They’re Not Telling

The White House and DOJ gave a very curious "no comment" to Scott Shane for his article on the reopened investigation into the illegal wiretap program.

Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, and Brian Roehrkasse, a JusticeDepartment spokesman, declined to say whether Mr. Mukasey had pressedMr. Bush on the clearances for the department’s Office of ProfessionalResponsibility.

This is really curious–and suggests to me that we (and the Democrats quoted in the article) are correct in giving Mukasey credit for forcing the issue. What other motivation would the Administration have in refusing to comment? After all, if Bush decided to give the clearances on his own, he’d get credit for doing so if he made it public. I can only guess that Mukasey did force the issue, and BushCo isn’t telling us because it would betray weakness on the part of Bush (in that he got forced to do something by someone besides Cheney) and it would suggest the Democrats (or at least Chuck Schumer) really did game the whole Muksaey nomination.

Which makes the language Mukasey used in his answer to this question all the more intriguing.

I have committed, however, to reviewing theover-all circumstances of this matter.

I’m still not holding my breath, mind you. But I keep thinking that Mukasey was picked by the same guy who picked Comey.