The Check’s In the Mail

/in /by

Hey, Scottish Haggis!?!?!? What happened to that letter from the White House you promised us?

According to RawStory, it’s still in the mail. Or maybe it’s not coming after all.

The White House has refused to comply with a Republican senator’srequest for information about Alberto Gonzales’s conflicting testimonyon a secret surveillance program by a 12 p.m. Tuesday deadline.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), the ranking Republican on the SenateJudiciary Committee, said yesterday that he requested from the Bushadministration a "letter addressing that question [of Gonzales’veracity] from the administration" by noon Tuesday. He promised torelease the letter to the media, but so far the word from JudiciaryCommittee staff is that no letter has arrived.

It is unclear whether the administration is refusing Specter’srequest outright or is simply tardy in delivering its response. Aspokeswoman for Sen. Patrick Leahy, the committee chairman who also isexpected to receive the administration’s response, told RAW STORY early Tuesday afternoon that no letter had arrived yet.

Specter’s office was releasing little information Tuesday.

Your guess is as good as mine what happened to Specter’s love letter. Some possibilities:

  • Dick heard about the promised letter and stole all of Bush’s crayons
  • With Mike Gerson gone, the White House can’t think of a new fancy acronym–Not-TSP–that they can use to parse wildly some more
  • The White House forgot that there was a still-unresolved anthrax attack on the Senate, and so mail takes a while to get to Senators
  • The White House has decided to call Scottish Haggis’ bluff–they’re going to blow him off entirely, because they strongly suspect (with good reason) that he’s just not going to do anything to stop them
  • The White House is trying to postpone sending the letter–which may well admit to having broken the law–until after Congress passes some changes to FISA
  2. Frank Probst says:

    So what do you think it’ll be: (a) Arlen just slinks away with his tail between his legs and pretends like the whole thing never happened, or (b) Arlen grows a spine and supports impeaching Gonzo? I’m going with (a). I don’t think he’s even going to bother with an â€I really REALLY mean it this time!†press conference.

  5. Anonymous says:

    p-i-n

    LOL. Dick must have stolen his crayons AND his stamps!!

    Frank

    He wouldn’t be Scottish Haggis if the answer weren’t, always, a.

  7. Sojourner says:

    Something that has puzzled me was the good senator putting such an abrupt deadline on his demand… (I mean this in all sincerity!) Was he just trying to make himself look important, or is/was there something magical about 12:00 Noon (I assume, EDT)? I have a gut feeling that it was something to be staged to make it look like Arlen could make the administration jump when he said â€jump,†and they pulled the rug out from under him when either Dick or Karl decided that they needed to review the letter first. In other words, something went awry… Of course, the letter will be more BS.

    The other observation about the deadline is that it seems like any time the Bushies are given a deadline, it is a given that they will do their best to thumb their noses at it. Arlen should know that.

  8. clem says:

    This is a time when the media’s celebrity-stalking skills and resources could be put to good use.

    Why aren’t cameras planted in front of Specter’s office and the White House, with underinformed reporters babbling for hours while the letter continues to fail to materialize?

  9. mighty mouse says:

    Do we yet know why Specter was briefed–and who else was there? Seems like while we are waiting, there are any number of (not classified) questions that could be put to Specter. Or why Specter wanted or was willing to be briefed? What’s his opinion at this point? ETC?

  10. BillE says:

    I will admit to believing a conspiracy exists in the form of the Cheney cabal to blackmail and subvert their way to a 5th Reich. But Specter has been a wholly owned subsidiary to who ever has the pictures on him since the 60’s. He has been given leeway over the years to appear moderate, but when push comes to shove the Rethugs pull his strings. The phoney BS that the rapturists where flailing around when he first became SJC chairman. About abortion and judges what bologna. They already knew the outcome of any import vote with him. Same with huckleberry Graham they got the goods on that guy, but good.

  12. clbrune says:

    The thing that’s bugged me about Specter is that he protests so loudly before he caves–and I no longer think he caves, I think he knows from the get go that he’s all hat, no cattle.

    But for the WH to drop this ball seems like a mistake for them. Heck they COULD send a crayon letter from Gonzo saying â€I really really really said everything I could, so please don’t be mean to me,†and Specter could use to to show how cooperative everyone is being. But if the WH doesn’t respond at all, that puts Specter in an awkward position (not that awkwardness, insincerity or hypocrisy have ever slowed down a Republican’s lips)

  13. Dismayed says:

    It has already happened. The frog’s boiling. No letter, no Miers, no Rove, no Cheney, no Rumsfeld – no anyone. No more congressional oversight. It’s over, the administration ain’t showing and ain’t going to.

    The kettle whistle should be blowing loud and clear, but it isn’t. The only step this bunch of thugs lacks is not having elections.

    One final call should be put out to Bush this week, demanding that all these people be directed to show up for their hearings and clearly stating that impeachement proceedings will begin against high level officials should the executive branch not bow to Congressional Authority.

    Welcome to the Roman Senate folks. It’s here if anyone wants to admit it or not.

  14. phred says:

    You’ve got that right Dismayed. W’s gone all in on the unitary executive, is Congress gonna call or fold?

  15. JohnJ says:

    Here’s a nightmare scenario: what happens if the Big Dick runs for prez AND â€WINSâ€? After the 2004 election, I wouldn’t be surprised that the voting system has been fixed enough to pull it off (pity me, I live in the 3rd world state of Florida).

    What would this country do? Would anyone have the guts to do something, or would we just shrug and live with it (as we did in 2000 and 2004)?

    BTW there are several articles on Google news that a team successfully hacked all 3 of the major voting machine companies’ machines; essentially with their hands tied behind their backs. The official’s response…..it hasn’t happened yet so it’s not so bad. (They obviously haven’t heard of Florida).

  17. freepatriot says:

    hello everybody, and thanks for your thoughts and prayers

    I got an off topic question, so I broke my â€No Posting†rule

    if ted stevens’ lawyer was tipped off about the raid on stevens’ house, why isn’t that lawyer ineleigible to defend stevens now ???

    using logic, I determine that the lawyer in question is now a part of the investigation, since we now have to find out who leaked the information and attempted to obstruct justice in this case

    so why hasn’t anybody mentioned this aspect of the story

    (and now back to lurking)

  18. phred says:

    Hiya free! I hope all is going well with your Mom… Go take a peek at FDL, Jane’s got a post up on exactly that point…

  19. Mimikatz says:

    One very important difference between now and 2004 is that the Dems hold the Sec of State’s office in CA, IA, IL, MN, MO, OH and PA. Also NY, I assume. The R’s hold it in AZ, FL and MI, plus TX, same as before. That minimizes the states that they can monkey with to mostly ones they would get anyway.

  20. Dismayed says:

    Don’t worry about Dick running for prez. That’s just not going to happen. And all the machine rigging in the world won’t pull that turd out of the bowl.

    The Republican party hasn’t gotten their checkbooks out yet. They are smarter, they know about candidate fatigue. They’ll let the dem front runners spend and spend, while they keep their wallets in their pockets.

    Newt is going to jump in the race before too long, late september or late janurary I’d say. And oh how the masses will swoon. That’s their strategy. Bring in the ringer late, invigorate the party with a TRUE reagan conservative, a hero of the party in fact, almost a modern founding father. Hide and watch that’s what’s coming.

  21. JohnJ says:

    I am patiently waiting for someone to start a post on the current â€mechanics†of our voting system. Not only do I live in FLORIDA, home of election cheating, but I also work in the electronic design/mfg. industry.

  22. KLynn says:

    The Senator has been read into the program?

    Is that program or Program?

    Does this mean the senator has been brainwashed and wiil now speak blubbering-idiotic-nonsensical-I-cannot-remember statements only?

    This is not grasping for the hope of a saved democracy…Arlen better have a brain, get moving and serve to protect and preserve the Constitution of the United States of America as he swore to do. Nothing more and definitely NOTHING less. Rule of law Arlen, Rule of Law. Stop the parsing and the politics. Start protection and preservation.

    Sorry folks, I am just at a low tolerance level today with all of the â€fixed†jobs on our Constitution.

    And why is Snow even briefing on this letter? Should not the DOJ be briefing on it?

    Sorry, preaching to the choir…

    And yes to phred…or Ohio!

    Go get em’ EW. Enjoy the convergence of democracy at YearlyKos!

  23. paulc says:

    Silly empty-headed liberals! It’s obvious you have absolutely no appreciation for the amount effort and coordination it takes to craft a lie of this magnitude !

    First you have to get the whole gang together and make sure everyone knows their part.This is harder than you might think since almost everyone has to check with their lawyer first.Once you get everyone together, then you have write the damn thing! I know how much you people like that sort of thing in committee, but we hate it. You would too if you had to collaborate with Cheney. Then there are the endless rehearsals of the â€story†Clearly, many of you have no idea how difficult it can be to remember â€I can’t recall†or the more complicated statement†Senator, I’ll have to get back to you on thatâ€particularly with thos pesky lights and microphones around.

    What every good Republican knows is that you can’t just lie off the cuff, you have to write the story before you try and tell it. We’ve tried this Ad Hoc stuff you liberals rely on and it just doesn’t work. There’s just too much thinking on your feet. While that might work for Rove you can’t really expect George and Fredo to pull it off. Finally, we find it’s best not to commit the â€story†to paper because you people get so pissy when we change it later.

    Grow up and go get real jobs!

  24. Anonymous says:

    The unfolding of more crap and corruption still is ongoing folks! More shocking crimes and confessions involving government and industry. Lots more investigations as we speak, not yet public.

    Keep monitoring!