WaPo‘s Howard Kurtz sees no problem with the media’s failure to cover the Rudy campaign’s Iowa farm gaffe.
There are so many parts of this late night hospital blitz story that it’s a bit hard to know where to start. One thing that seems very clear — even clearer than when I discussed it below — is that the president sent Gonzales and Card over to the hospital to coax an okay out of the presumably heavily sedated Ashcroft. The first day’s reportage really skirted around that issue. Maybe day two will be different. Another point though is to remember just who it is we’re dealing with here.
This is John Ashcroft, not by many measures a staunch libertarian and a pretty committed Republican to boot. He was refusing to sign off on this. And according to Comey’s testimony he was willing to resign over it, apparently along with most of the senior leadership of the Department of Justice. I think we need to know more about just what was being done with this program that would make Ashcroft put so much on the line.
Another point: if we assume that the president sent Gonzales and Card over to the hospital room (and I think that’s the only reasonable interpretation of yesterday’s testimony), there must have been a meeting before that call was placed, probably at the White House. Who was in the meeting? And who got the president to authorize this? Gonzales? I doubt it. I think we probably needing to be looking toward the Vice President’s office playing a driving role in all this.
See more here from a knowledgable TPM Reader.
Tony Snow: Defeat of Feingold amendment proves that Americans, and Congressional Democrats, don’t support withdrawal from Iraq.
As discussed, here’s the video of yesterday’s testimony by former Deputy AG James Comey. Their section of questioning where Comey discusses the hospital showdown is about 25 minutes. We’ve tried to edit it down by cutting out a few relatively non-essential passages. And we got it down to about 15 minutes.
We’ll be posting a shorter version with just a few key passages a bit later.
Late update: If you’re pressed for time, here’s a shorter version of Comey’s testimony with the two most noteworthy segments:
Just so the White House doesn’t feel left out, Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) today wrote Fred Fielding to warn that if the White House doesn’t stop stonewalling, “I will have no choice but to issue subpoenas.”
Rudy Giuliani: I “usually” hear Democrats blaming America for 9/11.
More of Kyle Sampson’s testimony comes out. And this bit contradicts a key part of Alberto Gonzales’ testimony before the Senate.
Monica Goodling to testify before the House next Wednesday.
Justice Department finally responds to Senate committee subpoena. And, well….