mitchellgreenspan.jpg

(Photo via the always amusing Attaturk at Rising Hegemon.)

Thank goodness Atrios watched Hardball so that I didn't have to yesterday.  And thank goodness C&L has the clip, so that it can be replayed for Ms. Mitchell at some future trial when her math skills are called into question by some criminal defense attorney.  (What's good for the Pumpkin…)

For those of us little people out here in America, from the CNN/Opinion Research poll, here are the actual numbers:

SHOULD NOT PARDON: 69%

SHOULD PARDON: 18%

NOT SURE:  13%

And in every sense of the numbers, except for those in Andrea Mitchell's head, 69% is a larger number than 18%, and, thus, more people — a LOT more people — OPPOSE a pardon for Scooter Libby than approve of it.  You'd think a woman who is married to the former head of the Fed would have access to people who could explain basic third grade math, wouldn't you? 

69 is greater than 18.

18 is less than 69. 

Unless, of course, her intent was not so much to understand this basic mathematics but, instead, to spin an impression which will not later be corrected to viewers who might not bother to look up the original numbers because her pals, the Cheneys, might want things spun that way.  Hmmmmm…

(Although, to be perfectly fair, it is entirely possible that Andrea Mitchell has no real familiarity with the number 69 at all whatsoever.  I'm just saying…)

And in actual news, guess who can expect a Congressional subpoena?

The House Judiciary Committee will call senior White House adviser Karl Rove to testify about his role in the firing of several U.S. attorneys, Chairman John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., said today. “On Friday, the Judiciary Committee issued a letter expanding the investigation into the firing of U.S. attorneys to include the White House. We had previously learned of Karl Rove’s involvement in the firings, and recent stories implicating him in the firing of [former U.S. attorney in New Mexico David C. Iglesias] raise even more alarm bells for us,” Conyers said. “As a result, we would want to ensure that Karl Rove was one of the White House staff that we interview in connection with our investigation.” Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to do the same. “The more we learn, the more it seems that people at high levels in the White House have been involved in the U.S. attorney purge,” Schumer said. The Justice Department made the unusual move of ousting seven U.S. attorneys in December. An eighth, H.E. “Bud” Cummins III of Arkansas, was dismissed in June to make way for a Rove protege.

Perhaps more than one subpoena.  We live in interesting times.  (H/T to Interested Plaintiff for the link.)

UPDATE:  Corrected above — it was CNN/Opinion Research, not Gallup, poll.  My mistake.  Thanks much to a reader for noting that.  I keep forgetting that they severed ties on their polling — it was such a long relationship.  My apologies.

UPDATE #2:  The WaPo has more on the potential for Rove testimony on the USA firings, as well as a potential WH connection via Harriett Miers among a whole lot of other tap dancing on the issue.  The NYTimes also has more, begining its piece with the fact that the WH was "deeply involved" in the firings.  As always, though, TPM is the place to go for history and context. 

UPDATE #3: Kudos to Sen. Pat Leahy, btw — good on him!