Gonzales Inquisition Delayed

The Senate Judiciary Committee has delayed the testimony of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales until Thursday:

The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed Tuesday's questioning of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the dismissals of eight federal prosecutors, saying the proceedings would be inappropriate in light of the Virginia Tech shootings.

The reality is there's no reason to delay the testimony except for the fact that the media's attention will be focused on Virginia Tech and Sen. Leahy and his co-conspirators want the media undistracted by other events so they can obsess about every word that comes from the hearing. Show trials don't work as well if there are other more interesting items in the news.

Delaying the testimony until Thursday really won't help Leahy that much. The VT story will run big all week, and when compared to the nonsense in Washington, makes the Gonzales testimony look pretty unimportant.