Spring Training for Fredo

By Scott Horton

Today's Washington Post features an article by Dan Eggen and Paul Kane about the preparations made by Attorney General Gonzales for his April 17 appointment with the Senate Judiciary Committee, which pundits are billing as a make-or-break affair. Janet Reno was not exactly a media star, but Gonzales's several appearances before the Judiciary Committee had an almost painful quality to them. One thinks, for instance, of his response to a question posed by Senator McCain during one of his confirmation hearings. McCain asked whether he believed that the product of coercive interrogation involving cruel, inhuman and degrading practices could be used for a criminal prosecution? Gonzales's answer was an agonized 90 seconds of silence during which the entire room came to fix upon him. The White House has now placed tremendous emphasis on Gonzales' meeting with the committee—suggesting that somehow he will produce the silver bullet that makes all his misstatements look okay. That puts Gonzales under an intense spotlight.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has retreated from public view this week in an intensive effort to save his job, spending hours practicing testimony and phoning lawmakers for support in preparation for pivotal appearances in the Senate this month, according to administration officials.

After struggling for weeks to explain the extent of his involvement in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, Gonzales and his aides are viewing the Senate testimony on April 12 and April 17 as seriously as if it were a confirmation proceeding for a Supreme Court or a Cabinet appointment, officials said.

Ed Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman, and Timothy E. Flanigan, who worked for Gonzales at the White House, have met with the attorney general to plot strategy. The department has scheduled three days of rigorous mock testimony sessions next week and Gonzales has placed phone calls to more than a dozen GOP lawmakers seeking support, officials said.

Says Talking Point Memo's Paul Kiel, "It's a scene reminiscent of a training montage from the Rocky movies. You can almost hear 'Eye of the Tiger' in the background."