The Iceman..Errr...Waxman Cometh...

by S-Q @ 12:05 PM MDT


Raw Story

"I request that you provide any electronic messages sent or received by Karl Rove, J. Scott Jennings, or any other White House officials using accounts maintained by the RNC that relate to (1) the January 26, 2007, PowerPoint presentation at GSA, (2) the presentation of any similar political briefings at other federal agencies or to other federal employees, or (3) the use of federal agencies or resources to help Republican candidates," he wrote to RNC Chairman Mike Duncan.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today requested e-mails from the Republican National Committee related to the possible misuse of federal government employees and resources for political purposes.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) warned that there were "Serious questions...about the legality and propriety" of a presentation delivered by a top White House aide, J. Scott Jennings, to General Services Administration appointees on the 2008 Elections. Some GSA political appointees reportedly asked how they could use their agency to contribute to Republican political gains in the 2008 elections.

Vanilla Ice- Ice Ice Baby

Karl Rove: Creating a permanent Republican majority

by Geezer Power 6:23:00 PM PDT

~VIDEO~


The Rovian Era

KARL ROVE'S FINGERPRINTS ALL OVER PROSECUTOR SCANDAL

NY Times editorial
Published: April 1, 2007

Turn over a scandal in Washington these days and the chances are you’ll find Karl Rove. His tracks are everywhere: whether it’s helping to purge United States attorneys, coaching bureaucrats on how to spend taxpayers’ money to promote Republican candidates, hijacking the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives for partisan politics, or helping to organize a hit on the character of one of the first people to publicly reveal the twisting of intelligence reports on Iraq.

Whatever the immediate objective, Mr. Rove seems focused on one overarching goal: creating a permanent Republican majority, even if that means politicizing every aspect of the White House and subverting the governmental functions of the executive branch. This is not the Clinton administration’s permanent campaign. The Clinton people had difficulty distinguishing between the spin cycle of a campaign and the tone of governing. That seems quaint compared with the Bush administration’s far more menacing failure to distinguish the Republican Party from the government, or the state itself.

Where Is Karl Rove?

by S-Q @ 7:50 PM MDT



AP

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 48 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers prodded the White House Wednesday for a new answer on whether President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove, will testify about the firings of federal prosecutors.

"We have not heard from you," Patrick Leahy of Vermont and John Conyers of Michigan, the Senate and House Judiciary committees' chairmen, wrote to President Bush's counsel, Fred Fielding.

The White House has indicated no willingness to move beyond Bush's initial offer to let Rove, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and their deputies to speak to committee members, but only in private, without being sworn and off the record.

Those terms — particularly Fielding's insistence on there being no transcript — have been dismissed by lawmakers.

"We hope that you will reconsider your 'all or nothing' approach," Leahy and Conyers said.

Thanks To Bush, The GOP Committed Suicide!

by S-Q @12:20 PM MDT


Salon

A new study shows that unless the Democrats self-destruct, they could walk into the White House in '08 -- and might hold it for years.

By Gary Kamiya

March 27, 2007 | Democrats should give two cheers for George W. Bush. He and his political mastermind, Karl Rove, dreamed of achieving a permanent Republican majority. Instead, his disastrous presidency has dealt a devastating blow to the GOP, one from which it may not recover for many years.

That's the inescapable import of a major study of American voters' values and attitudes by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, released March 22. The study finds that voters have turned dramatically away from the GOP since Bush took office. Iraq, of course, is the single biggest reason for this. (A separate Pew poll, released on March 26, shows that 59 percent of Americans want their congressional representatives to support a bill calling for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by August 2008, with only 33 percent opposed.) But even more troubling for Republican strategists is the fact that underlying attitudes and beliefs are trending against them. The study's implication is that the GOP, especially in its current far-right incarnation, was facing serious structural, long-term problems anyway, and that Bush delivered the coup de grâce.

Rove...Proven Liar

by S-Q @ 7:45 AM MDT

Salon

President Bush's "offer" to let Congress interview Karl Rove about the U.S. attorney firings without an oath is a joke. As we learned in Plamegate, Rove cannot be trusted to tell the truth.
By Joe Conason

March 23, 2007 | Confronted with subpoenas from Congress demanding the sworn testimony of Karl Rove on the matter of the eight fired U.S. attorneys, those guileless guys in the Bush White House sound puzzled. Both press secretary Tony Snow and communications director Dan Bartlett say they cannot understand why the House and Senate Judiciary Committees won't accept the offer to interview Rove in private, behind closed doors, without putting him under oath or transcribing the proceedings.

If the Congress is honestly interested in the truth about those firings, as Snow exclaimed yesterday under questioning from reporters, why wouldn't the committees agree to that "extraordinarily generous" proposal from the White House? Why not just let ol' Karl sit down in a back room with a few senators and members of Congress and explain everything, without stenographers and reporters and videotapes and nosy rubbernecking citizens?

What Bush Is Hiding

by S-Q @ 2:00 PM MDT

Salon

In the U.S. attorney scandal, Alberto Gonzales gave orders, but he also took them -- from Karl Rove, who plotted to turn the federal criminal justice system into the Republican Holy Office of the Inquisition.

By Sidney Blumenthal

March 22, 2007 | Leave aside the unintentional irony of President Bush asserting executive privilege to shield his aides from testifying before the Congress in the summary firings of eight U.S. attorneys because the precedent would prevent him from receiving "good advice." Leave aside also his denunciation of the Congress for the impertinence of requesting such testimony as "partisan" and "demanding show trials," despite calls from Republicans for the dismissal of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Ignore as well Bush's adamant defense of Gonzales.

The man Bush has nicknamed "Fredo," the weak and betraying brother of the Corleone family, is, unlike Fredo, a blind loyalist, and will not be dispatched with a shot to the back of the head in a rowboat on the lake while reciting his Ave Maria. (Is Bush aware that Colin Powell refers to him as "Sonny," after the hothead oldest son?) But saving "Fredo" doesn't explain why Bush is willing to risk a constitutional crisis. Why is Bush going to the mattresses against the Congress? What doesn't he want known?

In the U.S. attorneys scandal, Gonzales was an active though second-level perpetrator. While he gave orders, he also took orders. Just as his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, has resigned as a fall guy, so Gonzales would be yet another fall guy if he were to resign. He was assigned responsibility for the purge of U.S. attorneys but did not conceive it. The plot to transform the U.S. attorneys and ipso facto the federal criminal justice system into the Republican Holy Office of the Inquisition had its origin in Karl Rove's fertile mind.

House Panel OKs Rove, Miers and other Top Aides Subpoenas

by S-Q @ 8:11 AM MDT


AP

House Panel Approves Subpoenas for Bush's Advisor Rove and Other Top Aides in Prosecutor Flap

WASHINGTON Mar 21, 2007 (AP)— A House panel on Wednesday approved subpoenas for President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove and other top White House aides, setting up a constitutional showdown over the firings of eight federal prosecutors.

By voice vote, but with some "no" votes heard, the House Judiciary subcommittee on commercial and administrative law decided to compel the president's top aides to testify publicly and under oath about their roles in the firings.

Note: Subpoenas for the following individuals would be covered by the authorization: D. Kyle Sampson, Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, William Kelley, and Scott Jennings.

New Evidence Puts White House At Center Of Attorney Scandal

By S-Q @ 7:20 AM MDT

© 2007 Stephen Pitt

WASHINGTON — The White House is being pulled further into the intensifying probe over federal prosecutor firings amid new questions about top political adviser Karl Rove's role and as GOP support for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales erodes.

President Bush's top legal aides were to tell congressional Democrats on Friday whether and under what conditions they would allow high-level White House officials, including Rove, to testify under oath in the inquiry.

Subpoenas could come as early as next week.

E-mails released this week, including a set issued Thursday night by the Justice Department, appear to contradict the administration's assertion that Bush's staff had only limited involvement in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, which Democrats have suggested were a politically motivated purge.

More

EXCLUSIVE: E-Mails Show Rove's Role in U.S. Attorney Firings

By S-Q @ 2:25 PM MDT

© 2007 Stephen Pitt

Unreleased E-Mails Contradict White House Assertions That the Firings Originated With Harriet Miers

March 15, 2007 — New unreleased e-mails from top administration officials show that the idea of firing all 93 U.S. attorneys was raised by White House adviser Karl Rove in early January 2005, indicating Rove was more involved in the plan than the White House previously acknowledged.

The e-mails also show that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales discussed the idea of firing the attorneys en masse while he was still White House counsel, weeks before he was confirmed as attorney general.

The e-mails directly contradict White House assertions that the notion originated with recently departed White House counsel Harriet Miers, and was her idea alone.

Two independent sources in a position to know have described the contents of the e-mail exchange, which could be released as early as Friday. They put Rove at the epicenter of the imbroglio and raise questions about Gonzales' explanations of the matter.

More

Leahy says he will subpoena Rove

By S-Q @ 10:19 pm MDT


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, said Wednesday that he will subpoena Karl Rove to appear before his panel regarding the Bush administration's firing of eight U.S. attorneys, if the White House deputy chief of staff does not do so voluntarily.

"He can appear voluntarily if he wants," Leahy said of Rove in an interview with CNN Anchor Wolf Blitzer. "If he doesn't, I will subpoena him."

Leahy added, "The attorney general said, 'Well, there are some staff people or lower level people -- I am not sure whether I want to allow them to testify or not.' I said, 'Frankly, Mr. attorney general, it's not your decision, it's mine and the committee's.' We will have some subpoenas."

More

Attorney Firings and Rove's Footprints (WaPO)

By Basheert @ 11:10 am MDT

Last night on Countdown, Keith Olbermann commented that Abu Gonzales has never stopped being ONLY Bush's lawyer in spite of his position as AG. He also commented that Abu's ONLY qualification for the office of Attorney General was that his initials matched his office.

It is now becoming obvious that this Administration, in spite of its promises to the American People that it would bring ethics back into the White House, is one of the nastiest and most corrupt batch of individuals to ever darken Washington D.C.

Indeed, Mr. Bush and his Swamp Snakes will undoubtedly go down in history as the WORST President ever. His antics, machinations, and total disregard for the law will condemn him to the trash bin of Presidents Past. He will be remembered as the head of "Idiots on Parade".

The only good thing this Administration has accomplished is the apparent demise of the current Republican Party (which bears absolutely no resemblance to the actual Republican Party). Having no perception of what his antics will do to the party, The Shrub goes merrily along, pretending everything is just peachy and people will put up with him because he's such a winner.

In reality, Mr. Bush is a joke, a tragic joke that has befallen our country. The latest WH actions on Abu Gonzales and the trail leading to the WH and Karl Rove's interference with Federal Attorneys is detailed in an article in today's Washington Post
here

Clinton says Bush must explain firing of US attorneys

By S-Q @ 10:38 am MDT


Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is calling on President Bush to explain the firings of US attorneys, days after the White House admitted that White House adviser Karl Rove acted as a conduit for complaints about federal prosecutors.

"With the White House now acknowledging a direct role in the Justice Department's U.S. Attorney firings, the president must affirmatively step forward to explain what he is doing to address the politicization of our prosecutorial system and what role he and his aides played in this controversy," Clinton said in a statement sent to RAW STORY.

President Bush "is the chief executive of the country and this matter goes to the heart of his ability to manage our federal law enforcement and U.S. Attorney system," Clinton added.

More

What a Tangled Web They Weave!

by Global Evildoer Fighter @ 1:00 pm EDT

When they practice to Deceive! (It's not easy being a waterboy for El Diablo!)

US Attorney Removal Halted Abramoff Investigation

I can't believe how inter-related all these Bush administration scandals are becoming. First we got Rove and Gonzales involved in it, and now good old Jack Abramoff rears his corruption-ridden head too.

C&L Exclusive

And..

Six Degrees Of Separation: Alberto Gonzales Involved in Plame Cover-Up

As Senators start to pile on our lamentable Attorney General for presiding over Karl Rove's politicization of the US Attorneys Office — an offense known as 'obstruction of justice' — I would like to direct your attention to a similar but somehow forgotten scandal.

C&L Exclusive

And..

Gonzales Accepts Resignation of Top Aide

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales abruptly canceled travel plans Tuesday amid growing calls for his ouster over the firings of eight federal prosecutors during a White House-directed housecleaning of U.S. attorneys.

Gonzales also accepted the resignation of his top aide, Kyle Sampson, who authorities said failed to brief other senior Justice Department officials of his discussions about the firings with then-White House counsel Harriet Miers. Miers resigned in January.

Huffpo

Democrats Seek Rove in Attorney Firings!

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats on Monday singled out presidential adviser Karl Rove for questioning about the firings of eight federal prosecutors and whether the dismissals were politically motivated.

Click for Story

Rove was asked to fire U.S. attorney

WASHINGTON - Presidential advisor Karl Rove and at least one other member of the White House political team were urged by the New Mexico Republican party chairman to fire the state's U.S. attorney because of dissatisfaction in part with his failure to indict Democrats in a voter fraud investigation in the battleground election state.

In an interview Saturday with McClatchy Newspapers, Allen Weh, the party chairman, said he complained in 2005 about then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to a White House liaison who worked for Rove and asked that he be removed. Weh said he followed up with Rove personally in late 2006 during a visit to the White House.

"Is anything ever going to happen to that guy?" Weh said he asked Rove at a White House holiday event that month.

"He's gone," Rove said, according to Weh.

"I probably said something close to 'Hallelujah,'" said Weh.

More

Times: What we learned from Libby trial about the secretive operation of Vice President Dick Cheney

Monday's New York Times contains an article which will tie together some of the revelations that resulted from testimony at the trial for former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Libby was charged with obstruction of justice and lying to investigators probing the alleged leaking of a CIA operative's name to journalists, and his defense rested its case last week, without calling his former boss, Cheney, to the stand, as had been widely speculated. Libby didn't testify in his own behalf, either.

Click

A Man of Mystery- Richard Hohlt is the heavy hitter you've never heard of

Feb. 26, 2007 issue - Robert Novak, as usual, had a scoop to unload—only this time, it was from the witness stand. Testifying last week in the trial of Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, the conservative columnist gruffly described how he first learned from two top Bush administration officials that Valerie Plame, wife of Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson, was a CIA officer. But then Novak injected a new name into the drama—one that virtually nobody in the courtroom knew.

Asked by one of Libby's lawyers if he had talked about Plame with anybody else before outing her in his column, Novak said he'd discussed her with a lobbyist named Richard Hohlt. Who, the lawyer pressed, is Hohlt? "He's a very good source of mine" whom I talk to "every day," Novak replied. Indeed, Hohlt is such a good source that after Novak finished his column naming Plame, he testified, he did something most journalists rarely do: he gave the lobbyist an advance copy of his column. What Novak didn't tell the jury is what the lobbyist then did with it: Hohlt confirmed to NEWSWEEK that he faxed the forthcoming column to their mutual friend Karl Rove (one of Novak's sources for the Plame leak), thereby giving the White House a heads up on the bombshell to come.

Click for more