Karl Rove is not just playing politics. He's a despicable man who sets out to destroy people's lives, not just their political careers. I don't see how the media treats him as if he's just normal political player who plays hardball. This isn't hardball, this is criminal. Check out what he did to a former Democratic governor of Alabama:




Remember, this isn't us saying it; it's a former Republican operative in Alabama who outed Rove here. Thank God there are still some Republicans in the country with a conscience. You can read about the 60 Minutes story here or just watch it on Sunday. But here is a quote from the piece that give you a sense of the injustice that Don Siegelman has suffered at the hands of these hatchet-men:

Siegelman was convicted of bribery in a case that has drawn criticism from Democrats and Republicans. In fact, 52 former states' attorneys general from both political parties petitioned Congress to investigate Siegelman's case, resulting in hearings held last fall.

"I haven't seen a case with this many red flags on it that pointed towards a real injustice being done," Grant Woods, the former Republican attorney general of Arizona and one of those who petitioned Congress, tells Pelley. "I personally believe that what happened here is that they targeted Don Siegelman because they could not beat him fair and square."

This is what the US Attorney scandal is really about. They politicized US attorneys in order to pursue political goals inside the Justice Department. And it had real results, like convicting innocent men and sending them to jail. That's what is actually criminal. If we had a real Justice Department, they would be looking into charges against Karl Rove instead. But no matter what, one thing is clear, it's way past time to free Don Siegelman.

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Michale Isikoff of Newsweek was on The Young Turks on Friday. He explained that Congress could order the Sergeant at Arms to arrest Harriet Miers for contempt of Congress. They don't need the executive branch to do this. It's in the constitution.

Here's the transcript:

Michael Isikoff: There is, very quickly, another option. There's something called inherent contempt where they can enforce contempt themselves. They can have the Sergeant at Arms arrest Harriet Miers in the state of Texas and bring her to Washington for trial before the House, and incarcerate her. That's an option that hasn't been used for years. But it is a Constitutional option.

You can watch the whole interview here.

By the way, they could also do this Karl Rove who will also be in contempt of Congress when he tries to use executive privilege to avoid testifying about the US Attorneys scandal.

How bad ass would it be if the Sergeant at Arms showed up to the White House, handcuffed Karl Rove and led him out the front door? Contempt of Congress, it is a bitch.

Of course, the Democrats would never have the balls to use this option. Oh well, that's the world we live in.

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Jeff Hoard has warned that "nobody should be taking anything I say too seriously," and his post about Monica Goodling's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee lives us to that billing. As Byron York of National Review explains, Goodling's testimony was a huge let down for those who have tried to leverage the firing of eight or nine U.S. attorneys into a scandal that will bring down Alberto Gonzales and Karl Rove. When Goodling, a Justice Department aide and liaison to the White House, pleaded the Fifth Amendment rather than testify, the Dems thought they had finally found their magic bullet. They thus granted Goodling immunity and waited breathlessly for fireworks.

At most, they got a few sparklers. To be sure, there is now a conflict between the testimony of Goodling and Paul McNulty, the Deputy Attorney General. But Goodling has left the Department and McNulty is leaving, so the Dems will be unable to claim any new scalps. There was testimony about a meeting in March where Gonzales stated his general recollection about the process that led to the discharge of the U.S. attorneys. This made a Goodling "a little uncomfortable," but she was clear that Gonzales was not trying to influence her testimony. And Goodling admitted to "crossing the line" herself in processing some applications for career jobs at DOJ based on political considerations. However, there was nothing in her testimony to suggest that improper motives entered into the decisions to dismiss the U.S. attorneys and nothing new about White House involvement.

In her testimony today before The House Judiciary Committee, Monica Goodling admitted she "crossed the line" of the law. That was just one of the interesting highlights I found, here are a couple quick snips below for your viewing pleasure.

For those hardcore CSPAN fans out there here is a collection of clips from the testimony available on youtube.

Former Deputy Attorney General, James Comey gave some damning testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee today. He explained how the White House sent Alberto Gonzales and Andy Card to the hospital to intimidate John Ashcroft into going along with a program that the Justice Department thought was illegal.

Here's how Comey described the situation in the hospital that night:

"I was very upset. I was angry. I thought I had just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man, who did not have the powers of the attorney general because they had been transferred to me."

The New York Times has the dramatic details of that night as recounted by Jim Comey. The story is complete with security details being set on alert that they might be confronted by other executive branch officials. This goes to show how little regard the Bush White House had for the law. They were told their warrantless wiretapping program was not legal and they refused to accept that determination to the point of risking an inter-executive branch standoff.

Jim Comey then contemplated whether he should resign if the Bush administration insisted on breaking the law. He told the Senate, "I couldn't stay, if the administration was going to engage in conduct that the Department of Justice had said had no legal basis."

Poor Cenk Uygur! Every time you turn around, he is hyperventilating over some alleged "scandal" in the Bush administration that he is convinced will finally bring down the hated President Bush. This time, it's the news that the Office of Special Counsel is beginning an investigation that grows out of the dismissal of several U.S. Attorneys:

The new investigation, which will examine the firing of at least one U.S. attorney, missing White House e-mails, and White House efforts to keep presidential appointees attuned to Republican political priorities, could create a substantial new problem for the Bush White House.

Cenk is convinced that this is the long-awaited "big one." I'm afraid, though, that he is destined to be disappointed once more. Despite the Democrats' best efforts, there is no evidence whatever that there was anything improper about the administration's decision to replace eight U.S. Attorneys, who serve at the pleasure of the President. The missing emails are from the Republican National Committee, if they really are missing--it's been reported that Patrick Fitzgerald obtained them all in connection with the Valerie Plame investigation, so whether there is actually anything missing remains to be seen. And the suggestion that there is something wrong with "keep[ing] presidential appointees attuned to Republican political priorities" is simply incorrect. Following the administration's policy directives, which in a democracy generally are, and should be, based in part on political considerations, is part of the job description of any political appointee, such as a U.S. Attorney.

The fact is that the Bush administration has been the most scandal-free of any administration in memory. To my recollection, Scooter Libby is the only significant member of the administration who has been indicted. Sadly for the Democrats, opposing their policy preferences is not a crime; nor is defeating them in elections. Not yet, at any rate.

The Office of Special Counsel has started an investigation into Karl Rove and political operations inside the White House. Good night and good luck. Once you open us this can of worms, there's no looking back.

As you can see in this Los Angeles Times article about the investigation, there's no question that the White House used federal agencies as their own personal political piggy bank. The question is what crossed the line from regular course of business to illegal or unethical activities. The LA Times explains the focus of the inquiry:

"The new investigation, which will examine the firing of at least one U.S. attorney, missing White House e-mails, and White House efforts to keep presidential appointees attuned to Republican political priorities, could create a substantial new problem for the Bush White House."

Remember the old commercials where a kid would be at a friend's house and it would turn out his friend's mom is cooking Stove Top. And he'd exclaim, "Stove Top, I'm staying!"

President Bush, when talking about pre-war intelligence, once bewilderingly said, "We've kind of been stove-piped, is a way to describe it." In this case, we've been stove-topped! Gonzo is staying.

This is unbelievable. Both Republicans and Democrats went after Gonzales during the Senate hearings last week. And he did not fare well under the pressure. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) of all people grilled Gonzales. Tom Coburn (R-OK) asked him to step down. Sam Bronwback (R-KS) questioned the reasons behind the firings and didn't seem to like the answers he got. This man has no support. None.

Today, we had David Keene, Chairman of the Conservative Union on our show -- and he not only said the Attorney General should resign, he said Gonzales wasn't intellectually qualified for the job. That's harsh. So, why in the world is President Bush keeping his embattled Attorney General when there is tremendous pressure from both parties to get rid of him?

Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) of all people corners Alberto Gonzales by asking him the most reasonable questions. See above why his answers were awful.

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This is the Boston Globe article we refer to in the video above. Dahlia Lithwick, the legal correspondent for Slate is also concerned.

Some in the blogosphere are calling these under-qualified Bushie hacks "sleeper cells." Ready to do the bidding of the extreme right when there is a Democratic president. There is concern that these Pat Robertson trained robots are more interested in their own agenda than the work of the Justice Department. The Christian Taliban has infiltrated the Justice Department. God knows how much damage they can do.

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Below are the finalists in our "Explain the Gonzales imbroglio in no more than 25 words" contest. (The name of the contest is pretty self-explanatory.) The winner will get a Tonight Show watch which I will put in a box and send to you.

It was hard to narrow down to 5 entries, so after consulting with my secretary Peggy, we've decided to go with 6 finalists. (The author's name or initials are in parentheses after each entry.) Vote below.

UPDATE: POLL CLOSED! WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

IT WAS A NAIL-BITER UNTIL LAST NIGHT. THEN JOE PULLED IT OUT. HIS TRADITIONALIST APPROACH (SOLID, STRAIGHTFORWARD, THOROUGH) BEAT LEFTY'S SAUCY NC-17 TAKE. THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO PLAYED. WE'LL DO IT AGAIN SOON.

SO, JOE, EMAIL AT MOROCCABLOG@AOL.COM WITH YOUR MAILING ADDRESS. THE PACKAGE WILL GO OUT STAT.

So which sums up the Gonzales controversy best:


1. Help! Fired 7 of 8 US Attorneys as instructed. Thought you said their political alignment with Democrats provided justifiable cause. What now, W? A.G. (LLL)

2. Patriot Act allowed Justice to appoint indefinite replacements. Eight fired seemingly because of failure investigating Dems. White House emails disclosed knowledge after initital, public denial. (Joe)

3. In bizarre love triangle, AG drives non-stop from Texas to DC to fire attorneys not pleasing rival Rove. President pleasured by the service both provide. (Elle Kasey)

4. eight lawyers "resigned"
Rove's puppets have replaced them
checks and balances? (Haiku by Jennifer)

5. Alberto was hauled thru the straw ceiling by W...
Found himself in a rat's nest
Here come the exterminators.
See how they run. (BJP)

6. Gonzales likey to fire judges... Perhaps he should fire himself...
He says he "serves at the pleasure of the president..." He should pleasure somebody else... (Lefty)

I know the dancing is hideous and the rapping is even worse, but normally I would be in favor of this kind of hijinks. Look, it's people who are normally stiff and deadly serious trying to unwind and have a good time for a change. In concept, I am totally for it.

The problem is that these guys have done so much damage to the world and to our country that it seems unseemly for them to dance around like a bunch of clowns without a conscience. How ghoulish dove Rove look here? He looks like a character out of a horror movie. And he's not the guy running away from the madman, he's the guy that walks into the room wearing someone else's peeled off face. This is the dance he does when he has you captured in his dungeon. It gives you a queasy feeling in your stomach just looking at it. Like something hideous is about to happen. Like this:





But that's just my opinion. What do you think? Should he be on the next Dancing with the Stars? Or is it weird to see this man so footloose and fancy free after he outed one of our covert agents, fired a bunch of principles prosecutors for political reasons, insinuated that John McCain's adopted baby was his illegitimate black child and helped to start a hideous war where hundreds of thousands have died? Is it just me or are we already in the horror movie?

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