Remember what you forgot

Any reporter would probably grin after hearing what Chairman Patrick Leahy , D-Vt., and ranking Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, from the Senate Judiciary Committee said to a certain someone who didn’t want to answer their questions.

Most reporters have probably been frustrated at some point when someone, particularly a politician, has danced around questions, refused to answer, or totally ignored a chance to share the facts.

Unfortunately, most reporters probably just admit defeat and move on with the interview or attempt to find someone else to help complete the story.

In the case of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, his avoidance of answering questions became the story last week, and the public — through media coverage — got to see first hand how frustrating it can be to nail down answers from a politician.

But here’s the difference between a politician facing a reporter and facing the Senate Judiciary Committee.

It doesn’t matter who you are, the committee can demand you return.

Leahy and Specter wrote a great note to Gonzales, and it’s got a big hint of what’s to come when he appears before them again.

As AP’s reporter from Washington described it, he was asked to “refresh the memory that Gonzales claimed had failed him 71 times during the seven-hour session.”

The note, according to AP, stated: “Provide the answers to the questions you could not recall last Thursday.”

It doesn’t matter what political party you support: wouldn’t you just love to say that sometimes to people who tell you they can’t recall, remember, or recollect what happened — and you know they’re lying?

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