Shakes at your service, and Iâm coining a new word here at Ezraâs today: Oathish. Itâs kind of like truthiness, except it describes the congressional testimony of someone who isnât put under oath, but promises heâd say the same thing either way.
Monday's hearing into the NSA program got off to a rocky start when Democrats protested that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should be given a sworn oath before testifying.
Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the panel's senior Democrat, argued that Gonzales should be sworn in like any other witness. At the very least, Gonzales should be asked if he would volunteer to being sworn in, Leahy said.
"It's not up to him," said Specter, who was upheld by a quick party-line vote by the GOP-led committee.
Gonzales, who was not sworn in, told the committee he would voluntarily take the oath if the committee so desired. Either way, "my answers would be the same whether I was under oath or not," he said.
Oathish: Attorney General Alberto Gonzalesâ testimony was oathish.
Oathishness avoids all those persnickety little problems such as having traitorous liberals like Senator Russ Feingold point out you may have lied during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, or being indicted on two counts of perjury.
