Words 23

beyond Those Walls -7320

The Attorney General’s secretary entered his office and was shocked to see the Attorney General packing those familiar cardboard boxes with picture frames, signed baseballs, silver ashtrays, cigar boxes, the fancy leather office pad and the expensive sets of pens and pencils. On the floor, there were several paper bags with files, shirts, toilet items and the Superman T-shirts the Attorney general loved to wear under the starched shirts.

“What are you doing, Alberto?” she asked.

“Can’t you see? I am packing my personal belongings. I don’t want to misplace some of the diplomas, personal autographs and my set of listening devices. I just will not bother with the cameras and the mikes in the waste paper basket and the bar.”

“But why so soon?’

“Listen, history repeats itself. I just can not forget the image of President Bush in the Rose Garden proclaiming that Secretary of defense Rumsfeld was the greatest Secretary of Defense this country has ever had. 6 weeks later he was toast!”

“So?”

“He’s already said that I was a great Attorney General. Two weeks are already gone. Please help me pack these telephone lists and all those private bank accounts”

Beyond Those Walls 7318

At the White House, we hear the First Lady: 

"Georgie, what the heck is happening? If it isn't Cheney, it is the surge, the medical care of injured soldiers, the firing of US attorneys and now the mounting uproar on Alberto Gonzalez forced exit from you administration. Are you hip, man?"

The First Lady loves to use expressions that she hears her twin daughters use. It makes her feel "cool" and up to date.

"It is the radical left conspiracy against my mandate. It was the same climate during the Spanish war, the Reagan administration and my old man's regime. Alberto let his crew make some mistakes and now he is being accused of plotting against the Justice system in this country, as if it was another banana republic!"

"But why Alberto? He is one of your most loyal collaborators!"

"Do not worry your pretty head First Lady. This too shall pass, and Alberto was not so indispensable, after all!"

"That shows how removed you are from reality. If you let them fire Alberto, who is going to fix the twin's parking tickets? Who is going to get those great Mexican cooks for the ranch? Who is going to prepare the guacamole for the weekly picnics on the West Wing terrace? Who is going to keep Tony from lying? Who will replace him?"

"You are probably right. How about Mickey Brown, he would probably do a heckuva job!"

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Beyond Those Walls

Beyond Those Walls 7315

Upon their return to the White House, the President and the First Lady were greeted with more scandals instead of a modest list of positive events that would have taken place during their absence.

"We should have stayed in Mexico, Pres" said the First Lady after glancing at the stack of personal messages delivered to their second floor apartment at the White House.

"I always wanted to spend some time in Cancun and now that Spring break is upon us it would have been interesting to see our college students having a restful interval"  

"Restful interval, my foot!" exclaimed the President. "You would not want to be caught dead in Cancun when the students are in full restful interval! Have you seen the videos abut the way our students spend their restful intervals?"  

The First Lady blushed slightly upon recalling some of the scenes from one of the videos her twin daughters kept hidden in their suite. She changed the subject:

"George what is this jazz about 'mistakes were made'? It seems that everyone in your administration uses that phrase to avoid real responsibility. What has happened to honesty, truthfulness and a sense of personal accountability? In other words, what has happened to you, too?"

The President picked up another pretzel . He chewed contentedly and then replied:

"Perhaps you and the public do not understand the essence of leadership. Take Alberto Gonzalez. Probably the best Attorney General we have ever had and now, he is being dragged through the slime of accusations and innuendo by a partisan press – except Fox News of course – blamed for the mistakes of others. "

"Yeah, but he can not shrug the whole thing off by blaming his subordinates. If you have no control over what your subordinates do, you might as well become a greeter at Wal Mart!"

"Say! That is an idea!" He got up, went to the desk and picked up the phone:

"Give me Alberto Gonzalez!"