashcroft was "lucid" and did most of the talking during the meeting.

Well, since there's so much doubt about Gonzales' version of events, why not invite John Ashcroft himself to testify about his lucidity that night? And why not ask him to authorize his doctors to release their notes from that evening, which should either corroborate or cut against Gonzales' characterization? I don't see why the Attorney General ought to have the last word here, especially when it may be possible to prove (or disprove) that he's perjured himself.