Go-Along-to-Get-Along Republicans

It was pretty impressive to see the Republican senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee take on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales earlier today. They weren't cowed by his position in the Bush administration (which, we should probably note, looks less and less secure by the moment). They didn't worry about what it might mean go up against a president of their own party. In his Washington Sketch column in Friday's Washington Post, Dana Milbank provides a collection of quotes that sums up their reaction:

Mr. Attorney General, most of this is a stretch," said Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

"Why is your story changing?" demanded Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

"Significantly, if not totally, at variance with the facts," said Arlen Specter (Pa.), the committee's ranking Republican.

"Really deplorable," said John Cornyn (R-Tex.). After this blow, from an administration loyalist and an old Texas friend, Gonzales stuttered in his reply.

And then there's this sharp exchange between Gonzales and the committee's ranking minority member, Arlen Specter.

Specter, scolding the witness for "not being candid," pointed out: "I know you've been preparing for this hearing."

"I prepare for every hearing, senator," Gonzales replied, acidly.

Specter glared at the witness and hectored him about his past misstatements. "I don't think you're going to win a debate about your preparation, frankly," he said. This, too, delighted the orange-jumpsuit crowd.

"I apologize," the attorney general said. The water in Gonzales's drinking glass was still sloshing from his pounding on the witness table.

The obvious question is where were these guys when the Republicans controlled the Senate? They could've been asking just as pointed questions of various administration officials at that time.

The unfortunate answer, of course, is that they were right where they are now. Arlen Specter has the position of ranking Republican now because in the last Congress, he was Senate Judiciary Committee chairman. These Republicans who are so hard hitting today gave the administration a complete pass on oversight for its first six years. But now that it's politically safe to attack the President and his people, they're jumping on the bandwagon.

This is a bandwagon that I'm fully supportive of, and God knows that I much prefer they be riding on the bandwagon than standing in front of it and trying to run it off the road. But they certainly shouldn't be able to score points with the public and with their constituents because, now that it's safe and they've got plenty of political cover, they're willing to get on the right side of this issue.