David Freddoso is a conservative political reporter for the right-wing website National Review Online. In his recent book The Case Against Barack Obama (subtitled The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate) Freddoso unsurprisingly outlines the case against Barack Obama which is essentially that Obama is not an idealistic reformer but in fact a shrewd and cynical political operator whose political career evolved from the milieu of corrupt Chicago-style machine politics.

In a supplement to his responses to the House Judiciary Committee, Patrick Fitzgerald confirms what we've always suspected: Karl Rove was trying to have Patrick Fitzgerald fired while Fitzgerald was still investigating Rove for his role in leaking Valerie Wilson's identity--and the timing lines up perfectly with the Administration's efforts to fire a bunch of US Attorneys.

So much has been said and written about the outing of former CIA operative Valerie Plame -- and the cast of characters that swirled around it, from Judith Miller to Karl Rove -- that today, on the fifth anniversary of how it all began, it seems proper to quote the first lines of the fateful Joseph C. Wilson IV op-ed in the July 6, 2003 edition of The New York Times:

"Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs to justify an invasion of Iraq?  Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."

Remember its title?  "What I Didn't Find in Africa."   People in high places paid attention: As we now know, Vice President Cheney marked up a copy of the op-ed from the paper, wondering if the trip to Africa was "ordinarily" done or "did his wife send him on a junket?"  

I was just wondering if there is still any awareness for US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to be appointed US Attorney General when Obama takes office?  He was floated as an exceptional candidate during the Plame investigation but the reemergence of John Edwards has stolen some of that thunder.

Yes, you read that right.  Despite what you may have heard during the campaign, Tony Rezko's corruption trial just created a world of hurt for the Republicans again.  

It seems that  Tony, who once hosted  a BUSH fundraiser at his home,  called in the help of few famous Republicans to try to de-rail the investigation into the corruption for which he's now on trial:

A prosecutor told the judge in the Tony Rezko corruption trial Wednesday that a witness is prepared to testify about efforts by top Republicans to get the Bush White House to fire U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald at a time he was spearheading investigations of Gov. Blagojevich's administration... The key players were Robert Kjellander, a Republican National committeeman from Springfield, and Kjellander's old friend, Karl Rove, who, at the time was a top White House adviser.

You rememeber the almost-forgotten US Attorney scandal?  Yeah that's about to come roaring back thanks to these disclosures:

There were high hopes when Rod Blagojevich, a liberal Congressman from Illinois, was elected the governor of Illinois in 2002. Surely, Blagojevich the liberal, would support such liberal causes as increased funding of public education in Illinois, improved health care, state funding for pet projects to improve communities. It seemed to mean that Democrats in Illinois were finally back in control after years of being dominated by Republican Governors Jim Thompson, Jim Edgar and George Ryan (who is now in federal prison).

These Republican governors consistently opposed these liberal measures such as increased educational funding because of the "income tax component," but those hopes have not only diminished, they have evaporated to the point of pending legislation aimed at recalling elected officials. He has angered legislators for a variety of reasons and many legislators are behind the recall legislation.

One of the main supporters of recall legislation is the sitting Lt. Governor Patrick Quinn. This bill is clearly aimed at Governor Blagojevich and passage would assure an attempt to unseat Blagojevich.

House Judiciary sub-committees are meeting today on a variety of interesting topics. The Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties wants to talk to Kenneth Blackwell (former OH SoS) about voter suppression, and the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law wants to talk to John Ashcroft about independent corporate monitors, but both have declined 'invitations' to testify voluntarily.

• Time Magazine: Tony Rezko Arrested
• Chicago Tribune: Tony Rezko arrested, sources say
• No Quarter post by SusanUnPC: "BREAKING: ABC News Reports $100,000 From Rezko That Obama Hasn’t Returned/Given Away," January 25, 2008

Bob

[editor's note, by SusanHu] I've changed the title. Sen. Obama is not named in the indictment and is not facing charges, but he does have longtime ties to Tony Rezko.  What bothers me most -- because it so harmed the poorest of Chicago's residents -- is that Obama and his law firm represented Rezko's lucrative public housing deals that used public funding. But, when Rezko was exposed as a "slumlord" who mistreated his poor tenants, Obama denied any knowledge of Rezko's slumlord practices.  

Do you recall "Obama, His Lobbyists and His Cronies," my January 11th piece on ABC News's reports on Barack Obama's long associations with -- and innumerable financial, legal and real estate ties -- to Tony Rezko, "who goes on trial February 25th for 'extortion and fraud charges, which include shakedown allegations involving an Illinois pension fund'"?

ABC News's Brian Ross said, at the time, that Obama was not named in the 73-page indictment. Today, however, the Chicago Sun-Times -- "Sun-Times Exclusive: Obama surfaces in Rekzo's federal corruption case" -- reveals that:

Two breaking stories on Wednesday once again highlighted the Bush administration's unprecedented cloak of secrecy and its perpetual quest for plausible deniability.  First, the White House acknowledged that it haphazardly recycled computer backup tapes, likely ensuring that crucial emails before October 2003 are lost forever.  Then, Americans learned that the retiring CIA station chief in Thailand asked for and received permission in 2005 to destroy videotapes of Al Qaeda detainee interrogations.  Together, these latest episodes of disappearing data might be called the Tales of the Tape.

Interesting timing. The Rezko story has been dormant lately. And i am sure Obama supporters hoped it would remain so. But interestingly, looks like coverage is only getting started on this. An ABC story highlighted it today. Apparently REZKO has been indicted and good 'ol Patrick Fitzgerald is on the case. I remember many of you really liking the guy when he was investigating the Plame affair.

Seven months after George Bush commuted the prison sentence of convicted felon Scooter Libby for perjury and obstruction of justice, his attorney has announced that:

Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is dropping his appeal in the CIA leak case.

Which of course means that the White House will now gladly answer all of the questions surrounding the role the White House played in the outing of a covert CIA agent for political gain.  Right?

Q Tony, one point that is not in dispute is that Karl Rove was involved in the leak, in some way he was involved. He talked to at least two reporters who ended up publishing this information. In 2004, the President said -- he didn't talk about convictions or anything -- he said he would fire anyone in this White House who was involved in the leak. We now know Karl Rove was involved; he did not fire him.

MR. SNOW: There are two things to note. We have also said that we do not -- we are not going to make comments in detail until the legal process is over. And it is not; there is still an appeal through -- [...]

MR. SNOW: I believe that the Libby team, at this point, still has before the court an appeal.

Q How does this square with the President saying, anybody who leaks in my White House, anybody who doesn't follow the law, is not going to work for me?

MR. SNOW: Well, once we get -- once we get final determination on that, we'll deal with it. By the way, Karl was not accused of breaking any laws. He was not, in fact, indicted on anything. So you've got -- there's a lot of contention in this, but you also need to stick with the fact record.

Q The President set a lower standard first. He didn't say about breaking the law, he said involved in leaking the identity. So you've changed the standard --

MR. SNOW: No, no, no, I was just -- I was responding to that particular question. Again, when we get final clarity on this through the judicial system, I'll answer the question.

So, does anyone want to lay odds on the White House answering those questions now?  

CNN is reporting that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has dropped his appeal of his federal convictions of perjury, false statement and obstruction of justice.  Libby was convicted of the multiple felonies in the course of leaking to the press the name and CIA identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, an undercover CIA agent working to stop the proliferation of "weapons of mass destruction," and the husband of administration critic and former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

When president bush nominated Michael Mukasey to fill the AG vacancy left by the resignation of Alberto Gonzales, the immediate question was, “Will Mukasey pledge to protect the U.S. Constitution, or like Gonzales, blindly defend the administration's deconstruction of the Constitution, claims of new Executive powers, secrecy and torture. “  Now, a looming confrontation between Congress and the administration will put that question to an immediate test.

Many, myself included, have been dubious that president would appoint a true Constitutional defender to the post, given how much he relied on gonzales to blindly defend his administration on tortured legal grounds.  Indeed, during his hearing, Mukasey steadfastly refused to identify waterboarding as torture, signaling that he knew the risks to his potential boss in doing so.

Despite the concerns and questions,  Mukasey won confirmation, in part with the help of Democratic Senators Charles Schumer and Diane Feinstein.  And now Henry Waxman’s House Oversight Committee is about to give him his first real test of where his loyalties truly lie.…..More on the issues involved and what’s at stake below the fold:

If anyone has diaried this already, my apologies. Today in Dan Froomkin's column, Henry Waxman has been talking to Patrick Fitzgerald throughout the summer. Working with Fitzgerald's staff, a list of documents pertaining to Scooter Libby was drawn up. This list was felt to be reasonable as it did not involve Grand Jury secrecy rules nor was there any apparent claim of Executive privilege. Of course, BushCo has been blocking the release of these documents and it looks like Mukasey is going to have to decide if he is going to independent or continue as Bush's new sock puppet. Worse..

With a key White House aide now reporting that the President and VP conspired to out CIA agent Plame and then to obstruct a criminal investigatin of that outing, impeachment is required.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I started to rewrite the entire Seuss poem to go along with this... I about a third of the way through and got pretty bored with it.

I guess it didn't help very much watching Olbermann tonight. In one of his segments, the regular guest university law instructor, I forget his name, offered up something that I hadn't really thought about.  He's a fairly objective guy , and is frustratingly nonpartisan most nights, so I really respect his views.  He offered up the opinion that perhaps the whole Fitz special prosecutor gig was another gigantic bit of Bush Kabuki for the American public that really seemed to work...