by emptywheel
So says Pete Domenici, when asked by Andrea Mitchell whether he would testify before Congress if asked. ThinkProgress points out that a conversation between Rove and Domenici closely preceded David Iglesias' firing. But I'll go further, and raise this report.
In the spring of 2006, Domenici told Gonzales he wanted Iglesias out.
Gonzales refused. He told Domenici he would fire Iglesias only on orders from the president.
At some point after the election last Nov. 6, Domenici called Bush's senior political adviser, Karl Rove, and told him he wanted Iglesias out and asked Rove to take his request directly to the president.
Domenici and Bush subsequently had a telephone conversation about the issue.
The conversation between Bush and Domenici occurred sometime after the election but before the firings of Iglesias and six other U.S. attorneys were announced on Dec. 7.
Iglesias' name first showed up on a Nov. 15 list of federal prosecutors who would be asked to resign. It was not on a similar list prepared in October.
Lucky for Domenici that Andrea Mitchell is a beltway-sucking simp. Because rather than say, "In fact, Senator Domenici, you apparently do know about it--and your conversation with Bush is the one thing that most implicates executive privilege in this case, as it is the one report of Bush intervening personally to fire a USA." Mitchell just said, "oh, okay. You don't want to talk about it. Okay then."
Your Fourth Estate, hard at work.
What would it take to get Andrea Mitchell called out publicly for this sort of favoritism ('cause it sure ain't journalism)?
Posted by: P J Evans | July 10, 2007 at 17:42
You don't want to talk about it. Okay then."
Your Fourth Estate, hard at work.
Yup, the Fourth Estate and the Fourth Branch, good friends for a long while now.
Too bad the name "The Wives Club" is already taken.
Posted by: njr | July 10, 2007 at 19:05
It's clear, with approval ratings in the dumpster for a l-o-n-g time and with clear evidence of criminal behavior, that certain media outlets are consciously pulling their punches. It can't just be the fear of ratings or the producer's assessment of the attention span and intelligence of the audience, as I've always supposed. I mean, I think it's pretty clear that if a news channel like CNN or NBC were to actually do their jobs and report the corruption, the lying, and other things like the shredding of the constitution or needless deaths in Iraq (or the unspoken cost to the economy of the war--upwards of $10 Billion a month--and the wholesale shift to Chinese production of domestic goods), their ratings would go through the roof.
There's some kind of stark fear playing here. Nothing else makes sense.
What have Rove and the Gang got that hangs over the media's head so threateningly? 'Cause something is controlling these people.
Can it be just a business decision? Some kind of clear warning of lines not to cross or else? Or is it just a complete lack of courage and independent thinking?
Posted by: marksb | July 10, 2007 at 20:41
Isn't the issue access? If some member of the MSM is critical of e.g. the WH, then the WH limits that member's access. This not so subtle tit for tat discourages real journalism by the MSM, because it makes their job more difficult - not impossible. But who wants to work hard for scraps? Besides bloggers, that is.
Posted by: turtlens | July 10, 2007 at 23:57
Finally everything snaps into focus: the Fourth Estate reports to the Fourth Branch. How could we have missed that for so long?
But then, what exactly is the nature of the Fourth Branch?
It is now clear that the Fourth Branch represents the interests of huge, and hugely wealthy, multinational corporations. At the time of the French Revolution there were no comparable entities operating outside national, regional and even continental boundaries. Presumably that is why we missed this connection for so long. Lacking the necessary authority, we have not updated our political imagery since then.
We are stuck in 1789.
Posted by: Ralph | July 11, 2007 at 01:30
mr njr
"Some of the biggest men in the United states, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it."
Woodrow Wilson
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9050474362583451279&q=money+as+debt&hl=en
Posted by: TR | July 11, 2007 at 01:40