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Attorney General Roberto Gonzales' argument that the US Attorneys fired last December were sacked over performance was dealt a death blow by James B. Comey, his second in command who was responsible for direct oversight of all US Attorneys from 2003 until August 2005.
In testimony Thursday before a House Judiciary Committee subcommittee, the Washington Post reports Comey as saying
"...that although he was the "direct supervisor" of all U.S attorneys, he was never informed about an effort by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and his aides to remove a large group of prosecutors that began in early 2005."
Further, Comey spoke of the fired attorneys in positive terms
"My experience with the U.S. attorneys just listed was very positive," Comey said, referring to six of the former prosecutors who testified in Congress in March. He added that the reasons given for their firings "have not been consistent with my experience" and that "I had very positive encounters with these folks."
Talking Points Memo blogger Paul Kiel reported live from the hearings in several instalments that Comey testified 1) he was cut out of the firing process, 2) the San Diego's Carol Lam was 'a fine US Attorney', and 3) that the two attorney he WAS involved in firing were NOT on Gonzales' list.
In the media --
Talking Points Memo:
- "Comey Was Cut out of Firing Process"
- "Comey: Lam Was a "Fine" U.S. Attorney"
- "Comey Details U.S. Attorney Firings"
Washington Post: "Former Supervisor Extols Fired Prosecutors"
-- Dan Damon
While Congress is in the middle of trying to get Bush's Monica -- Goodling, that is -- to the witness table, word comes that the Department of Justice is starting its own investigation of the former rising star. For basing hiring decisions on political affiliation.
That, of course, is a no-no. Even for the Bush White House.
But here's the wrinkle.
In order to grant Ms. Goodling immunity, Congress needs a signoff from the Department of Justice. That signoff is supposed to be predicated on certification of there NOT being any other investigation or case under way that the immunity might jeopardize.
So, is Bush's Monica in double trouble -- with both Congress and the DOJ -- or in no trouble at all? That is, will the DOJ investigation be used to trump the Congressional immunity?
It will be important to know if the DOJ just got on the scene AFTER Ms. Goodling came to Congress' attention.
If so, that would make it plausible to me to sense the Rovemeister behind the yellow curtain.
Paranoid? What! Me paranoid?
In the media --Washington Post: "Gonzales' ex-aide Goodling investigated for hiring based on politics"
New York Times: "Justice Dept. Announces Inquiry Into Its Hiring"
-- Dan Damon
"There are people in Washington ... who never intend to withdraw military forces from Iraq and they're looking for 10, 20, 50 years in the future ... the reason that we went into Iraq was to establish a permanent military base in the Gulf region, and I have never heard any of our leaders say that they would commit themselves to the Iraqi people that 10 years from now there will be no military bases of the United States in Iraq.
-- former President Jimmy Carter, Feb. 3, 2006
Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, Lew Seiler and Dan Hamburg say, "For all the talk about timetables and benchmarks, one might think that the United States will end the military occupation of Iraq within the lifetimes of the readers of this opinion editorial. Think again." Read more.
Seiler is president of Voice of the Environment. Former Congressman Hamburg is its executive director.
-- Dan Damon
(President George W. Bush, May 1, 2003)
As we celebrate the 4th anniversary of President Bush's 'Mission Accomplished' moment, the announcement of the deaths of more than 100 American troops in April made it the deadliest month so far in 2007 for U.S. forces in Iraq, underscoring the growing exposure of Americans in the President's 'surge'. Read more.
-- Dan Damon
Back in the pool after a break!
OF WHORES.
As if Gonzales weren't embarrassment enough to the Bush administration, AP brings us news ("Bush Official Linked to Call-Girl Probe") that Randall Tobias, acting administrator of the Agency for International Development, resigned abruptly 'for personal reasons' one day after he was interviewed by ABC News for a program on the so-called 'DC Madam' to be aired May 4. If you think it's ironic that his agency has a mission to reduce prostitution in the developing world, keep in mind that ABC's May 4 air date comes during 'sweeps' -- the period when audiences are measured to set the rates for lucrative advertising contracts. More viewers = higher ad rates. Who do you think is more whorish in this story?
AND WARS.
Retired Army Gen. William Odom is reported in the Houston Chronicle ("Retired general: Bush should sign Iraq bill") as saying Bush should sign the funding bill Congress has sent up to him.
"The challenge we face today is not how to win in Iraq; it is how to recover from a strategic mistake: invading Iraq in the first place," [Odom] said. "The president has let (the Iraq war) proceed on automatic pilot, making no corrections in the face of accumulating evidence that his strategy is failing and cannot be rescued. He lets the United States fly further and further into trouble, squandering its influence, money and blood, facilitating the gains of our enemies."
A State Department report due out this week ("Terror attacks up nearly 30%, report says") will show a growth in worldwide terror attacks to more than 14,000, almost all due to growing violence in Iraq and Afghanistan. And who do we have to thank for that? Word is that Condi had considered delaying the report but wiser heads prevailed.
If you missed Bill Moyers' 'Buying the War' broadcast last Sunday on PBS, it's now online. Streaming video is HERE and a full transcript is HERE. It details how the Administration sold the mainstream media a bill of goods. The only heroes are the McClatchy (Knight-Ridder) wire services reporters.
OF SPIES.
George Tenet, disgraced former CIA director is trying to get his revenge. His new book "At the Center of the Storm" takes aim at Cheney et al for the embarrassment he has suffered over being dubbed the 'slam dunk' boy. Specifically, as Jason Leopold and Matt Renner point out ("Tenet Book Blames White House for '16 Words'"), he is determined to pin the falsehoods in Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech on his tormenters. This part we have NOT heard before, so you will want to check it out. But Tenet's peers are not prepared to let him off the hook. Ray McGovern, former chair of National Intelligence Estimates (in charge of preparing the President's daily briefs) and 27-year veteran of the CIA blasts him in an article ( "Poor George Tenet; He Still Doesn't Get It") at Truthout. Along with five other former intelligence officers, he has also written an open letter to Tenet ("Letter to George Tenet") which will no doubt be turning up on OpEd pages across the country over the next few days. You saw it here first.
AND LIES.
News of the Army's misleading the Tillman family and the public has gradually seeped into the mainstream media, but with Rep. Waxman's request for documents from the White House and the Pentagon ("Panel Requests Tillman Documents"), we are sure to learn more that will embarrass the White House -- and Bush personally, since it appears he was made aware of the truth of the matter before his televised comments on Pat Tillman's death. The Tillman family has charged the Administration with a coverup of the affair.
DOGGIE DIAMONDS**
...VOTER DISENFRANCHISEMENT. Greg Palast, an American who reports for the BBC takes a swipe in the Los Angeles Times at the US media for losing the will to dig deeply for news. He cites two cases of stories he broke that were ignored by the mainstream media when they originally surfaced -- both involving voter disenfranchisement. One concerns Katherine Harris' purge of African-Americans from Florida voting rolls in 2000 by falsely felonizing tens of thousands. In the other, Tim Griffin (Rove's buddy, newly appointed US Attorney in Arkansas) gloated in an email that surfaced last month as part of the US Attorney firings (hence a 'doggie diamond') "no [U.S.] national press picked up" a BBC Television story reporting that the Rove team had developed an elaborate scheme to challenge the votes of thousands of African Americans in the 2004 election." Palast points out Griffin got a few things wrong...
... GONZALES AIDE TIED TO ABRAMOFF. What?! You didn't know that Robert E. Coughlin II, the DOJ's deputy chief of staff for the criminal division, resigned abruptly on April 6 -- days before Gonzales went up to the Capitol for his waterboarding session? And that he has been linked to the Abramoff corruption probe? He says he left voluntarily to relocate to Texas. When asked where in Texas, he declined to answer and referred reporters to Michael Horowitz, a friend and defense attorney. Horowitz also declined to comment or to confirm he was hired to represent Coughlin. McClatchy Newswire scores again ("Justice Department official resigns as Abramoff probe heats up").
**Doggie Diamonds: A friend who grew up in Pennsylvania's anthracite coal fields once told me that her family gathered 'doggie diamonds' -- dried dog droppings -- during the Great Depression of the 1930s. These were sold in bulk to agents of the Armstrong Cork Company, which used them in manufacturing linoleum. A case of little things, which might be thought to have no value whatsoever, contributing to larger things whose value is self-evident.
-- Dan Damon
Like Clinton before him, George W. Bush may find that his Monica just won't go away.
The Dems want to hear from Monica Goodling, and they will if they want to -- her pre-emptive refusal notwithstanding. Stories are in today's WashPost and NYTimes.
The pre-emptive refusal is just so ballsy!
TBM is old enough to recall the height of the McCarthy and HUAC terrors. No one ever refused to come before the Congress then, so who does she think she is.
Goodling needs to haul her ass in and sit down, under oath, on the record, and let the American people see just what sort of questions she feels answering which might incriminate her.
And if she is offered immunity, it could get real interesting.
Meanwhile, this little hotshot has fast-tracked her way from Pat Robertson's Regents University Law School to a White House apparatchick pretty fast, huh! As Rich Miles (of Logical Negativism) wrote me, this calls for a little looking into.
US Attorney Firings - NYT: "Democrats Seek to Interview Gonzales Aide"
..... - WP: "House Dems Seek to Question Gonzales Aide About Fired Prosecutors"
and the buzz on my original post: "The Monica in Bush's Future"
BuzzFlash: "Goodling Hunting"
Kassandra Williams (in the Texas Hill Country): "Interesting Information"
Marco Garcia (Chicago): "On Bush's Monica"
Sex & Politics & Screeds & Attitude: "A wonderful post that just tracks everything so read that."
-- Dan Damon
(Photo, PoliticsNJ)
Gov. Jon Corzine and a bevy of the Dem power structure endorsed Hillary Clinton's candidacy for President yesterday in Elizabeth, the seat of Union County.
While the mainstream media were busy ticking off this 'coup', more thoughtful observers saw a few blemishes that the airbrush missed.
Wally Edge, the anonymous pundit on the PoliticsNJ website, pointed out that Clinton raked in nowhere close to the haul that Jim McGreevey delivered to John Kerry in 2004 or that Christy Whitman gave George Bush in 2000.
In fact, counties representing about HALF the state's Dem vote did NOT line up behind Hillary. Some have already thrown their lot with Obama and some are 'in play'.
TBM is struck that while State Sen. Ray Lesniak endorsed her -- he IS from Elizabeth, for Pete's sake! -- there is no mention anywhere of Union County Dem boss Charlotte DeFilippo.
Now that is a truly BIG oversight.
Nor is Plainfield Assemblyman Jerry Green mentioned as supporting Hillary.
In fact, TBM ran into him last night and he told me he wasn't even in Elizabeth, as I had predicted elsewhere that he might be.
Guess I owe him a cuppa java.
Here are the details from the PoliticsNJ website --
Corzine endorsements:
Governor Jon Corzine
Congressman Rob Andrews
Congressman Frank Pallone Jr.
Former Governor Brendan Byrne
Former Governor Jim Florio
State Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts
State Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman
State Democratic Party Chairman and Assemblyman Joe Cryan
State Senator and Bayonne Mayor Joe Doria
State Senator Barbara Buono
State Senator Nia Gill
State Senator Ray Lesniak
State Assemblyman Tom Giblin
Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes
Elizabeth Mayor J. Christian Bollwage
Former Cherry Hill Mayor Susan Bass Levin
Atlantic County Democratic Chairman Ron Ruff
Burlington County Democratic Chairman Richard Perr
Hudson County Democratic Chairman Bernie Kenny
Hunterdon County Democratic Chairman David Del Vecchio
Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vic Scudiery
Warren County Chairman David DeGerolamo
Editor's Note: Later this evening, the Clinton campaign deleted Kenny in Hudson, but added five other County Chairs: Phil Thigpen in Essex, Elia Pelios in Somerset, Wyatt Earp in Ocean, Megan Ward in Sussex and Lewis Candura in Morris.
Links on Corzine's Clinton Endorsement
-- Dan Damon
