Demagogue

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier today, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended President Bush's controversial domestic spying program. According to CNN:

The hearing began with a sudden and sharp partisan dispute when Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter ruled that Gonzales did not have to be sworn in to testify. After Democrats strongly objected and demanded a roll-call vote, Republicans prevailed and the attorney general did not testify under oath.

So why did Republican senators consider it so unacceptable to ask Gonzales to testify under oath?

Perhaps because he has already been caught giving false or misleading testimony to the Committee.

Later in the hearings, Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin, chastised Gonzales, who served as the president's chief lawyer during his first term, for making "misleading" statements during his confirmation hearings in 2005 that the president did not have the authority to authorize surveillance without a warrant.