I'd want to get back to you on that...

Chris Suellentrop at Slate has the summary of yesterday's tragicomedy at the Judiciary Committee hearing, so I'll save myself the trouble. Except to highlight this passage:

Durbin tries to get Gonzales to clarify. Can U.S. personnel, under any circumstances, engage in torture? Gonzales still can't muster a definitive "no." "I don't believe so, but I'd want to get back to you on that," he says.

I submit that a failure to have already fully researched this topic, after weeks of knowing he was going to be appearing before the Senate, and that the number one topic they would ask him about would be the legal limits on torture, should be enough to disqualify him from the job. He wants to be the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, and he doesn't even know if torture is legal? Excuse me? What?

But I don't want to get started. Go read the Slate piece.