The Political Chase

Trancredo Drops Out

Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo plans to drop out of the race tomorrow. According to unreliable sources, Tancredo may have been unwittingly subjected to
injections of Promicin by Jordan Collier, head of the 4400.

Jordan Collier - former hotel mogul

NTAK, citing an ongoing investigation, refused to comment on the matter.

Cheney’s Disco Inferno

The timing could not be worse. Cheney torches the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the screenwriters are on strike. Can you even begin to imagine what Jon Stewart and his crew would do with that?

Take a break from the seriousness of Iowa and all that stuff. Read Andy Borowitz’s post on Cheney’s disco inferno.

John Edwards

I want to get this out before the media blitz takes off like it was covering Anna Nicole Smith again or Britney Spears today.

For two days I have been working on a piece about John Edwards that focuses primarily on lack of media coverage, and a recent positive increase in polls and voter perception. I have not finished my research and therefore, obviously I’m not ready to post. And I will not get it posted before a vicious slanderous rumor takes hold on a logarithmic scale.

I’m not going to dignify the rumor by linking to it or even stating what it is — many already know by now and for those that don’t you will soon I’m sure. I don’t believe it and find it to be reprehensible.

That said, John Edwards will be getting plenty of media coverage - the wrong kind and for the wrong reasons. And that is a basic point I intended to make in my yet-to-be written post. So for the record, I had no knowledge of the trash that is circulating until after I had developed the thesis and was well into researching.

Purveyors of political smut are no better than their product.

White House Rebukes NYT Report

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino issued a statement strongly rebuking the New York Times’ report of substantial involvement by the White House in the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes. In her statement, Perino described the piece as “”pernicious and troubling” and demanded the Times issue a correction.

The New York Times today implies that the White House has been misleading in publicly acknowledging or discussing details related to the CIA’s decision to destroy interrogation tapes.

The sub-headline of the story inaccurately says that the “White House Role Was Wider Than It Said”, and the story states that “…the involvement of White House officials in the discussions before the destruction of the tapes…was more extensive than Bush administration officials have acknowledged.”

Under direction from the White House General Counsel while the Department of Justice and the CIA Inspector General conduct a preliminary inquiry, we have not publicly commented on facts relating to this issue, except to note President Bush’s immediate reaction upon being briefed on the matter. Furthermore, we have not described - neither to highlight, nor to minimize — the role or deliberations of White House officials in this matter.

The New York Times’ inference that there is an effort to mislead in this matter is pernicious and troubling, and we are formally requesting that NYT correct the sub-headline of this story.

It will not be surprising that this matter will be reported with a reliance on un-named sources and individuals lacking a full availability of the facts — and, as the New York Times story itself acknowledges, some of these sources will have wildly conflicting accounts of the facts. We will instead focus our efforts on supporting the preliminary inquiry underway, where facts can be gathered without bias or influence and later disseminated in an appropriate fashion.

We will continue to decline to comment on this issue, and in response to misleading press reports.

(emphasis added)

Perino’s statements focus on the White House not misleading the public in its statements, and was accompanied by a long list of “no comments” issued by the White House, but Perino makes no attempt to deny involvement by the White House.

Moreover, Perino flat out lied in her statement, “we have not publicly commented on facts relating to this issue, except to note President Bush’s immediate reaction upon being briefed on the matter.” But in her December 10th press briefing she specifically stated she was not allowed to comment on the matter including the president’s reaction.

QUESTION: Dana, is the President concerned about the impact on the CIA’s reputation and its integrity, not just here but around the world…

MS. PERINO: Well, one, I haven’t – I’m not allowed to characterize the President’s reaction to this, but what I can tell you is that he — as I said Friday, he has complete confidence in General Hayden, and that remains.

QUESTION: But why can’t you characterize his concern, if there is one, about the integrity of a key governmental agency that operates around the world?

MS. PERINO: Well, I think I — pressed on that, I would say that I think the President feels very highly about all of the members of the intelligence community, and at the CIA. He knows that they work extremely hard in order to keep all of us protected, that they try to do everything that they possibly can. There’s — in regards to this specific issue, regarding these tapes, that the President said that he does not recall being made aware of their existence or their destruction until last Thursday’s briefing. There’s not much more I can say.

QUESTION: But he’s not concerned about the facts as we know them now?

MS. PERINO: In terms of — I can’t talk about that particular — I can’t characterize the President’s thinking on that.

It is patently obvious nothing the White House Press Secretary says can be taken as credible. The current Press Secretary is lying as have her predecessors.

Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Fire

Eisenhower Executive Office Building

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building is ablaze. Vice President Dick Cheney’s ceremonial office is in the building, as well as NSC offices. According to news reports (MSNBC TV), highly classified documents are maintained in the morning, as well as documents required to be kept under the Presidential Records Act. The Secret Service White House visitor logs, which a federal judge recently ordered the administration to release, are also reportedly stored in the building.

Of course, media reporters are rapidly stating what is contained in the building, therefore, their accounts may be inaccurate at this time.

Update:  The Secret Service has determined the fire was accidental and have ruled out any possibility that the fire was an act of arson. Wow! That was fast.

How dare the NYT accuse the WH of impropriety

Not the Bush White House!

At least four top White House lawyers took part in discussions with the Central Intelligence Agency between 2003 and 2005 about whether to destroy videotapes showing the secret interrogations of two operatives from Al Qaeda, according to current and former administration and intelligence officials.

The accounts indicate that the involvement of White House officials in the discussions before the destruction of the tapes in November 2005 was more extensive than Bush administration officials have acknowledged.

Those who took part, the officials said, included Alberto R. Gonzales, who served as White House counsel until early 2005; David S. Addington, who was the counsel to Vice President Dick Cheney and is now his chief of staff; John B. Bellinger III, who until January 2005 was the senior lawyer at the National Security Council; and Harriet E. Miers, who succeeded Mr. Gonzales as White House counsel.

Don’t believe a word of it. Its the media conspiring againt George Bush and Dick Cheney.