As in the courtroom, there aren’t many real Perry Mason moments in congressional investigations. But Henry Waxman had one yesterday when he was trying to get to the bottom of why the State Department’s chief private contractor watchdog (the Inspector General) was running interference for Blackwater and Dyncorp rather than the taxpayers. We bring you the key moments in today’s episode of TPMtv …

TPM Reader SL gets it. Who else does?

Of all the things in Giuliani’s past and present I find frightening was his suggestion in the fall of 2001 that the mayoral election be postponed or its result disregarded. And he proposed doing this with the simple agreement of the candidates. This is not someone who understands what a republic is, let alone a democracy. I keep waiting for one of his critics to point this out as an astonishing disqualifier for the presidency.

Sidney Blumenthal signs on as a “senior adviser” to the Clinton campaign.

TPM Reader AN descends into further Rudyology …

I just watched the clip that Ben Craw put together of all the various times Rudy Giuliani mentions 9-11. There was one moment in particular that actually made me laugh out loud. With about 2:45 to go in the clip Giuliani says, “I had to be responsible for the safety and security of my assistant U.S. Attorneys; for the law enforcement people who work for me; then for 8 million people…” You’ve previously pointed out the absurdity of a mayor claiming to be responsible for the safety of a city’s residents. But I think claiming to be responsible for the safety of his subordinates while U.S. Attorney and claiming to be responsible for the safety of the very people (law enforcement officials) who are in fact largely responsible for the safety of city residents takes Rudy’s hero complex to new heights. Bravo Mr. Giuliani. Well played sir.

My candidacy for Lord High Universal Dungeon Master will be based largely on the fact that I am responsible for the safety and security of one million TPM Readers around the globe. It’s a terrible burden to carry. But I’m not complaining.

Sifting through the wreckage of U.S. policies on Pakistan and Iran, at today’s White House press briefing:

Can the secretary of state fire the State Department inspector general? Word is State will be releasing a statement on the mechanics of this issue this evening.

The President has announced a slew of new top level nominations at DOJ, starting with U.S. District Judge Mark Filip as the new deputy attorney general.

Romney stiffs Fox News debate in Iowa–effectively killing the debate.

You may remember the story of Rachel Paulose, the inexperienced right-wing comer and friend of Monica Goodling who got installed in what was first intended to be a Patriot Act appointment to be US Attorney in Minnesota. Her managerial incompetence quickly spawned an office rebellion in which all four members of the office managerial team resigned their positions to go back to being line attorneys in the office, then there’s the investigation into her mishandling of classified material and mistreatment of employees. And then there’s the unfortunate matter of her using racial slurs (“fat”, “black”, “lazy”, “ass”, etc.) to describe staff.

When Paulose lost the confidence of even confirmed Bush party-liner Sen. Norm Coleman, you’d think that people had given up on making the case for this poster-child for US Atty Purge hackdom.

But no.

Minnesota blogger Eric Black has been in the lead on the Paulose story since the spring. And now he brings news that Paulose’s supporters are now pushing the story that she’s being run out of office by a secret pro-prostitution cabal at the Justice Department.

Black’s got the details.

CNN: A federal grand jury indicts Barry Bonds on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, AP and CNN affiliate KTVU report.

From the AP:

Barry Bonds was indicted Thursday on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, culminating a four-year federal investigation into whether he lied under oath to a grand jury looking into steroid use by elite athletes.