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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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Elle Woods, Is That You?

Slate 's legal correspondent is tougher on Dems than they were on Goodling

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(Newser) – Monica Goodling cleared a very low bar in her Congressional testimony yesterday, Slate's Dahlia Lithwick argues, and she can thank the Democrats who questioned her for making her look good. The majority members of the House Judiciary Committee, "in expecting to question the Great Exploding Idiot Barbie," Lithwick writes, were "completely underprepared and overmatched."

Goodling acknowledged breaking the law, contradicted her Justice Department co-workers' testimony, implicated them in the US attorney firings, and came out smelling like a rose—one with immunity from prosecution. Lithwick chalks up the ineffectual questioning to the disconnect between expectation and reality: "Goodling manages to give committee Democrats both too much and too little to wrap their heads around."

John Dowd, right, attorney for former Justice Department White House liaison Monica Goodling, seated, objects to a line of questioning by Rep. Arthur Davis, D-Ala., not shown, during Goodling's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 2007. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
John Dowd, right, attorney for former Justice Department White House liaison Monica Goodling, seated, objects to a line of questioning by Rep. Arthur Davis, D-Ala., not shown, during Goodling's testimony...   (Associated Press)
Former Justice Department White House liaison Monica Goodling smiles on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23,2007, while testifying before the House Judiciary Committee. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Former Justice Department White House liaison Monica Goodling smiles on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23,2007, while testifying before the House Judiciary Committee. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)   (Associated Press)
Former Justice Department White House liaison Monica Goodling testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 2007, before the House Judiciary Committee hearing. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Former Justice Department White House liaison Monica Goodling testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 23, 2007, before the House Judiciary Committee hearing. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)   (Associated Press)
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"Ms. Goodling removed all doubt about whether partisan politics infected the Justice Department's treatment of federal prosecutors."
New York Times

"This was a sad moment for anyone who cares about the Justice Department."
Washington Post

Transcript of Goodling's testimony
New York Times


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