You had to invoke executive privilege to answer "I wasn't there. I didn't see nuthin. I don't know nuthin."

You're a lying sack of crap, Taylor. And I can't wait until we unearth those RNC e-mails to prove it. You're going to jail, lady.

...no one's going to jail. That's the punchline here.

"I did not attend any meetings..."

"I am not aware of any documents..."

Both phrases are merely Bushspeak, obviously, and actually mean "There were meetings but I didn't attend" and "There are documents but I'm not aware of them". I posted yesterday on the prospect of Taylor and Miers capitulation to the Committee, and I was half right; at the end of the day they will have testified but we won't know any more than we did before. I got part of it wrong, though; I expected that the wall would be built of "I don't recall". I forgot for a moment that the one thing the Bush administration and its minions are really, really good at is finding ways to hide its transgressions from oversight. Taylor's administration coaches have done their job well; it would be a lot harder to prove that Taylor lied to Congress that she "wasn't aware" of any documents or meetings than it would be if she stated that "there aren't any."

She says, "No." So she is not the Alexander Butterfield of the 21st Century. But if "No" turns out to be a lie, at least we can come back and get her, and use her lie to get her boss.

A. "I don't have to tell you" (or Cheney will shoot me in the face)

B. "I don't remember" (because I am yet another grossly incompetent administration official)

C. "No" (which means I'm lying, of course)

Of course her answers are the truth -- Bush has never made a single decision ever. We know he's not the president. So why even ask about him being the mastermind? That's ridiculous!

If the questions are only geared to implicating Bush, this entire investigation goes exactly nowhere because he was never a part of this any more than he was a part of anything else. That's not his job. His job is to provide cover. That's it.

Stop going after Bush and start really investigating this!

She's a dirty, rotten liar.

She belongs in prison!

"I don't recall." -- Sara Taylor

I haven't counted them, because they keep coming. At least Leahy is pointing out how overbroad the Bush League's notions of executive privilege are. Especially revealing was Taylor trying to hide behind it, then stammering and pausing awhile to talk to her attorney, and then answering "I don't recall." and Leahy saying "You could have said that at the outset."

Why ahould Taylor be different from anyone else in the White House or the administration? A bunch of liars all.

Miers is going to be just as Taylor, no I was not, or Gonzales, I forgot!

with someone smarter than she who told her exactly how to answer.

I took an oath. And I take that oath to the president very seriously.

Thank you Leahy for calling her on this. Sorry, but we don't swear fealty to our political leaders here. That one comment is a snapshot of what's so very wrong about Bush's administration. They seem not to realize that their loyalty is supposed to be to the Constitution.

Although I wouldn't be surprised if Bush did have everyone swear an oath of loyalty to him personally.

Oh, my God, go to the NYT home page--their photograph of this new briefing room is positively sublime. It tells you everthing you need to know about America. They've done themselves proud this time.

FINALLY, someone has said out loud something that's bugged the heck out of me -- that all officials take an oath to the U.S. Constitution, rather than any person or office (not even to the President or the presidency). I've proposed that we need to change the oath of office for executive branch personnel to recognize their fealty to the President, IF that's in fact the way they're going to operate.

THANK YOU, Sen. Leahy. You are a true patriot.

Everything leads up the chain of command. Let the White House fight it, ignore it, let Tim Russert and Chris Matthews defend the President over it. But in either case Congress may as well drag Bush's crackmonkey ass into session for testimony. It would be amusing as hell just to watch the monkey dance. Dance monkey dance - dance your booze fueled dervish! I mean what's he got to show us new? Anything? No.

You have to cover your bases, after all.

isn't it unusual for a person being questioned by a congressional committee to be allowed to have a lawyer coaching them?

i recall that bush had to attend the 9-11 commission with cheney holding his hand. but ms taylor is in a different ballgame.

can some lawyer out there clarify this?

or did specter sneak this one by the dems as he did with the rule allowing bush to appt. people without senate approval.

looks like another inquiry going nowhere.

just put this taylor "loyalty first" in jail. hey taylor, the truth comes first, not your loyal pledge to your Leader.

Thank you mizbinkley for pointing out what I rushed to the comment section to express.

Think about this for a moment, and let it really sink in: An oath to the President. Not to the country. Not to the constitution. Not to the laws of this nation or its citizens. An oath to the person (cult) of our President (king).

How profoundly disturbing. How profoundly disgusting. How profoundly unAmerican. How, frankly, treasonous. And how unerringly typical of this disgusting, corrupt, lawless regime.

We are now beyond good and evil. We have entered the world of Nietzsche's Ubermenchen.

I vomited slighly in my mouth when I read that little gem, because in a f*cked-up moment of unintentional honesty and clarity, young Ms. Sarah Taylor summed up what this administration is all about.

I'm calling it a day and am off to get a drink.