Are YOU on the list?

All three major papers front news about former Gonzales aide Kyle Sampson's testimony on the Hill, and all invariably point out that Sampson contradicts his boss's account of things several times. And this seems like a big deal. After all, it looks like Gonzales called a big press conference to deny that he had ever been in any meetings about the attorney firings, when, in fact, he had. Also, everyone is ballyhooing the line: "the decision makers in this case were the attorney general and the counsel to the president."

Here's my thing, though. Sampson mentions that he was the first to name-drop Patrick Fitzgerald as a potential firing target. But what about all the other names on the list? Who picked these names? And who chose to cover it up? (I think the answer to the 2nd one is clearly Gonzales.) Sure, he makes clear who the decision-makers were, but he never answered who did what.

BTW, did anyone catch video of the Sampson hearings? He looks... tired. Used up. Beat up. This is what happens when people are given too much power and too little oversight. The cocky guy from inter-departmental e-mails who was amped up to take down these attorneys is now just a regretful, sad man on C-Span, testifying to Congress. The founders were right, in that centering the responsibility of government in one place leads to abuse. It's not necessarily with bad intentions, but this is the natural result.

Now, the question is, how high did it go? Who made the list in the first place? And how long until the Bush Administration does the right thing and axes Al Gonzales?