Is Gonzales Ready for an Ollie North Moment?

We're all so quick sometimes to write political obituaries. With the drumbeat of bad press leading up to Alberto Gonzales' Senate testimony next week, it's tempting to say it's the end of the Attorney General's line.

His testimony will be one of those rare "big moments" in Washington scandaldom. As we speak, the knives are being sharpened, the guns loaded, the keyboards fired up and the crusty metaphors dragged out of the closet, all in preparation for instantaneous mega-blast-analysis of every word Gonzales utters.

It's a huge setup for a fall. If you study up on the USA firing scandal, and you see how Gonzales has contradicted himself, and the facts, repeatedly - dare I say in a Clintonian fashion - you don't see how he can get out of this mess.

And so, to you who cannot see Gonzales' imminent redemption and elevation to hero status, I say: remember Oliver North.

Ollie changed the game, turned the tables, stood up when they tried to stomp him down, and generally blew the minds of much smarter men and women when he finally appeared before the congressional committee investigating the Iran-Contra scandal. It was 20 years ago, but who can forget it?

Ollie was the detail guy implementing a shadow policy that was near-treasonous, if not for the nodding approval of a popular (if widely detested) president. Ollie had no defense, really, to charges that he had spearheaded a project that armed our worst enemies and made war in our name after Congress had specifically said not to.

So instead, Oliver North showed up in his war uniform, spoke mistily about God and country, lashed out at his interlocutors, and set himself up for life by creating an image with surprisingly wide appeal.

That's the goal for Gonzo now. Can you go Ollie?

The chatter this week is all about how Gonzales has shredded his calendar, including family vacations, to study the record and "practice" his testimony. "A disgrace," huffs the Washington Post's Andrew Cohen - the idea that our top lawman needs to rehearse his spin on the facts of a minor scandal.

But of course Gonzo is practicing. He's waking up in the middle of every night with that "omigod, I forgot to study for the test" dream. Not to be quaint about it, but the prep is like torture for the AG. When he testifies, he doesn't want to have a Mark McGuire moment. He wants to have an Ollie North moment.

So here's betting Gonzales is not just re-learning the details of how fully, directly and completely involved he was in the USA firing case - and how deniable his role was.

He's learning how to cry on cue. He's learning how to appear righteously indignant when someone questions his motivation. He's working overtime to find something authentic about himself that might be eaten up by segments of the American public.

My guess is that the Gonzo defense involves a lot of personal history, perhaps some Spanish phrases, and maybe, just maybe, the word "sorry" applied to an actual thing he did. (None of this "I'm sorry my deputies did this without telling me" stuff again.)

The American people deserve to know that their attorney general is not a crook. Gonzales will take pains to prove he didn't lie to Congress like Ollie did. (A crime for which Ollie was the first, and only, person ever to be convicted.) Still, to keep his job, Gonzales needs to break up the narrative we're all reading with something new and compelling. He needs to change the game.

Truthfully, the USA firing scandal isn't that important, not yet, unless you're Alberto Gonzales. The scandal threatens his prospects to be president or, more importantly, a U.S. Supreme Court justice. People like him don't take these kinds of existential threats lying down. Under the klieg lights, be ready to watch Gonzo stand up, and surprise us all.