Compassionate Conservatives:

Why Card and Gonzales went to the hospital to meet with Ashcroft with an authorization that they hoped he would sign:

"We were just there to wish him well." - A. Card

Why Attorney General Alberto Gonzales engaged in an "uncomfortable" conversation with Goodling where he "laid out ... his general recollection ... of some of the process ... regarding the replacement of the U.S. attorneys.":

"The statements made by the attorney general during this meeting were intended only to comfort her in a very difficult period." - Brian J. Roehrkasse, a Justice Department spokesman