Like a younger son who surprisingly inherits the family estate, Mr. Bush understands that he’s now the Massa in the Big House. But, he thinks he’s commanding when he demands that his mint julip be cold. He has no idea what the overseer does to get the cotton planted, harvested and sold – or through whose labor that takes place – nor does he think that’s any of his business. That’s the hired help’s problem. And ours.

Remember Nixon unraveling during his live resignation farewell at the White House? Once he started talking about his mother, it was all downhill from there. The psyche just started spewing free associations. Jaw-droppingly scary stuff. And we were ever-so-glad that when he finished he got on a helicopter and flew away.

Every time I see the Chimperor boarding Marine One, I have flashbacks to ‘74.

Actually, watching Babs see her little precious melt down on TeeVee is going to be frosting on the cake.

Notionally dapper, inherently weak, attracted to authoritarians, literally gelded by mumps and virtually by Mrs. Simpson. He was tightly managed by his staff until even they could not save him from himself. And he WAS king, just not for very long.

Or maybe it was an “overblown personnel matter” not deserving of the intense media coverage afforded it before last November’s elections?

Josh Marshall says: “But we know that US Attorney David Iglesias was fired because he wouldn’t submit to pressure from Republican activists and members of Congress to issue an election-timed indictment to save New Mexico’s Republican Rep. Heather Wilson.”

He also points out that what is “missing” from the DOJ document dump may be just as important as what has been released up to this point.

So, let’s look at the clues that might indicate what is “missing”:

1) By last October, Bush, Rove and Gonzales had politicized as much as possible the offices of the U.S. Attorneys.

2) The Mark Foley sex scandal broke like a tsunami wave over the House Republican leadership, the White House political strategists and all the Republicans running for election or re-election around the country…including Heather Wilson of New Mexico.

3) David Iglesias, the U.S. Attorney for New Mexico, is contacted during this critical October pre-election time-frame, to generate anti-Democratic Party publicity, to help Heather Wilson in her bid to retain her seat in Congress.

You do see the pattern, don’t you?

In Karl Rove’s mind, the essential thing before any election is to control “the message,” to control “the publicity,” and the Mark Foley sex scandal had turned last year’s Republican election strategy upside down. Instead of Rove ordering the “swift-boating” of Democrats, the Mark Foley sex scandal was “swift-boating” Republicans around the country, and the scandal was based on facts, not on fabricated lies.

Thus, all the Republican-appointed U.S. Attorneys were mobilized to “pushback” against the negative publicity of the Mark Foley sex scandal in an attempt to push this scandal into the background and replace this negative publicity detrimental to Republicans with news reports of contrived Democratic Party improprieties.

This is what is missing in the emails released. Any internal White House deliberations involving the Mark Foley sex scandal, as well as any communications with anyone in the DOJ that refers to the handling of the Mark Foley sex scandal last October, are not being released.

I don’t believe the Mark Foley scandal was the sole reason for the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys in November, but I do believe it served as a catalyst. Why? Because Rove and the neo-con Republican strategists realized that if certain U.S. attorneys were unwilling to “break the law” concerning “pushback” over the Mark Foley sex scandal, then (in Rove’s and their minds) how could these rogue U.S. Attorneys be trusted to “help” the Republican cause in the lead-up to the November 2008 elections? Thus, eight U.S. Attorneys, who chose following the apolitical, non-partisan “rule of law” over helping the Republicans retain control of Congress last year, HAD TO GO.

Which, of course, makes one wonder how corrupt the Republican-appointed U.S. Attorneys who were not fired are? What did they do to help “pushback” last year against the negative Republican publicity generated by the Mark Foley sex scandal? Can any of them be trusted to follow the “rule of law” and put aside their partisan allegiances, especially in the lead-up to the November 2008 elections?

Any “rule of law” American, whether Democrat or Republican or Independent, should be very concerned over the answer to these questions.

For the story, see:
“Cornyn Threatens Judges, Protects Gonzales.”

GPB – I love it when the ja-whoe-bas show up at my door. I always manage to have them looking at the ground and whimpering as they scurry back to the car.
Next year I am answering the door fully nude with a pitch-fork in one hand. (my pitch-fork is parked inside the front door ready and waiting.)

One time when the Mo-Mos showed up, I started talking about the Mountain Meadows Massacre. They stood there for about three minutes and then it must have dawned upon them what I was talking about and they suddenly developed the nervous complaint and had to go.

I also answered the door buck-naked one time, but without the pitchfork. Eye like saucers, man.

moi @
44

’cause i’m such a huge fan of watertiger’s, i wanted to change my nom de plume to woodsnake
but it just doesn’t sound as sexy.

I too am a woodsnake.

Actually i AM a firesnake. *grins* Which would work, but it would take forever to get used to as a screen name.

WOnder if Pickles’ll be the library marm?