Public Confidence: Who Needs It?

Having read my share of press gaggle transcripts, my mouth doesn’t fall open for just anything. But Tony Fratto’s determined efforts this morning deserve appreciation.

“It’s important for any public official to have as much confidence as he can garner. And that’s going to ebb and flow,” Fratto counseled, “but it will not ebb and flow with this President and this Attorney General.” So there.

Excerpt below.

From this morning’s gaggle:

Q Senators Schumer and Feinstein are going to introduce a no confidence resolution for Attorney General Gonzales next week, the Senate is going to vote on this. You have a sixth Republican, Norm Coleman, come out and say the Attorney General should resign. Doesn’t this all add up to the weight that’s dragging him down? And how can he be effective with all —

MR. FRATTO: I think it adds up to the bottomless bag of tricks that Democrats in the Senate would like to pull out on a weekly basis, regarding the Attorney General. The Attorney General has the full confidence of the President….

Q You addressed the Democratic part of that question. You didn’t say anything about the six Republicans. And you also had Specter saying that he predicts that he’ll resign — Gonzales will resign, saying that he’s unable to perform his duties. What about the Republicans?

MR. FRATTO: We understand that there are senators who have different views.

Q I’m talking about the Republicans.

MR. FRATTO: Talking about senators of both parties, and we understand that they have concerns and questions. We think that the Attorney General has been honest and forthright in addressing those questions; and as I said earlier, most importantly, has the full confidence of the President.

Jim.

Q But, Tony, when you say he has the full confidence of the President, and when you say you feel he’s been a strong Attorney General, doesn’t this erode the President’s credibility when it seems like the entire rest of the political universe is on the other side of that?

MR. FRATTO: No, I don’t think that’s where everyone is. Look —

Q How is — who’s on his side?

MR. FRATTO: What we are focusing on, what we think the Attorney General is focusing on is the mission of the Department of Justice. I haven’t heard anyone say that the Department of Justice has been weak in enforcing child predator laws. I haven’t heard anyone say that the Department of Justice has been anything short of strong and aggressive in protecting America from domestic terrorism threats. Those are the things that we are focusing on, and those things have happened under this Attorney General’s leadership….

Q Quickly, back on Gonzales. Would the White House consider a vote of no confidence to have any procedural impact at all, or would you consider it an empty political stunt?

MR. FRATTO: I think we would consider it to be just another political stunt.

Q Is it not important for the Attorney General to have the confidence of Congress?

MR. FRATTO: It’s important for any public official to have as much confidence as he can garner. And that’s going to ebb and flow, but it will not ebb and flow with this President and this Attorney General.