Surprised?

The Associated Press is reporting that the e-mail records of 51 out of 88 officials in the White House with e-mail accounts with the Republican National Committee are missing. This has a direct bearing on the Congressional investigation into improper or illegal influence by the political arm of the Bush Assministration on the justice system. The more they try to dodge, coverup and stonewall, the clearer it is that they have something to hide. "Executive privilege" is the last refuge of these scoundrels, as it was for their icon, Richard M. Nixon.

The Gonzo Saga Continues

Did Attorney General Alberto "Gonzo" Gonzales coach a staff member before she gave testimony before the Senate Judiciary committee on the U.S. Attorney firings? That seems to be the indication, as reported in the WaPo today. Meeting with aide Monica "Not" Goodling in mid-March, Gonzo apparently ran his version of events past Ms. Goodling before they both were to give testimony to the Senate, a clear case of potential witness tampering. Gonzo will, of course, say that this was an innocent pre-hearing "prep" session; but he clearly must have known that Goodling was going to be testifying later. Very simply, he was trying to bring her on board with his version of events. And although Gonzo survived a vote of "no confidence" earlier this week, his problems are not over with yet.

The Bloom is Off the Turd

The Senate Judiciary Committee this afternoon subpoenaed AG 'Berto "I Don't Recall" Gonzales, ordering him to provide all e-mails related to Karl "Turdblossom" Rove and the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. 'Berto has until May 15 to fork over the information. Meanwhile, we understand Turdblossom is joining Scooter's yoga class so they can both practice their ankle-gripping techniques. We hear Allenwood is nice in the Spring.

Politics and the U.S. Attorneys

TPM Muckraker has a good insight on the behind-the-scenes manueverings of the Justice Department and the White House's Mayberry Machiavellis to try to suppress Democratic votes in 2006 and, more ominously, in the upcoming 2008 elections. The evidence in mounting that the U.S. attorneys have been used to press "voter fraud" cases against Democrats, which target blocs of minority and low income voters in swing states. This has always been the key issue relating to the attorney firings, along with prosecution/nonprosecution of corruption cases when they suit the Rethugs. They wanted to influence elections using the traditionally nonpartisan U.S. attorneys offices.

'Berto Bombs Bigtime

That was an ugly hearing yesterday for soon-to-be ex-Attorney General Gone-zales. After spending weeks "preparing" for his make or break appearance, he ended up saying variations of "I can't remember" some 64 times when expectations were that he'd deal in specifics. His weak powers of recollection did not go unnoticed by a couple of normally sympathetic Rethug Senators, Sessions and Graham. One Rethug, Senator Coburn, actually called for him to resign. After the hearing concluded, members of the audience treated Gone-zales to a few bars of "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)". He'll probably be hearing that more often. (photo: Bush: "Heckuva job, 'Berto")

Going, Going, Gone-zales

In his testimony this morning before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General "Berto" Gone-zales described his previous misleading testimony as "imprecise and overbroad." Yes, that and dishonest. He went on to claim that he has "no basis to believe that anyone involved in this process sought the removal of a U.S. attorney for an improper reason." Of course, this is a carefully weaseled statement that relies on the modifier "improper." As we've seen in the "anything goes" Bush Assministration, proper is anything that keeps them in power, including political smears, pressure, etc. The questioning by Senators Leahy, Schumer, and Whitehouse, all former prosecutors themselves, should be very interesting to watch.

"How Conveeeenient"

It looks like e-mails dealing with the U.S. attorney scandal that were improperly sent through private Rethuglican party accounts are conveniently missing. Congress has been seeking these e-mails to get a complete picture of the suspected politicization of the U.S. attorneys in targeting Democrats, blocking corruption investigations of Rethugs, and bogus "voter fraud" investigations meant to suppress Democratic votes. Turd Blossom Rove, his deputy Scott Jennings, and other political operators in the White House bypassed the official White House e-mail system when they wanted to hide their operations. They will claim the e-mails were "political" business, but when they use the Government as an blunt force instrument of one political party over another, that's not "political", that's criminal.

Connecting the Dots

An interesting story from the Carpetbagger Report involving a Federal appeals court's quick dismissal of charges against a Wisconsin employee accused of corruption by steering a contract to supporters of Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle. It seems that the Rethuglican U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic had the thinnest of evidence against the employee, but brought the charges nonetheless, conveniently weeks before last fall's elections. The same pattern seems to have occured in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, among other states, with Rethuglican U.S. Attorneys bringing specious charges against Democrats right before elections. See the relevance to the current U.S. Attorney scandals? It is and was all about getting bogus cases brought against Democrats prior to the 2008 elections.
Feel the love; smell the Rove.

Sampson and De Liars

We'll be watching today's testimony of former Justice Department official Kyle Sampson on the U.S. attorneys scandal. Preliminary word is that he'll deny that the firings had anything to do with stopping corruption investigations against Rethuglicans, or refusing to pursue phony investigations of Democrats. Yet Monica Goodling, the former DOJ liaison to the White House and a person likely to know the extent of Turd Blossom Rove's involvement, will take the 5th Amendment. Gonzo is changing his story more often that his socks. So they've got nothing to hide, but are fighting like hell to keep from testifying. Makes sense.

The Consequences of Broderism

With the WaPo editorial position being neocon and usually pro-Administration, it's nice to read the occasional op-ed piece by Harold Meyerson, or Eugene Robinson, or E.J. Dionne for relief. Dionne has a good take on the U.S. attorney scandal and the Bushies' attempt to derail it:

"The Washington conventional wisdom machine always defines "fairness" as a carefully calibrated point exactly between the positions of the two parties, no matter how outrageous one of the parties might be. By making ludicrous demands on Congress. . .Bush will encourage supposedly moderate voices to call for 'compromises' that are really administration victories."

Washington Press Corpse Dean David Broder, of course, subscribes to the "meet me in the middle" philosophy, which usually puts him just to the left of a Rethug precinct captain in Wyoming.

Smell The Smoke?

The item in today's WaPo on the maneuverings of the White House to get "Turd Blossom" Rove's operative in the U.S. Attorney job in Arkansas has some interesting points. It appears from White House e-mails that this was unusually long in preparing - - planning months before the dismissal of the previous attorney, Bud Cummins - - considering the rather small office (Arkansas). Do you wonder why Tim Griffin, Turd Blossom's guy for "opposition research" (digger up of dirt) out of the Rethuglican National Committee, would be assigned to Arkansas of all locations? Could it be because Hillary Clinton's running for President and the Rethugs want to have their guy in place in the months ahead to recycle their crap about Whitewater, Troopergate, etc.?

Some Relevant Facts

Presidunce Bush and his enablers like to suggest that testimony by White House aides is rare and an intrusion on executive privilege. Here are some statistics from the Congressional Research Service that put the lie to that claim: during the Clinton Administration, 31 top aides testified under oath to Congressional committees on 47 different occasions (including such top aides as Ickes, Podesta, Berger and Lindsey).

Leahy Sends Message

Sen. Pat Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is sending a strong message to the Bushies: I'm going to call you as witnesses, and I'm going to put you under oath. That's because in past appearances before the Committee regarding the firing of the 8 U.S. Attorneys, Attorney General "Gone"-zales gave, er, "incomplete" statements. This time, it looks like the White House - Department of Justice connection will be explored thru testimony of Karl "Turdblossom" Rove and Harriet Miers. Well, the Libby trial didn't result in the prosecution of Rove for perjury/obstruction, but maybe this will do the trick.
Also, check out this interview with fired U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins for background.

"People Have Hazy Memories"

Those were the words of Bush Press Suckertary Tony "Blows" Snow in today's White House press briefing when referring to White House participants in the fired U.S. attorneys scandal. Luckily, e-mails aren't so hazy. It appears through e-mails released to Congress, that "Al" Gonzales and "Turdblossom" Rove were discussing the firings as early as January 2005, undercutting Gonzales' claim of not being involved. The Rethugs are trying to spin this as "the President has the right to fire political appointees" hoping that the majority of the public will assume that's the issue. In reality, it's about using the power invested in U.S. attorneys to do political hatchet work on Democrats, to stop investigations of Rethug politicians, and to suppress Democratic voter turnout by "investigating voter fraud." Senator Shumer is on the trail, and it looks like good hunting ahead.

I'm Shocked, Shocked!

Headline in today's WaPo: "Firings Had Genesis In White House", referring of course to the now infamous firing of 8 U.S. Attorneys for what appear to be political motivations. Noooo, really? The White House? Just because the attorneys in question were pursuing major corruption investigations of Rethuglicans, or not moving quickly enough on investigations of Democrats before the 2006 elections? Not this White House!

Sneaky Pete's Dilemma, Part II

As noted in our March 6 posting, Sen. Pete "Sneaky Pete" Domenici has acknowledged calling a now fired Federal prosecutor (at home on a Saturday, no less) to "inquire" about the status of investigations of some Democratic politicians prior to the November 2006 elections. This is a violation of Senate ethics rules, and it appears that Sneaky Pete has lawyered up. As TPM notes, ironically he's retained the same defense counsel as jailed former Rethuglican Congressman Duke Cunningham. Good luck, Sneaky!