Funny spring. Usually as the weather warms up rain and the occasional hail will drop from the sky. This year we get shoes.
The Bush administration has withheld a series of e-mails from Congress showing that senior White House and Justice Department officials worked together to conceal the role of Karl Rove in installing Timothy Griffin, a protégé of Rove’s, as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
The withheld records show that D. Kyle Sampson, who was then-chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, consulted with White House officials in drafting two letters to Congress that appear to have misrepresented the circumstances of Griffin’s appointment as U.S. attorney and of Rove’s role in supporting Griffin.
[…] Several of the e-mails that the Bush administration is withholding from Congress, as well as papers from the White House counsel’s office describing other withheld documents, were made available to National Journal by a senior executive branch official, who said that the administration has inappropriately kept many of them from Congress.
Damn, that will leave a mark.
***Update***
The story has so many gems that it is almost impossible not to quote it in full. Waas catches the White House flat-footed:
White House spokesman Tony Fratto denied that the White House was withholding records in the Justice Department’s possession, and he said that Gonzales could make many of them public at any time. “The White House is neither guiding nor directing the Justice Department’s decisions on privileged documents,” Fratto said. “They make those decisions on their own.”
It would have been subtler if the White House tacked a target on Gonzo’s back and cried, Duck season! Although I suppose that the alternative, admitting their own role in obstructing justice, would bridge that shrinking gap between public scandal and indictable behavior. The perps don’t have any good options right now.
***Update 2***
John begged me to keep the title, but in the end I decided to go with something a bit less hair-raising.
***Update 3***
Good analysis by Paul Kiel at TPM.
28 Percent
When Klinton lied you democRATS said that it did not matter because what he lied about was not a crime but now when that SHOE is on the other foot it is all about the lying with you isn’t it? At least there is nothing immoral about the way people serve the pleasure of the President in W’s White House!
ha ha ha
Zombie Santa Claus
Damn, 28 Percent beat me to it. I was going to say that this was nothing compared to a scandal like Socksgate.
chopper
ah, 28%, you truly are the living end.
Zombie Santa Claus
This scandal isn’t Clinton’s fault, but it is Al Gore’s. If he hadn’t invented the Internet, Rove couldn’t have been caught by emails he’d sent on it.
Ho ho ho, bitches!
sean
what was the original title?
Dulcie
He’s still not as good a BIRDZILLA
Tim F.
Something about Karl Rove’s fat ass. I decided that I didn’t want to insult the big & tall community by including Rove in their number.
sean
so you just changed ‘orifice’ to ‘office’?
mrmobi
How very sensitive of you, Tim. Now, please, please tell us what the first title was, please!
Tom Hilton
I thought this was a very juicy tidbit:
Remember when this administration had absolute message control? Remember the stories about how nobody was leaking? That paragraph would have been inconceivable not too long ago.
Between this and the public finger-pointing among McNulty, Sampson, Goodling, and Gonzales, we’re witnessing the total collapse of the administration. And not a moment too soon.
mrmobi
You know, for a tard, 28Percent is actually very creative, witness “Klinton,” “democRATS,” and, of course, the masterful use of CAPITAL LETTERS.
Don’t feel bad though, 28. My sister’s a tard, now she’s a pilot.
I agree, though, her stuff doesn’t have the simplicity of the master, BIRDZILLA.
kchiker
So who is the leaker here? Someone high up in the administration that suddenly sympathizes with Congress’s oversight responsibilities?
BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAA.
kchiker
Or maybe Tony Snow is just practicing his poker face(s).
Jimmmm
What was the original title ennyhow?
Fledermaus
It’s a Fitzmas miracle!
demimondian
It had to do with finding something *under* Rove’s fat ass, evoking images of drilling into his ass…not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Jake
So, was the original title “Drilling down to find what’s up Karl’s arse?”
Let’s see. You got yer senior officials handing over sensitive, damaging information, and then there’s yer adverse story breaking before Friday, 5 pm… This is getting too good for popcorn. Perhaps a nice breast of [lame] duck. Or a big fat rump roast.
And is it me or is Oprison a delightfully appropriate last name?
p.lukasiak
my guess….Fred Fielding. While he’s not a “loyal Bushie”, and sees his job as first and foremost protecting the President. If that means throwing Rove and Gonzales under the bus, so be it — Fielding was there for Watergate (as John Dean’s assistant White House Counsel) and Iran-Contra (as White House Counsel). He knows all about “cancers on the Presidency,” and how much damage these kinds of scandals can do.
And Fielding reads the polls — when Iran-Contra and Watergate broke, Reagan and Nixon had relatively high approval ratings. Given the contempt with which every American with more than half a brain holds Bush, Fielding knows that the longer this scandal festers, the worse it will be for Bush. So he’s taken pre-emptive action.
tBone
Not according to Jeff Gannon, anyway.
Sorry. Somebody had to go there.
Zifnab
Was it something along the lines of “Karl Rove Suffers Massive Leakage in the Rear”? Any time you can work anal leakage into a board title, I think you’ve got a winner.
chopper
no, no they didn’t. no.
tBone
I think putting “Rove” in the headline is sufficient to get that idea across, though. No reason to gild the lily.
gus
I still say Abu G is there until the end. They’re going to try to brazen this one out.
Jake
Or the Turdblossom.
Tim F.
The title ended: “…new reserves found under Karl Rove’s fat ass.”
Now go wash your dirty minds out with soap.
demimondian
Hmm. Tim, welcome to the-place-that-we-can’t-refer-to-as-BJ (unless we’re prepared to hear jokes that even Beavis and Butthead would reject as below them). Now, Tim, you know I still owe you a sixpack of beer — but did you really expect anything else?
ernie marraccini
This issue centers on those USA’s who were not doing enough of what the administration wanted. Just imagine what those USA’s, like Pittsburgh’s Buchanan, had to do to get the kudos and rewards this administation granted to their ‘best performing’few USA’s. IMHO a far more serious scandal is the behavior of those rewarded and accoladed by this administration as its Justice Dept pursues the religious agenda of John Ashcroft. If only because when you are doing God’s work then procedure does not matter.
The Other Steve
And to think, they waited until Mark Felt admitted he was Deep Throat before giving Fred Fielding the job. ;-)
Dreggas
GAH and here I was stuck in training/new hire orientation today (it was actually a good thing and made me even happier about working where I do) I missed all of this and feel somehow cheated…
Julie Morrison
Come on now….who is up for the bet? Do you think Karl Rove and Jeff Gannon were “doing it”??
When is this scandal gonna break?
Rome Again
I’m in the same boat. New job, lots of work, nose in paperwork all day and look at all I’m missing.
But, I sure I’m not missed!
Krista
The dirty minds and the utterly warped thinking are what make this place fun!
Rome Again
Very true. I hate when I can’t have my entertainment.
kchiker
Mmmmmmmm…caffeinated soap.
Jake
Dreggas
oh you’re missed.