Turns out that White House aide who resigned over plagiarism plagiarized 20 of his 38 columns in The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel.

Over at Swampland, even Joe Klein is taking notice of the McCain-Hagee nomination and McCain's refusal to renounce or reject.

Says Klein ...

A McCain rejection of Hagee's support would be seen as another sign of weakness by Rush and such. An acceptance of Hagee's support would spell trouble for McCain with catholics and sane people everywhere. So, what's it to be, Senator?

As Chris Matthews once so aptly put it: "The press loves McCain. We're his base." So for McCain to lose Klein would be like a conservative losing James Dobson.

I fear that Klein probably finds some way to let McCain off the hook. But the temperature does seem to be rising.

From the Salt Lake Tribune (courtesy of TPM Reader DB)

A supervisor at a motivational coaching business in Provo is accused of waterboarding an employee in front of his sales team to demonstrate that they should work as hard on sales as the employee had worked to breathe.

In a lawsuit filed last month, former Prosper, Inc. salesman Chad Hudgens alleges his managers also allowed the supervisor to draw mustaches on employees' faces, take away their chairs and beat on their desks with a wooden paddle "because it resulted in increased revenues for the company."

Prosper president Dave Ellis responded that the allegations amount to "sensationalized" versions of events that have gone uncorroborated by Hudgens' former coworkers.

"They just roll their eyes and say, 'This is ridiculous . . . That's not how it went down,' " Ellis said.

The suit claims that Hudgens' team leader, Joshua Christopherson, asked for volunteers in May for "a new motivational exercise," which he did not describe. Hudgens, who was 26 at the time, volunteered in order to "prove his loyalty and determination," the suit claims.

Christopherson led the sales team to the top of a hill near the office and told Hudgens to lie down with his head downhill, the suit claims. Christopherson then told the rest of the team to hold Hudgens by the arms and legs.

Christopherson poured water from a gallon jug over Hudgens' mouth and nostrils - like the interrogation strategy known as "waterboarding" - and told the team members to hold Hudgens down as he struggled, the suit alleges.

Hillary to appear on The Daily Show on primary eve, March 3rd.

Seems the folks from back in Jack Kingston's (R-GA) district are following him around with a video camera to see if he's started wearing that flag lapel pin yet. Still no luck ...

Don't know the backstory to this one? See here.

This evening Attorney General Michael Mukasey, as expected, refused to prosecute the contempt of Congress resolutions against White House officials Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers for their refusal to testify in the U.S. attorneys scandal.

The House had referred the contempt citations to the Department of Justice only yesterday.

In response to Mukasey's refusal, Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised to pursue a civil lawsuit to enforce the congressional subpoenas. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers issued a statement saying:

[T]oday’s decision to shelve the contempt process, in violation of a federal statute, shows that the White House will go to any lengths to keep its role in the US Attorney firings hidden. In the face of such extraordinary actions, we have no choice but to proceed with a lawsuit to enforce the Committee's subpoenas.”

Our exhaustive coverage of this story is here.

White House announces resignation of plagiarizing Special Assistant to the President.

McCain's statement on Hagee, his new endorser, who calls the Catholic Church the "great whore" and "anti-christ" ...

"Yesterday, Pastor John Hagee endorsed my candidacy for president in San Antonio, Texas. However, in no way did I intend for his endorsement to suggest that I in turn agree with all of Pastor Hagee's views, which I obviously do not.

"I am hopeful that Catholics, Protestants and all people of faith who share my vision for the future of America will respond to our message of defending innocent life, traditional marriage, and compassion for the most vulnerable in our society."

So he welcomes Hagee's endorsement for president, though that doesn't mean he agree with all his views.

Let's run down some specifics.

Hagee says that if America presses Israel allow the Palestinians to found a state in the West Bank and Gaza God will "release the terrorists" to come to America to create a "bloodbath." (See this video, at approximately time mark 3:00)

Hagee says that God brought the Katrina disaster down on New Orleans because of a planned "homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came ... that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades."

Then there's Hagee on why the Jews have had such a rough time of it for the last couple thousand years ...

"It was the disobedience and rebellion of the Jews, God's chosen people, to their covenantal responsibility to serve only the one true God, Jehovah, that gave rise to the opposition and persecution that they experienced beginning in Canaan and continuing to this very day....

How utterly repulsive, insulting, and heartbreaking to God for His chosen people to credit idols with bringing blessings He had showered upon the chosen people. Their own rebellion had birthed the seed of anti-Semitism that would arise and bring destruction to them for centuries to come.... it rises from the judgment of God uppon his rebellious chosen people." ["Jerusalem Countdown: A Prelude To War", paperback edition, pages 92 and 93]

It was quite a week: John McCain forgetting which party he's in, Pat Buchanan and Tucker Carlson saying they're not going to take anti-White Man prejudice any longer, Tim Russert channels angry Iraqi nationalists and so much more ...

Watch this episode on YouTube.

Campaign sources tell CNN that John McCain raised a little more than $12 million in February.

What I like most about Mark Penn is his ability to take a situation in which his candidate is in a decent position and push them decisively over into looking like an idiot. You've seen Hillary's new 'red phone ringing in the night' ad. Is it like the 2004 wolves ad or Johnson's daisy ad? Not at all, says Penn, "a positive ad. Very soft images."

Rasmussen: Hillary ahead in Ohio 47-45.

Special assistant to the President plagiarizes in his newspaper column.

A sampling of the agencies currently crippled by impasses between the White House and Senate over nominations:

Federal Elections Commission
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Council of Economic Advisers
National Labor Relations Board
U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission

Just a coincidence that these are mostly regulatory agencies?

MJ Rosenberg gives more background on the vicious campaign -- already underway for many months -- to smear and discredit Barack Obama among American Jews.

We spent quite a bit of time yesterday on that story by Canada's CTV on the Obama camp giving a wink and a nod to the Canadian ambassador about Obama's heavy anti-NAFTA rhetoric. Basically, the alleged backchannel communication was: Don't worry, he's not as bad as he sounds.

The Obama campaign initially, in an on-camera interview by a spokesperson, didn't deny the report. Later it made an artful and very general "the story is inaccurate" denial, the precise inaccuracy not being identified. That was followed by about as categorical a denial as you can have, from the Canadian embassy in Washington.

Now CTV has followed up, not only standing by its story, but naming the Obama adviser who allegedly talked with Canadian representatives. He is reported by CTV to be Obama senior economic adviser Austan Goolsbee. According to CTV, the conversation took place not with the D.C. embassy but with the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago. Goolsbee is on the faculty at the University of Chicago School of Business.

Goolsbee "refused to say whether he had such a conversation with the Canadian government office in Chicago," when contacted yesterday by CTV.

Late Update: Another round of denials from the Obama camp, more strenuous this time, including a denial from Goolsbee himself.

Take a look at the latest TV spot from the Clinton campaign.

Late Update: The Obama camp was ready with a withering reply.

Later Update: Hey, it's a positive ad! Mark Penn claims.

Spirited? Dispirited? Am I a Liberal? A Conservative?

John McCain has a couple bumpy moments on the trail ...

I have very little feel for Canadian domestic politics. So I'm going to frame this post more as a suggestion to read more and a question for those who know the subject matter better.

But the bare outlines are these. Back in 2005, while the former Liberal government was tottering on the brink of collapse after many years in power, representatives of the opposition Conservatives went to an independent MP whose vote could topple the government and offered him a bribe for his vote.

The nature and context of the alleged bribe are particularly ghastly. The late Chuck Cadman was then in the final stages of terminal cancer. And in exchange for his vote, Conservative Party reps offered to purchase a $1 million life insurance policy for Cadman "and a few other things" in order to provide for his wife.

Cadman refused, voted to keep the government in power rather than cause a new election, and died a short time later.

The charges come from a new book about Cadman's life, and they are backed up strongly by his widow who is now a candidate for Parliament running as a Conservative (though one wonders for how long).

The kicker, though, is in an interview contained in the book: Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper in essence admits that it's true and that he knew about it at the time.

Here's the CTV description ...

Zytaruk interviewed Harper in Surrey, B.C, in September 2005, shortly after the MP's death. Zytaruk asked if Harper knew anything about allegations that Tory officials had offered Cadman a $1 million insurance policy to help his wife.

"I don't know the details. I know there were discussions," Harper replied.

Harper also said the discussions included talk of money.

"The offer to Chuck was that it was only to replace financial considerations he might lose due to an election," he told the author.

Harper also said he did not believe that Cadman would be swayed to change his vote.

"I told them they were wasting their time. I said Chuck had made up his mind," he said.

Sort of an admission wrapped in a denial if you ask me, as least as this report frames it. And now it seems the interview with Harper was recorded and is still in existence.

So for all you Canadians who've been entertained over the years by our scandalous politics, please give us the low-down. What's the score?