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It's getting deep at the White House. Tony Snow, during today's daily briefing just said that the President has no recollection of ever being asked about the US attorney firings.
And that the White House has made a "generous offer" of having WH staffers and DoJ folks have a discussion or an interview with Congress without being under oath and without having a transcript. Because, as everyone knows, the folks at the White House are oh so trustworthy.
The briefing is still ongoing. Snow is whirling the spin out like a dervish. And it is getting awfully deep. Use this thread to document the rest of the briefing atrocities.
(And H/T to Nola Sue for this Tony Snow gem -- karma really is a bitch, and she apparently subscribes to Lexis/Nexis. Well, actually Glenn appears to have the Lexis/Nexis [H/T woid].)
UPDATE: More from today's Snow Job briefing.
Q. Did Karl Rove have an e-mail through the RNC?
A. Oh, yeah. Next question.
Is it me or do there need to be a whole helluva lot more questions asked about this, including how many of these does Rove have? Has he turned over e-mails from there to Congress as well? And why in the hell are my taxes paying his salary if he's working for the RNC?
UPDATE #2: The word you are looking for to describe Snow's performance today: unctuous.
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Woohoo!
Fitz!
And he is having his own words thrown back at him.
Oh, and he nearly puked when someone brought up his attacking executive privilege in 1998 — when a DEMOCRAT was in the White House.
madness! madness! madness!
give truth back! - under oath, in a public hearing and with a transcript.
thank you.
Perfect picture, Christy
Snow mentions left wing blogs ;-)
Snow is going to end this press conference soon - he is getting his ass handed to him about 5 seconds…
He just made a crack about the “left wing blogs”
According to Atrios, the reporter quoting Snow’s own editorial from the Clinton years is of course FRENCH!
reporter makes a funny:
“extraordinarily generous offer”, or E.G.O.
The press corps smells the desperation.
SNOW’s gonna melt!
Fun picture, did somebody pose for this?
Man, it’s early here but he’s making me need a belt or two. Fuck, this guy is an ASSHOLE.
Victoria asks, “does Karl Rove have a private email account at the RNC”…
no answer
Does Karl Rove have a private e-mail at the RNC???
Snow - Uhhhhhh…I’ll find out..
SNAP!! - He just had to admit that Turd-Blossom used a private, RNC email address
Didn’t people used to get impeached for snow jobs?
Guitar_Playing_Bastard @ 14
Maddening isnt he?
Remember, the Administrations offer is “reasonable” and “non-partisan” as well as being “generous”! And the number of documents released is unprecendented!
How dare we pick on such a faithful public servant for such proper actions? We must be mean or something!
/snark
I just wanted to post this quote from Bush-league’s press conference yesterday:
So, what about those missing 18 days? And what is it about the number 18 and corrupt Republicans, anyway?
ooh Victoria asks if Rover has a private email address at the RNC…
I missed his answer, though.
He just threw DOJ under the bus.
“Tony Snow, during today’s daily briefing just said that the President has no recollection of ever being asked about the US attorney firings.”
Isn’t that special….
Now say that again Mr Snow and President under oath and in public…..
someone’s been reading Josh Marshall! reporter asks “how come there isn’t any discussion about what poor performers the fired are?”
If it’s turning our stomachs, it’s also not persuading the rest of the country, including a chunk of his base. I get the feeling that most Americans have a better grasp of our basic sense of justice, what’s fair, and what’s fishy, than BushCo does.
The bubble has a downside.
Those left wing blogs need to be mocked especially since they’re doing the media’s job. Bad, bad blogs. Why don’t you like wienies and koolaid like the rest of these folks?
MSNBC seems unaware that the subpoenas are already on their way.
I sure hope the Dems don’t fold on this. There is something really rotten in the state of - uh - Denmark that they are dancing so hard to keep control of this.
The press are actually asking some good question.
Ed Henry (who knew!) asked why there is no smoking gun on the performance related issues.
I’m reminded of the line from “Apocalypse Now,” where Willard in the VO says “Man, the bullshit piled up so fast in ‘Nam, you needed wings to stay above it.”
That’s the description of Tony Snow, in a nutshell.
OldCoastie and LS, I thought he mumbled yes
Wil @ 30
it’s possible - I didn’t hear an answer, just on to the next question.
What was that about something going on in Pakistan?
I asked this at balkinization, but maybe this is a better place: if the president wasn’t asked or informed of the process, how can he exert executive privilege? Does this extend to advice he was never given?
Also, I don’t see how the date/time that POTUS was informed of the decision could be privileged, since we all know the content.
Leahy up on MSNBC…
Leahy on msnbc
In response to the question about the missing 18 days of e-mails, Tony replied “Ask the DOJ”
Well, let me be the first to think it out loud:
“There is a cancer on the Presidency.”
LS @ 27
That’s because they aren’t. The committee voted to “authorize” subpoenas. That does not mean they go in the mail with the afternoon post. It is now the committee chairman’s discretion to actually ISSUE those subpoenas. Right now, he simply has that option in his back pocket as negotiating leverage with the White House. If negotiations collapse, then they will be issued, but not likely before.
So far all the information that Snow is referring to consists of:
Testimony of an idiot and a liar Alberto Gonzales
Lies from liars not under oath
Emails missing 18 crucial days and no internal White House communications
Looks pretty complete to me, especially if I were running a coverup and wanted to stonewall like crazy.
Arca @ 36
so, I think someone should go ask the DOJ! let’s see what that holds…
Question for Republicans:
Is Obstruction of Justice a Crime?
Question for Republican Members of Congress:
Is Obstruction of Justice by the DoJ a Crime?
Question for Republican Senators:
Does White House orchestration of DoJ Obstruction of Justice constitute High Crimes and Misdemeanors?
I know that none of this is as bad as a hummer in the Oval Office, but when 20 GOoPer Senators answer “yes” to the last question, it’s game over.
Here Fini:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....01948.html
18 minutes
18 days
In Hebrew, the number 18 spells the word “chai” (”life”) and many people wear the two letter as jewelry.
Maybe we should all wear “chai” symbols…….
What’s the link to the live conference?
Thanks, sorry if I missed it.
LS @ 22
You know, it must be darn crowded under that bus by now, what with Colin Powell and Libby and assorted USAs and all.
Thanks for the live blogging. I can’t stand to watch people lie, so I cannot look at it for myself. I just saw the Bob Barr interview on CNN (via Think Progress) I thought he was making sense until he said that he would tell Junior that Daddy didn’t politicize Justice when he had the chance. Great. That means Junior will do the opposite of Daddy, no matter what.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @
19
Uhh…I don’t think that covers it. More like worthless piece of sub-human filth.
But that’s just my opinion.
TomJ @ 33
Good point.
Another thing that’s been bugging me, OK, he didn’t know about the resigations, but didn’t he wonder why he was getting recommondations for new USA’s? Did he just think that they were new posiions>
Damn, he just got asked this question
On MSNBC, Leahy is not buying the “generous” White House offer.
angie @ 42
TYVM Angie, I’ve been behind the times for a few days.
Question: What do Tony Snow, George Bush, and Billy Packer have in common?
Answer: All are sufficient reasons for the invention of the Mute button.
Snippits:
Leahy: Why are they so desperate not to have people under oath, etc.,
Nora: Your’re going to get the truth from Karl Rove.
Leahy: Oh really, oh really…
Leahy: It’s not just Democrats asking the questions.
Leahy: Stuff on important pages has been erased..
TomJ @ 33
But they serve at the President’s pleasure.
Who said it?:
“Most of us want no part of a president who is cynical enough to use the majesty of his office to evade the one thing he is sworn to uphold the rule of law.”
Guitar_Playing_Bastard @ 14
Whenever I see this ass, I’m always reminded of this scene from “Clerks”
(warning: adult humor!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BeB0cDr3R0
Just call him “snowball” from now on. It makes watching at least tolerable…at least for me…
how much you wanna bet that Snow goes back up to the WH and says, “we’re screwed!”
man! did he ever get roasted!
Tony Snow will argue that he didn’t say Yeah to the query about Rove’s email account at RNC and he’ll point to a transcript (over which he exercises redactive powers) to prove his point.
See why the Dems want a transcript, Tony? PS They won’t be able to edit it either.
Goodness, GPB, you seem more upset than usual today.
OldCoastie @ 57
The best briefing I’ve ever seen. He got PUNKED
Blogs blogs blogs
shining lights
where none have been
we can’t be spun
and when we’re done they
know the’re f@@ked
and a duck is still a duck
Hugh @ 26
Give them a break on this one, Hugh.
As this article from the neo-nut paper NY Sun says, this would have been impossible for the MSM. That’s why these document dumps happen, so they can say them been forthcoming and transparent when they haven’t been.
barbara @ 45
and when you consider the wheels are coming off the bus…
linda sanchez on cspan 3 Yippie
Right now, Bush is thinking this is a perfect moment to launch an attack on Iran, to distract everyone and get the base behind him again. Somewhere in the planning councils of the Pentagon, they are reviewing the attack scenario this very moment.
Does anyone tape Snow’s press conferences?
Don’t pressure him tooooo much - he’s liable to start forgetting things later :)
Interesting point from Leahy — if the interview is open you will see questions not just from Democrats but also Republicans. Implies that’s not the case when it’s closed, doesn’t it?
Boy, that press conference just zipped by, didn’t it?
;>)
TomJ @ 33
But this is a lie on its face, anyway. The president HAS to be consulted in USA firings. He is the ONLY person authorized to do it. Not the Attorney General. The AG may have delivered the message, but the decision-making authority to fire USA rests SOLELY with the President, though the AG can fire Deputy USAs and lower officers. Bush can’t get out of this one: Either his AG fired the USAs on his own authority (which makes them illegal, since it is authority he does not have) or the President consented to it. Thus, the WH simply HAS to be involved here in this decision. There is no getting around it, unless they want to argue that they have a rogue AG.
From the same article:
This is a good point. Reporters are like the blind men and the elephant. Commenters are like ants on carcass, cooperating to pick it clean.
I knew Fabiani slightly in high school. Debated for Redlands High School.
MSNBC - Nora: Animal activists want to kill a cute baby cub. WTF?
OldCoastie @ 40
Snow has numerous dodges:
Farm out to somebody else that will never get back to you
Answer a question with a question
Mischaracterize the question being asked
Attack the questioner
Say that someone who has a dismetrically opposed opinion actually agrees with the White House and Bush
Claim that something that is in contention is fact
This is my list. Froomkin had his own out a few weeks ago.
TomJ @ 33
wow. great question… i’m hoping that christy or lhp will be willing to tell us all about executive priviledge - including your question.
mc @ 37
Actually it is full system Metastatic Disease Process which requires a wide radical resection called Impeachment at all levels.
Official house statement, short and sweet. I think I’m falling in love with Linda Sanchez, and I don’t even like girls.
http://judiciary.house.gov/newscenter.aspx?A=789
They are replaying the committee meeting authorizing the use of subpoenas on C-span3 at this time - about 2 minutes is…
Gnome de Plume @
59
Surely you jest.
ATTAAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and FOX is talking about Anna Nicole….
LS @ 72
KO mentioned this last night. Bright shiny stupid object - Some Brit doesn’t want orphan Polar Bear cub saved because it can never then be returned to the wild.
Hey, who snapped my photo when I wasn’t looking?
dreamcatcher @ 65
Please, Mme Speaker and Senator Reid, catch this brat when he tries to kick the cat to make a distraction… I want to hear, “And no you don’t young man.”
Arca @ 77
Anna Nicole…Anna Nicole, where have I heard that name before? Oh yeah, didn’t her son die? Or something…
Re Christy’s question about the RNC email addresses–go read Shakespeare’s Sister today–good piece up about how W, Rice, Gonzales, Rummy, et al, have all said they “don’t use e-mail.” I think it adds another puzzle piece to this mess.
LS @ 72
It’s version 2.0 of dead/missing blonds.
To make this official….. this scandal needs a name….. a name that it used in the press over and over again….
It needs to be short, sharp, memorable and repeatable.
The repugs named everything they went after Clinton…. What is the name of this one???
Shorter Tony Snow: “I’m melting, melting, melting. Oh, what a world, what a world.”
@ 79..a German
darkblack @68 - another fine pic ;-)
mc @ 37
This presidency IS a cancer.
Jeremius @ 70
I think they weren’t expecting any pushback, that they would just slide by as ‘resignations’ and the subject wouldn’t come up. Although the resignation letter is addressed to the President. I doubt that anyone expects him to read every piece of mail addressed to The President though.
Waccamaw @ 84
In this case a platinum blonde.
Arca @
78
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain…LOOK - SHINY! FIRE IN MIAMI! ON THE GRASS! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!
OT From This Old Brit rickwrites at blogspot dot com: Iran Attack In April? Richard Reports. You Decide …
(me talking): I fear the whole AG-impeachment-House Hearings-Senate Hearings is but a bright shiny object to distract our attention from from what is really occupying the remaining minds in DoD and the WH. Those ships are in place ‘Dang, Mabel, look how close they are to Iran!’ Everything I see/hear on msm focuses on all the hoopla in DC. Critical hoopla it is, but it may be serving as a distraction. (If you go to the story originally cited, check the Comment by landsker about half-way down the list)
Waccamaw @ 83
that really is the cutest little polar bear ever, tho
Oh, thank God, they are finally back to discussing ANS on MSNBC. I was really getting worried.
Steve @ 87
Oh, that’s right. Now I remember KO doing his Ahnolt immitation.
now?mc @ 83
And Britney is going bankrupt!!!!!!
Has anyoe else noticed that even the repubs are saying “firings” now, I thought they all resigned, and that’s why jr didn’t know about it?
getting interestinger
The reason wht we want an open hearing with a transcript is because Presidentile Dementia calls for it.
Christy, this is completely OT, but I thought you and Jane might be interested in this:
http://www.thrasherswheat.org/.....ntest.html
Hugh -
Add “answer your own question” to your list. ;-)
“Mr. President, you claim that subpoenas will inhibit your staff from giving you candid advice. Given the mess you’ve made, why should the public want you to keep getting candid advice?”
I’d sell my soul to anyone who asks him this.
barbara @ 65
Check CSpan’s home page for rebroadcast schedules.
I got yer executive privy ledge right here, fella…
Has Tony Snow ever received an email from Rove on the RNC account?
Why can no reporter ask the obvious? If there are no transcripts and no oath, it will be just a “he said- he said” of republicans and democrats.
Every republican will just say-”well, that’s not what I heard.”
MSNBC: Conyers is going to hold off on issuing subpoenas to see if they can reach a compromise…
Yesterday dear leader said wh has been very helpful releasing direct emails. He did say direct which instantly caught my attention…direct as opposed to indirect emails? Or am I making too much of the semantics?
The Anna Nicole saga will finally be put to rest once they find who the father of her baby is. Well, there that question of inheritance. By the time that’s decided, let’s hope there’s a full-blown constitutional crisis in the land…
Another thing that’s been bugging me, OK, he didn’t know about the resigations, but didn’t he wonder why he was getting recommondations for new USA’s? Did he just think that they were new posiions>
If Shrub didn’t know about the resignations, then his staff isn’t making sure he’s properly informed, and he isn’t doing his supervisory job, and they all should be fired for incompetence.
If he knew about the resignations, then he’s lying and needs to be fired (read impeached and convicted) for lying or incompetence.
If he didn’t sign off on the replacement recommendations, Shrub should be fired for incompetence.
If he signed off on the replacement recommendations, and still hasn’t figured it out, he should be fired for incompetence.
If he signed off on the replacement recommendations, and knew what he was signing off on, he should be fired for malice aforethought.
Phoenix Woman @ 4
Yes!! What was his response? Enquiring minds want to know how a paid, consumate hypocrite handles such raging flip-floppery.
ReneND @ 105
The news people did ask this. Guess they’ve been reading too many lefty blogs *g*.
ironranger @ 107
Never make too much of their semantics. Every word is very carefully chosen.
darkblack, that’s a picture that I would like to see when I hear Snow begin to speak. He like his briefings are a total waste of oxygen. He is usually poorly informed on the issues he is briefing on. The only thing that saves him is that the media is usually even more unprepared and lazy then he is.
Jeremius, that’s the rub isn’t it. Bush is the great Deciderer yet no one seems to have bothered asking him. This was a decision that was his and no one else’s to make but he doesn’t seem to have made it. That’s the question the media should have been asking Snow, and another example how of the vacuum headed Snow ducks an important issue because the press isn’t doing its job.
Jeremius @ 70
Any press person reading this might note that a good question to ask tomorrow is whether the president signed the appointment papers for the new USAs.
OK, I might be mistaken, but I thought the USA’s could only be removed by the Pres - so how is it no one mentioned this to him?
Secondly, not only are they missing 18 days of DOJ email, we have not gotten ANY WH emails. Along this line, I thought Snow was going to have a stroke when asked about Karl’s RNC emails…didn’t really answer, more of an “arghghgh - next question”.
Do any of the blogs have reporters at these press conferences? Wouldn’t it be great? The current reporters seem to be a little behind on info and are not asking some really important follow-ups?
mayan @ 111
spin, spin, spin That the other situation wasn’t analogous
punaise @ 104
I’m just shocked by that frivolous incivility, I am …Say, how do you feel about Joe Lieberman?
;>)
ironranger @ 108
It might be a bright shiny but with this asshat it never hurts to look. On the other hand, any semantic analysis of GWB’s pronouncements is an exercise in futility. BTW, I wonder if his writers write it up in that goofy style, or do they write it straight and he Georgifies it in the delivery? Are the speeches as written archived aomewhere?
Also, just for kicks, I think it’d be fun to subpoena some Presidential urine and stool samples. I remember hearing that the Secret Service collected and whisked away same when he went travelling.
LS @ 106
“Nice Oval Office ya got here, Bushie. It’d be a shame if anything happened to it…”
Is this the type of testimony we should expect from Mr. Rove:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/.....940423.htm
“Besides his considerable security contingent, the chief executive was accompanied by Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and Press Secretary Tony Snow.
A reporter approached Rove to ask him what he thought of rumors that former Missouri Sen. Jack Danforth could replace embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. “How about you go over there and do your job,” Rove replied, pointed back to the media pool.”
katymine @ 86
I’m partial to the Gonzalez 8. But purgegate seems to be winning. Krugman refers to the Gonzalez 8.
eap @ 115
Jane, Christie - Let’s talk to Helen Thomas . . .