Babs Is Angry with Rove, Cheney & Card over Junior’s Fall in Polls

The Washington Note:

Barbara Bush is allegedly TICKED off at Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Andy Card, nearly all of them — except Karen Hughes — for how her boy is faring in the hearts and minds of Americans.

The matriarch of the Bush clan is colder than North Pole ice right now to those around her son who she thinks have undermined him. I’ll tell who my sources are if Patrick Fitzgerald gives a call and makes me — but the sources are very close to Poppa Bush (41), who has been traveling a bit with some of his old entourage, including Brent Scowcroft and others of the first Bush regime…

Should be interesting to watch the role of the First Mother in the coming couple of months. Watch for a lot to change right after the State of the Union address, I’ve been told.

Tainted Rightwing Gabfest Moves from PBS to Fox

And good riddance: This show was ill-conceived – literally – on PBS. Now it’s moving to Fox News. Perfect:

“Tomlinson made extensive efforts to develop and promote the conservative ‘Journal Editorial Report,’ featuring Wall Street Journal commentators — despite federal law barring board members from being involved in program development.”

The “Journal Editorial Report” on PBS has been enveloped in controversy recently. A May 2 report in the New York Times said Corporation for Public Broadcasting chairman Kenneth Tomlinson “encouraged corporation and public broadcasting officials to broadcast ‘The Journal Editorial Report.'” Tomlinson helped get the program on the air “as a way of balancing ‘Now,'” the story added. Tomlinson was “instrumental in lining up $5 million in corporate financing and pressing PBS to distribute it.”

“Participants in the show generally conform to conservative orthodoxy in their discussion of public affairs,” a May story on the UPI wire added.

The issue has been in the media as recently as Sunday. A Washington Post editorial said “Tomlinson made extensive efforts to develop and promote the conservative ‘Journal Editorial Report,’ featuring Wall Street Journal commentators — despite federal law barring board members from being involved in program development.”

Cheney Says He Is Above the Law, Will Keep Travel Costs Secret

What is he hiding? Why should we believe Vice President Cheney supports democracy when he routinely pokes our democratic principles in the eye? If some outside source – the Chinese government or Halliburton, say – is paying to fly him around the country, the public should know it. This is (another) outrage:

In a report this month, the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity said Cheney and his staff have sidestepped regulations that require annual reporting of travel expenses of more than $250 received from outside groups. The center, which focuses on ethics and public service issues, said previous vice presidents routinely disclosed such payments for lodging, travel and food when the veep and his staff made appearances at colleges, think tanks and trade associations.

“The private sector reimburses elected officials and bureaucrats for such trips, but laws require officials to disclose where they went, how much it costs and who paid for it,” the report said, citing provisions found in Section 1353 of Title 13 of the U.S. Code.

Cheney’s office says nothing is amiss. In three letters since 2002 to the Office of Government Ethics, which collects the travel reports, David S. Addington, then Cheney’s general counsel, noted that the reporting requirement applies to the “head of each agency of the executive branch.”

“The Office of the Vice President is not an ‘agency of the executive branch,’ and hence the reporting requirement does not apply,” wrote Addington, who this month replaced I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby as Cheney’s chief of staff

GOP Congress Quietly Killed Air Marshal Program

Associated Press:

Efforts to train thousands of federal agents to protect commercial flights during heightened terror alerts were quietly abandoned more than a year ago because Congress objected to the cost, government investigators said Tuesday.

The Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, reported that the federal air marshal service suspended its efforts to develop such a “surge capacity” by training customs and immigration agents to protect passenger airliners.

The Homeland Security Department “indicated that it would continue to support the surge effort but had not determined whether and when it would resume cross-training to resume this initiative,” the report said…

By October 2004, Homeland Security had cross-trained some immigration and customs agents, but stopped because of congressional concerns that it was “an ineffective use of resources,” the report said.

The number of immigration and customs agents who were trained wasn’t disclosed for security reasons. The assistant secretary for the agency, though, testified in March that 800 agents would be trained by October, the report said. Some of those agents were assigned to augment air marshals on flights during heightened threat alerts.

The air marshals moved back to the Transportation Security Administration in October.

Rove ‘to Be Charged Or Make Plea’

Obstruction: Raw Story says Patrick Fitzgerald’s case against Bush lackey Karl Rove appears to hinge on instructions Rove gave his assistant for logging calls from reporters:

Why does this alleged felon, who is accused of lying to the U.S. government, still have a top-level U.S. security clearance?

Rove has remained under intense scrutiny because of inconsistencies in his testimony to investigators and the grand jury. According to sources, Rove withheld crucial facts on three separate occasions and allegedly misled investigators about conversations he had with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper.

The attorneys say that Rove’s former personal assistant, Susan B. Ralston — who was also a special assistant to President Bush — testified in August about why Cooper’s call to Rove was not logged. Ralston said it occurred because Cooper had phoned in through the White House switchboard and was then transferred to Rove’s office as opposed to calling Rove’s office directly. As Rove’s assistant, Ralston screened Rove’s calls.

But those close to the probe tell RAW STORY that Fitzgerald obtained documentary evidence showing that other unrelated calls transferred to Rove’s office by the switchboard were logged. He then called Ralston back to testify.

Earlier this month, attorneys say Fitzgerald received additional testimony from Ralston — who said that Rove instructed her not to log a phone call Rove had with Cooper about Plame in July 2003.

Ralston also provided Fitzgerald with more information and “clarification” about several telephone calls Rove allegedly made to a few reporters, including syndicated columnist Robert Novak, the lawyers said.

If true, this is perhaps the most significant evidence Fitzgerald has obtained suggesting Rove deliberately sought to mislead investigators. Her testimony may help Fitzgerald prove that there were inconsistencies in Rove’s account of his role in the leak and assess why he withheld a crucial fact from the prosecutor: that he had spoken with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper as well as Novak about Plame and confirmed that she was an undercover CIA agent.

Which brings us back to an important question: Why does this alleged felon, who is accused of lying to the U.S. government, still have a top-level U.S. security clearance?

Inside the GOP’s Circular Firing Squad

Lott’s spite: A New York Times article yesterday covered former Senate Majority Leade Trent Lott’s mouthing off against his enemies inside the GOP as if they had significance beyond a petty need to exact revenge:

The senator has also thrown darts in the direction of Karl Rove, President Bush’s chief political adviser. With Mr. Bush’s poll ratings dropping, Mr. Lott has said the White House might consider “bringing in some new people” – a jab at Mr. Rove, who helped engineer Mr. Lott’s departure as Republican leader.

The current majority leader, Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, also seems to be in Mr. Lott’s sights. In his book, “Herding Cats: A Life in Politics,” published in August, Mr. Lott wrote that he considered Mr. Frist’s leadership bid in 2002 “a personal betrayal.”

When Mr. Frist pushed for a Congressional inquiry to determine the source of a Washington Post article about secret prisons run by the C.I.A., Mr. Lott complicated matters by suggesting the leak might have come from a Republican.

Some wonder if Mr. Lott’s recent barbs are a preretirement parting shot. Others say he remains deeply bruised from his fall in 2002 and is exacting payback. His close friends, who expect Mr. Lott to make a decision about his future by year’s end, try to dismiss the notion of revenge.

“I wouldn’t say it’s revenge,” said Robert L. Livingston, a Republican from Louisiana who was due to become House speaker in 1998 but left Congress amid revelations of an extramarital affair. “But he has a long memory.”

We suppose it depends on what the definition of “revenge” is.

Abramoff Scandal Could Net a Dozen Members of Congress

The sleaze lobby: The investigations into various scandals around GOP former lobbyist Jack Abramoff is entering a new phase:

U.S. News has learned that the conduct of at least a dozen representatives and senators is now being scrutinized by a small army of federal prosecutors and FBI agents. According to sources familiar with the inquiry, a federal task force, which includes investigators from the Interior Department–which has authority to regulate Indian reservations–is examining the relationships between lawmakers and [Abramoff’s former partner Michael] Scanlon and Abramoff. A key question is whether the lawmakers took official actions after receiving campaign contributions, free trips, or other gifts from the lobbyists, the sources say.

[…]

Fitzgerald Calls Another Time Reporter to Testify about Rove

Washington Post:

A second Time magazine reporter has agreed to cooperate in the CIA leak case and will testify about her discussions with Karl Rove’s attorney, a sign that prosecutors are still exploring charges against the White House aide.

Viveca Novak, a reporter in Time’s Washington bureau, is cooperating with Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who is investigating the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity in 2003, the magazine reported in its Dec. 5 issue.

Novak specifically has been asked to testify under oath about conversations she had with Rove attorney Robert Luskin starting in May 2004, the magazine reported.

Novak, part of a team tracking the CIA case for Time, has written or contributed to articles in which Luskin characterized the nature of what was said between Rove and Matthew Cooper, the first Time reporter who testified in the case.

Following the Money to Scooter Libby

Know who’s pitching in to help Scooter Libby beat the rap on charges of grand jury perjury and obstruction in the CIA leak case? The list is pretty interesting.

[St. Petersburg, Fl.] developer Mel Sembler, a former U.S. ambassador, is taking a leading role in raising millions for the legal defense fund of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby…

The fund, which was formed several weeks ago, has received assistance from friends, colleagues and former government officials, according to former Justice Department spokeswoman Barbara Comstock, who is helping Libby. That group includes former United Nations Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick.

Other contributors include investor Howard Leach, lobbyist Wayne Berman, both of whom help raise money for President Bush’s campaigns; Richard Carlson, president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1992-1997; former presidential candidates Steve Forbes and Jack Kemp; and former Sens. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and Alan Simpson of Wyoming.

Ex-CIA director James Woolsey also is helping, as are magazine publisher Philip Merrill, a former president and ex-chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and Mideast historian Bernard Lewis…

Sembler, a longtime Republican fundraiser, has helped candidates at all levels, from St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker up to both President Bushes.

From 1997-2000, he was the Republican National Committee finance chairman. He served as ambassador to Australia and Nauru from 1989 to 1993, and most recently as ambassador to Italy.

If Scooter needs to put up a multi-million dollar defense, maybe a presidential pardon isn’t a slam-dunk. I’d say it depends on how poll numbers are at the end of his trial. Pres. I Don’t Pay Attention to Focus Groups will let him go as long as it doesn’t cost him any political capital.

Offshoring CIA Torture: European Probe Expands

Europe is vigorously investigating which of its members helped the CIA get away with disappearing and torturing suspected terrorists over the four years since 9/11. The probe began after a Nov. 2 story in the Washington Post exposed suspicious flights.

Whether it was European complicity in the U.S. effort to “offshore” its torture, or the CIA simply using our allies behind their backs, the activity was widespread. AP:

Human Rights Watch identified possible sites for secret detention centers, based on flight logs of CIA aircraft from 2001 to 2004

Austria’s air force was investigating allegations that a CIA transport plane containing suspected terrorist captives flew through the neutral country’s airspace in 2003, and Denmark said it would ask U.S. authorities for details about the alleged transport of detainees on planes said to be used by the CIA over Danish territory…

Bulgaria was the latest country to deny reports of involvement, saying the CIA’s planes never landed at the Sarafovo airport near the Black Sea…

Human Rights Watch said it had evidence indicating the CIA transported suspected terrorists captured in Afghanistan to Poland and Romania. The New York-based group identified the Kogalniceanu military airfield in Romania and Poland’s Szczytno-Szymany airport as possible sites for secret detention centers, saying it based its conclusions on flight logs of CIA aircraft from 2001 to 2004…

On Tuesday, Swiss senator Dick Marty, who leads the Council of Europe probe, said he was investigating 31 suspect planes that landed in Europe in recent years…

Other airports that might have been used by CIA aircraft in some capacity include Palma de Mallorca in Spain, Larnaca in Cyprus and Shannon in Ireland, as well as the U.S. air base at Ramstein, Germany, Marty said in a report.

Swedish authorities, meanwhile, have confirmed at least one plane with alleged CIA links landed in Sweden three times since 2002. Denmark says 14 flights with suspected CIA ties entered its airspace since 2001; Norway has confirmed three such flights; and Icelandic media have reported 67 landings.

There have been other unconfirmed reports in Macedonia and Malta.