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<title>Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall</title>
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<em>See TPMmuckraker's minute by minute <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002905.php">live coverage</a> of this morning's Sampson hearings.  All TPMmuckraker coverage, with video, <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/">here</a>.</em></form>

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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013688"></a> (April 17, 2007 -- 12:44 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013688.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Debunking Conservative Myths,</span> <a href="http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2007/apr/17/tax_day_silliness">the Tax Day Edition</a>.</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Andrew Golis
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013687"></a> (April 17, 2007 -- 12:11 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013687.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">National House Dem</span> strategists are predicting gains in what they see as a key 2008 battleground: <a href="http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/apr/16/national_dems_predicting_gains_in_suburban_districts_in_2008"> The suburbs</a>. Comes complete with a <a href="http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/apr/16/national_dems_predicting_gains_in_suburban_districts_in_2008"> list</a> of the DCCC's top 10 targeted GOP-held suburban districts.</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Greg Sargent
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013686"></a> (April 17, 2007 -- 11:29 AM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013686.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Finally, an answer</span> to why so many different and conflicting accounts of why the U.S. attorneys were fired are coming out of the Justice Department.</p>

<p>It's <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003030.php">complicated</a>.</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Paul Kiel
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013685"></a> (April 17, 2007 -- 11:22 AM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013685.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">It looks like</span> Congress will likely be offering Monica Goodling immunity in order to secure her testimony. The House Judiciary Committee will <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003031.php">vote on it</a> tomorrow.</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Paul Kiel
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013684"></a> (April 17, 2007 -- 10:40 AM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013684.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Check out this</span> <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/04/xxx.php"> key finding</a> in the new <i>WaPo</i>/ABC poll: It very clearly demonstrates that the number of Americans who are buying the White House's central message is dropping precipitously.</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Greg Sargent
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013682"></a> (April 17, 2007 -- 09:00 AM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013682.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps"><a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003028.php">Today's Must</span> Read</a>: Kyle Sampson's private testimony to congressional investigators is bad news for the White House and Alberto Gonzales.</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Paul Kiel
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013679"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 11:59 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013679.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">There's a lot</span> of talk this evening about <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/print?id=3046651">ABC News' exclusive</a> showing a June 6th 2006 email that contradicts the testimony Alberto Gonzales plans to give before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.  Gonzales says he was not involved in identifying the particular US Attorneys to be fired.  But the email from Kyle Sampson portrays him as intimately involved in discussions about the firing of Carol Lam.  </p>

<p>Now, first it's important to say that the email isn't new.  We <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002879.php">discussed the letter</a> in late March at TPMmuckraker.  And you can see the actual letter <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/carol-leash/">here</a>.   But kudos to ABC for noticing that the June 6th email contradicts Gonzales' soon-to-be-given testimony.  </p>

<p>As ABC describes it ...</p>

<blockquote>In the e-mail to other top Justice Department officials, Sampson outlined several steps that Gonzales suggested, culminating in Lam's replacement if she failed to bolster immigration enforcement.

<p>"AG [Attorney General] has given additional thought to the San Diego situation and now believes that we should adopt a plan" that would lead to her removal if she "balks" at immigration reform, Sampson wrote.</p>

<p>The e-mail laid out other possible ways to deal with Lam short of dismissal. Gonzales supported the idea of first having "a heart to heart with Lam about the urgent need to improve immigration enforcement" and of working with her "to develop a plan for addressing the problem." Sampson said another alternative would be to "put her on a very short leash.</p>

<p>"If she balks on any of the foregoing or otherwise does not perform in a measurable way … remove her," Sampson wrote of Gonzales' suggested plan. "AG then appoints new U.S. [attorney] from outside the office."</p>

<p>The Lam situation gets to the heart of the U.S. attorney controversy and the focus of the upcoming Gonzales hearing. Senators want to know why the eight prosecutors were fired. Were they fired for cause? Was their performance at issue? Or were their political motives?</blockquote></p>

<p>But here's the problem, here's what gets left unsaid.  Should the AG have a 'heart to heart' or 'put her on a short leash' or what if she resists, etc. etc. etc.  But do you remember that they never spoke to Lam?  No leash or heart to heart.  They never even mentioned any of it to her.</p>

<p>This is the part of the equation that just won't add up no matter how hard they try to push the numbers together.</p>

<p>Consider the scene.  May 2006.  Lam has already <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/cunningham/20060303-1633-bn03sentenc6.html">sent</a> one congressman to prison.  News has just broken that her investigation now <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000620.php">threatens</a> to bring down the House Appropriations Committee Chairman.   And she'd <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000637.php">just brought her probe</a> to the heart of the Bush CIA.</p>

<p>While this is going on top Justice Department officials are having an entirely separate conversation about how to deal with Lam's record on immigration enforcement.  Talk it out with her?  Give her one last chance?  Keep her on a short leash?</p>

<p>All these possibilities.  But no one ever gets around to telling Lam anything about it.  </p>

<p>Does that sound right to you?  </p>

<p>What were these discussions really about?  </p>

<p>Kyle Sampson went up to the Senate again over the weekend.  And according to Sen. Schumer (D-NY), Sampson <a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070416/16gonzales_3.htm">said</a> that "on June 6, senior Justice officials including Sampson; the department's No. 3 official, William Mercer; Gonzales' former counselor Jeffrey Taylor, now the now U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., and others discussed the potential ouster of Lam."  But DOJ spokesman Brian Roehrkasse says the meeting wasn't about Lam's ouster at all.  It was about "congressional complaints about inadequate immigration enforcement in Lam's district."</p>

<p>The fact that the immigration issue was never raised with Lam by the Department of Justice points strongly to the conclusion that it was not the reason for her firing but the pretext for it.</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Josh Marshall
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013681"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 11:11 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013681.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">That is a</span> very impressive number.  Speaker Nancy Pelosi is at <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/postpoll_041607.html">53% approval</a> in the WaPo/ABC poll.  That's even a decent number for a president.  But the Speakership is an inherently partisan position -- a post far easier to villify than to mobilize around.   By way of contrast, Newt Gingrich maxed out at 41% approval and spent most of his time in the thirties.  </p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Josh Marshall
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013680"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 11:07 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013680.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">ABC: <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3045574">Someone</span> else</a> involved in VTech shootings?</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Josh Marshall
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013678"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 08:30 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013678.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Rep. Conyers (D-MI)</span> wants to talk to USAs Steven Biskupic (Milwaukee), Rachel Paulose (Minneapolis), Larry Gomez (acting USA in New Mexico, Iglesias's replacement), Mary Beth Buchanan (Western District of Pennsylvania) and others.  </p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Josh Marshall
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013677"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 08:20 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013677.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Giuliani at </span><a href="http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/apr/16/rudy_speaking_at_pat_robertsons_regent_u_tomorrow">Monica Goodling's alma mater</a> (Regent University) tomorrow!</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Josh Marshall
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013676"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 05:47 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013676.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Want to join</span> us at TPM World HQ?  The deadline for <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013577.php">applying</a> for the TPM Summer Internship is Friday.</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Andrew Golis
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013675"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 05:25 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013675.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">The Senate Judiciary</span> Committee has postponed Alberto Gonzales' hearing until Thursday due to the Virginia Tech shootings. </p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Paul Kiel
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013674"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 04:53 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013674.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Tommy Thompson takes</span> a <a href="http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/apr/16/quote_of_the_day_0"> stab at an apology</a> for saying that money-making is "part of the Jewish tradition."</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Greg Sargent
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013672"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 02:56 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013672.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">The five big</span> questions we're going to be looking for answers for in tomorrow's Alberto Gonzales testimony.  That and why Andrea Koppel thinks there's still no evidence of wrongdoing in the Purge story.  </p>

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    <div class="posted">-- Josh Marshall
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013673"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 02:56 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013673.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Now he tells</span> us.</p>

<p>Former CIA director George Tenet apparently <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/04/post_56.php"> is now saying</a> that he never told the Bush administration that the case against Saddam's WMDs was a "slam dunk." One <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/04/post_56.php"> problem</a>, though...</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Greg Sargent
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013671"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 02:22 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013671.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">More <a href="http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/005964.html">smoke</span></a> on DC US Attorney Jeffrey Taylor.</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Josh Marshall
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013670"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 02:15 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013670.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Bad news for</span> Rep. Doolittle (R-CA).  </p>

<p>Former Doolittle staffer and Abramoff associate Kevin Ring <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0407/3532.html">abruptly resigns</a> from current law firm gig.  </p>

<p>If the pattern holds, don't be surprised if you see Mr. Ring coming to an agreement with the government sometime soon.  Last year, Neil Volz resigned from the same firm, Barnes & Thornburg, before coming to a plea agreement with prosecutors and helping bag former boss Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH).</p>

<p><em>Update</em>: <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003024.php">Here's a rundown</a> at TPMmuckraker for why Doolittle's time seems to have finally come.</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Josh Marshall
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013669"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 01:59 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013669.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Dana Perino doesn't</span> know for sure that Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) didn't have a conversation with President Bush about U.S. attorney David Iglesias <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003022.php">because</a> she "hasn't asked."</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Paul Kiel
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013667"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 01:00 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013667.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Alberto Gonzales' deputy</span> has got <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003021.php">one foot out the door</a>. </p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Paul Kiel
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013666"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 12:48 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013666.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Remember "Mean Jean"</span> Schmidt, the Ohio GOP Rep. who called John Murtha a "coward" before going on to win reelection by a mere percentage point?</p>

<p>Well, it looks like Mean Jean is now <a href="http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/apr/16/victoria_wulsin_to_challenge_jean_schmidt_again_in_2008"> facing a rematch</a>.</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Greg Sargent
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013665"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 11:40 AM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013665.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">In today's speech,</span> Bush <a href="http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/apr/16/bush_baselessly_asserts_that_troops_want_to_stay_in_iraq"> baselessly asserts</a> that the troops <i>want</i> to stay in Iraq.</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Greg Sargent
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013664"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 11:16 AM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013664.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">I've written this</span> post several times already.  But as long as the president keeps fibbing, I'll keep writing it.  The president says the Congress is substituting its judgment for that of the uniformed military.  Not true.  The uniformed military was against the surge.  By most measures, it still is.  The president disagreed so he fired the senior military leadership on the ground in Iraq and replaced them with people -- and there aren't that many of them -- who agreed with him.  </p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Josh Marshall
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013663"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 10:47 AM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013663.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Jon Cohn's </span><a href="http://bookclub.tpmcafe.com/blog/bookclub/2007/apr/16/un_compromising_positions">bottom line</a> on health care politics: we need a practical idealism.</p>

<p>Editorial note: A huge thanks to all who participated in <a href="http://bookclub.tpmcafe.com/book_title/sick_the_untold_story_of_americas_health_care_crisis_and_the_people_who_pay_the_price">last week's Book Club</a>.  It was a privilege to host such a distinguished group on such an essential topic.</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Andrew Golis
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013661"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 10:27 AM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013661.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps"><a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003019.php">Today's Must</span> Read</a>: getting Alberto Gonzales' story straight.</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Paul Kiel
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013660"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 10:10 AM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013660.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Perino from this</span> morning's gaggle ...</p>

<blockquote>Reporter: Dana, the <em>Albuquerque Journal</em> reported that Senator Domenici made a personal deal with the White House. Does the president recall talking about Iglesias, does the president recall specifically talking to Domenici, does...

<p>Dana Perino: I'd refer you to what the president said in Mexico when he was asked this specific question, and he said that he had, that it was something, I don't have his exact words, but he said something along the lines of that he had been hearing complaints, and we've told you the general different areas, around the country, and that he remembers the issue of voter fraud being brought up at a meeting with senators.  But we have never said --</p>

<p>Reporter:  He doesn't remember specifically Domenici?</p>

<p>Dana Perino:  Not that I -- I don't believe so.<br />
</blockquote></p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Josh Marshall
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013659"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 08:31 AM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013659.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">From the </span><em><a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117668592739670828-NtqMNcTNQjBgap7BI5jhmnL_xXM_20070423.html">WSJ</a></em> ...</p>

<blockquote>The Justice Department's Public Integrity Section is investigating connections between disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the White House, a probe that may be affected by missing White House emails.

<p>Lawyers involved in the case said that beginning more than a year ago, federal prosecutors and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents interviewed Mr. Abramoff and other cooperating witnesses at length about numerous contacts between Mr. Abramoff and White House officials, including presidential adviser Karl Rove.</p>

<p>One focus of the Justice inquiry has been whether Mr. Abramoff obtained official favors in exchange for giving Bush administration officials expensive meals and tickets to sporting events and concerts. The White House has denied this.</blockquote></p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Josh Marshall
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013658"></a> (April 16, 2007 -- 12:29 AM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013658.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">I've hinted at</span> this in a few of Sunday's posts.  But another wrinkle in the <em>Albuquerque Journal</em> <a href="http://www.abqjournal.com/news/special/554986nm04-15-07.htm">article</a> is the sourcing.  As I <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013652.php">suggested</a> earlier and this <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013656.php">non-denial denial</a> seems to confirm, the Domenici-Bush conversation does seem to have occurred.  But the <em>Journal's</em> story is a bit vague on the sourcing.  The article says the paper "confirmed the sequence of events through a variety of sources familiar with the firing of Iglesias, including sources close to Domenici."  Close to Domenici looks like the key.  These are facts no one else has been able to dig up so far.  But proxies for Domenici wouldn't seem to have much interest in putting this story out.  So what's up exactly?  And what does it suggest about the facts alleged in the article?</p>
		
    <div class="posted">-- Josh Marshall
	
	
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013657"></a> (April 15, 2007 -- 11:46 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013657.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Pulitzers are </span><a href="http://www.pulitzer.org/resources/whats_new.html">announced</a> tomorrow at 3:00 PM.  Any guesses?</p>
		
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013656"></a> (April 15, 2007 -- 10:42 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013656.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Late word from</span> the White House and DOJ in response to the Albuquerque Journal article, from <a href="http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/politics/17083797.htm">McClatchy</a> ...</p>

<blockquote>Meanwhile Sunday, the Albuquerque Journal reported that Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., told Gonzales in the spring of 2006 that he wanted New Mexico U.S. attorney David Iglesias dismissed, and that Gonzales refused. The newspaper said that Domenici later made the same case to White House adviser Karl Rove and spoke to President Bush about it after the November election, but before the attorney firings were announced on Dec. 7. Iglesias was among those fired.

<p>The newspaper cited "sources familiar with the firing of Iglesias, including sources close to Domenici," but did not name them.</p>

<p>Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the president did not tell Gonzales to fire Iglesias. He also said that Gonzales did not recall discussing with Domenici whether or not to replace Iglesias.</p>

<p>A White House spokesman, Trey Bohn, pointed to comments made by President Bush and his adviser Dan Bartlett last month when asked about the conversation with Domenici.</p>

<p>Bush said that in speaking to Gonzales about U.S. attorneys, "I never brought up a specific case nor gave him specific instructions." Bartlett said that "there was no directive given, as far as telling him to fire anybody or anything like that."</p>

<p>Domenici spokesman Chris Gallegos said Domenici would have no comment.</blockquote></p>

<p><em>Late Update</em>: As this close reading TPM Reader notes ...</p>

<blockquote>You can drive a Halliburton convoy through that White House denial.  The President never brought up “a specific case” -- say, U.S. v. Talking Points Media -- nor “gave [Gonzales] specific instructions.”  No “directive” that Gonzales should “fire anybody or anything like that.”

<p>So a call from the President to the Attorney General in which he says, “Pete Domenici called me this morning, says we gotta do something about that U.S. Attorney in New Mexico, Iglesias.  Not doing his jobs, not bringing cases fast enough – can you look into that, see what needs to be done?”  That would fit within the White House denial.</p>

<p>Perhaps more importantly, remember this: by law <http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode28/usc_sec_28_00000541----000-.html> , only the President can fire U.S. Attorneys.  That’s the only correct way to interpret the statute.  Bush got a complaint about Iglesias.  Bush fired Iglesias.  So how much did Domenici tell Bush?  I think we need to know a lot more details…</blockquote></p>

<p>Yup.</p>
		
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013654"></a> (April 15, 2007 -- 10:32 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013654.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Given President Bush's</span> role in the dismissal of David Iglesias--over the reported objection of Attorney General Gonzales--it's worth going back over what the President and those who speak on his behalf have said publicly since this scandal broke. TPM Reader <em>CB</em> gets us started off with some choice quotes.</p>

<p>President Bush, at a <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070314-2.html">press conference</a> in Mexico, March 14, 2007:</p>

<blockquote>I specifically remember one time I went up to the Senate and senators were talking about the U.S. attorneys. I don't remember specific names being mentioned, but I did say to Al last year -- you're right, last fall -- I said, have you heard complaints about AGs, I have -- I mean, U.S. attorneys, excuse me -- and he said, I have. But I never brought up a specific case nor gave him specific instructions. </blockquote>

<p>President Bush, in his weekly <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070324.html">radio address</a>, on March 24, 2007:</p>

<blockquote>In recent months, the Justice Department determined that new leadership in several of these positions would better serve the country. I strongly support the Attorney General in this decision. </blockquote>

<p>Dan Bartlett, in a <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070313-4.html">press briefing</a> in Mexico, on March 13, 2007:</p>

<blockquote>Particularly, as you can imagine, at the White House, when it comes to complaints, we receive a lot of complaints, whether it be from members of Congress, state leaders, local leaders. Oftentimes that is the job description of a White House employee, is to field complaints. That is not limited to U.S. attorneys. And over the course of several years we have received complaints about U.S. attorneys, particularly when it comes to election fraud cases -- not just New Mexico, but also Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

<p>That information, it's incumbent upon us to share with the relevant Cabinet officers, incumbent upon the President to do that, as well. The President did that briefly, in a conversation he had with the Attorney General in October of 2006, in which, in a wide-ranging conversation on a lot of different issues, this briefly came up and the President said, I've been hearing about this election fraud matters from members of Congress, want to make sure you're on top of that, as well. There was no directive given, as far as telling him to fire anybody or anything like that. That would be under the prerogative of the Justice Department to take a look at those issues, as they obviously were doing.</p>

<p>So I know a lot of people want to make more out of it than that, but that is exactly what happened.</blockquote></p>

<p>If you have other gems from the public record, please send them along, including links to the source of the quotes. </p>

<p><em>Update</em>: And still more:</p>

<p>Dana Perino, on March 13, 2007, according to the <em><a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/general/867616/white_house_mulled_firing_all_prosecutors/index.html?source=r_general">AP</a></em>:</p>

<blockquote>"At no time did any White House officials, including the president, direct the Department of Justice to take specific action against any individual U.S. attorney."</blockquote>
		
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013655"></a> (April 15, 2007 -- 09:56 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013655.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">TPM Reader </span><em>PG</em>, on this week's congressional testimony by the attorney general:</p>

<blockquote>[T]here’s one aspect of this story that seems to have attracted no editorial mention or public interest. Implicit in all the coverage is the assumption—by Democrats and Republicans alike—that the Attorney General is going up to Capitol Hill to lie. As far as I can tell, this is a universal assumption. The Republicans are rooting for Mr. Gonzales to be successful in his perjury, to tell a coherent story that his enemies cannot break down. The Democrats are rooting the other way, off course. They’re hoping that their ace interrogators will be able to shoot enough holes in Mr. Gonzales’ story that they can destroy his credibility. But nobody seems to find it shocking or tragic that the Attorney General of the United States is going to lie to congress. . . . I’m sure that if Gonzales makes it through his testimony without being totally discredited, Fred Barnes and Brit Hume will be all over Fox news boasting that the Senators “never laid a glove on him.” But no one seems the least bit concerned about his truthfulness, just his tactics. . . .</blockquote>
		
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013653"></a> (April 15, 2007 -- 09:23 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013653.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">It appears now</span> that Alberto Gonzales will stand before Congress on Tuesday with all of the Administration's cover stories about the U.S. attorney purge littered around his feet like so many rejected scripts. From the <em><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500548.html?nav=rss_politics/congress">Washington Post</a></em>:</p>

<blockquote>The former Justice Department official who carried out the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year told Congress that several of the prosecutors had no performance problems and that a memo on the firings was distributed at a Nov. 27 meeting attended by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, a Democratic senator said yesterday.

<p>The statements to House and Senate investigators by Michael A. Battle, former director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, represent another potential challenge to the credibility of Gonzales, who has said that he never saw any documents about the firings and that he had "lost confidence" in the prosecutors because of performance problems. </p>

<p>. . .</p>

<p>The statements by Battle, who left his job last month, are the first details to emerge from more than 20 hours of interviews with four top Gonzales aides over the past two weeks by staff members on the House and Senate Judiciary committees. The last of those interviews was conducted yesterday with Sampson, who testified publicly last month that he was only an "aggregator" of information on the firings and that ultimate responsibility rested with Gonzales.</blockquote></p>
		
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013652"></a> (April 15, 2007 -- 09:00 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013652.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Picking up on</span> David's <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013651.php">post</a> immediately below, this is the key point.  Out of all the issues raised in today's <em>Albuquerque Journal</em> <a href="http://www.abqjournal.com/news/special/554986nm04-15-07.htm">story</a> on the Iglesias firing and any potential sourcing questions, the central fact asserted is that after Sen. Domenici's pressure call to Iglesias and before Iglesias's name appeared on the firing list, Sen. Domenici had a conversation about firing Iglesias with President Bush himself.  </p>

<p>That places the president at the center of the story and marks him as the likely 'decider', shall we say, in Iglesias's ouster. </p>

<p>If there were any way for the White House to deny that such a call had occurred, they'd do it.  But it's mid-Sunday evening and there hasn't been a peep.  So I think we can be pretty certain that that call did take place as claimed.  (The article also reports calls to Gonzales and Rove -- so the same inference from silence applies to them too.)</p>

<p>This may also help explain why Karl Rove's deputy Scott Jennings assumed his White House colleagues knew so much about the Iglesias backstory when he sent them <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/bell-iglesias/?resultpage=1&">this panicked email</a> as the news of Domenici's call was breaking.  </p>
		
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013651"></a> (April 15, 2007 -- 08:24 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013651.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">This is curious.</span> The day's <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013648.php">big story</a>--the <em><a href="http://www.abqjournal.com/news/special/554986nm04-15-07.htm">Albuquerque Journal</a></em> article that places President Bush at the center of the firing of New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias--did not contain any reaction from the White House or the Department of Justice. Mike Gallagher's piece this morning noted that Sen. Pete Domenici's office declined to comment, but there was no reference, one way or the other, to any effort to contact the White House or DOJ for comment. That's not necessarily a criticism of Gallagher's work, but it did leave me with questions and the expectation that there would be some serious blowback from the Administration in response to the article. But here we are on Sunday evening, and I'm still not seeing any public reaction from the Administration. <a href="http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/17083407.htm">McClatchy</a> is reporting that the White House did not respond to its questions about the story out of New Mexico. You might say the silence is deafening.</p>

<p><em>Late update</em>: The <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013656.php">later version</a> of the McClatchy story contains reaction from the White House and DOJ.</p>
		
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013650"></a> (April 15, 2007 -- 07:36 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013650.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Dick Cheney, today</span> on <em><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/07/ftn/main2335223.shtml">Face the Nation</a></em>, when asked about the U.S. Attorney purge:</p>

<blockquote>Well, as vice president, I don't know anything about the particular problem you're talking about.  I mean, it took place inside the Justice Department.  The one who needs to answer to that and lay out on the record the specifics of what transpired is the attorney general, and he'll do so.</blockquote>

<p>Alberto Gonzales is, as <a href="http://www.cnn.com/US/9902/15/obit.ehrlichman.01/index.html">John Ehrlichman</a> said, "twisting slowly, slowly in the wind."</p>
		
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013648"></a> (April 15, 2007 -- 01:37 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013648.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Can I get</span> your attention for a second?  </p>

<p>You're going to hear a lot about Al Gonzales on the Hill, document dumps and timelines and a lot of other stuff.  But not much else you're going to see in the Purge story is going to be as <img src="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/images/davidiglesias.jpg" hspace=10 vspace=10 align=right>important as this <a href="http://www.abqjournal.com/news/special/554986nm04-15-07.htm">story</a> that ran this morning in <em>The Albuquerque Journal</em>.  I mentioned it below and Paul Kiel has a detailed analysis of it <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003017.php">here</a>.  </p>

<p>But here's what it amounts to.  </p>

<p>It was Sen. Domenici's (R-NM) call to David Iglesias to get him to game the November election with an election-timed indictment that got this scandal really rolling.  And it's always been the key question just how and whether Domenici's failed play to get Iglesias to tamper with the November election led to his firing on December 7th.</p>

<p>Now, we know a much more detailed timeline about just what happened.</p>

<p>As we've known Domenici had been complaining about Iglesias for some time.  President Bush and Karl Rove had also been complaining to Gonzales about Iglesias's record prosecuting 'voter fraud'.  Domenici told Gonzales he wanted Iglesias out back in the Spring of 2006.  But Gonzales said he would only fire Iglesias on the president's orders.</p>

<p>Now, let's fast foward to just before the November election.  Iglesias didn't show up on the firing list prepared in October 2006.  Then Domenici makes his call sometime a couple weeks or so before the election.  He doesn't get satisfaction from Iglesias.  And then shortly after the election, Domenici puts in a call to Karl Rove.  He tells Rove he wants Iglesias fired.  And he asks Rove to take his message directly to the president.  That led to a telephone conversation between Domenici and the president himself, presumably arranged by Rove. </p>

<p>Do you think it's possible that Domenici didn't mention his call to Iglesias just before the election and Iglesias's alleged foot-dragging on indicting Democrats?</p>

<p>From the article we don't know the precise date of the Rove and Bush conversations.  But we do know that Iglesias's name first shows up on the firing list on November 15th. </p>

<p>No one disputes that Domenici's call to Iglesias was at best inappropriate.  But there's been a lack of direct evidence that Iglesias's refusal to bow to political pressure led directly to his firing.  Now we have that evidence.   And it's not Kyle Sampson or even Alberto Gonzales whom Domenici went to to get sign off for Iglesias's ouster.  It was right to the president.  And the available evidence now points strongly to the conclusion that the final decision to fire David Iglesias came from the President of the United States. </p>
		
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013649"></a> (April 15, 2007 -- 12:41 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013649.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">Check out this</span> <a href="http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/apr/15/poll_more_americans_want_congress_not_bush_to_dictate_troop_levels"> new poll's key finding</a>: More Americans want Congress -- not the Commander in Chief -- to dictate troop levels in Iraq.</p>
		
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013647"></a> (April 15, 2007 -- 12:33 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013647.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">For those of</span> you who are impatient for the hours of foggy recollections, half-apologies, and promises that are sure to comprise Alberto Gonzales' testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003018.php">here's</a> his written statement.</p>
		
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013646"></a> (April 15, 2007 -- 11:22 AM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013646.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps"><em>Albuquerque Journal</em>: Bush</span> pulled the trigger on Iglesias.</p>

<p>We've always known it must have gone down something like this.  But they've got the details.  From this <a href="http://www.abqjournal.com/news/special/554986nm04-15-07.htm">morning's paper</a> ... </p>

<blockquote>Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was fired after Sen. Pete Domenici, who had been unhappy with Iglesias for some time, made a personal appeal to the White House, the Journal has learned.

<p>...</p>

<p>In the spring of 2006, Domenici told Gonzales he wanted Iglesias out.<br />
Gonzales refused. He told Domenici he would fire Iglesias only on orders from the president.<br />
At some point after the election last Nov. 6, Domenici called Bush's senior political adviser, Karl Rove, and told him he wanted Iglesias out and asked Rove to take his request directly to the president.<br />
Domenici and Bush subsequently had a telephone conversation about the issue.<br />
The conversation between Bush and Domenici occurred sometime after the election but before the firings of Iglesias and six other U.S. attorneys were announced on Dec. 7.<br />
Iglesias' name first showed up on a Nov. 15 list of federal prosecutors who would be asked to resign. It was not on a similar list prepared in October.</blockquote></p>

<p>So it sounds like Domenici had wanted Iglesias gone for a long time.  But after Iglesias wouldn't time an indictment of Manny Aragon to coincide with the November election, Domenici had had enough.  He called President Bush, demanded Iglesias's firing.  And President Bush fired him.</p>

<p>For a detailed analysis of what this means for the larger US Attorney Purge story, see <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003017.php">Paul's run-down here</a>.  </p>
		
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013645"></a> (April 15, 2007 -- 01:40 AM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013645.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">"Nothing Improper" is</span> the title of the attorney general's <em>Washington Post</em> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401010.html?hpid=opinionsbox1">op-ed</a> previewing his testimony to Congress this week.</p>
		
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013644"></a> (April 15, 2007 -- 12:10 AM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013644.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">The appointment of</span> Rachel Paulose to be the U.S. attorney for Minnesota continues to be a source of puzzlement. Stung by the resignation of four of the top administrators in her office, Paulose agreed to an <a href="http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1121351.html">interview</a> with the <em>Star Tribune</em> and professed to have been completely out of the loop on the U.S. attorney purge: </p>

<blockquote>"These wild conspiracy theories are just that -- totally off base," Paulose said in her first interview on the subject. "No one communicated to me--in any form--about any plan to remove any U.S. attorney."</blockquote>

<p>So how did a 33-year-old Republican lawyer go, in less than two months, from private practice in Minnesota to senior counselor to the deputy attorney general in Washington and then back to Minnesota as an interim U.S. attorney? Here's Paulose's version of what happened, as reported by the <em>Star Tribune</em>:</p>

<blockquote>In January 2006, she was recruited for a job as senior counselor to the deputy attorney general, working primarily on health care policy.

<p>Paulose said she never met Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty until she applied to work for him. Nor was she close to Gonzales, adding that they have never had a one-on-one meeting.</p>

<p>She says Monica Goodling, the Justice Department's former liaison to the White House, is a friend. Goodling invoked the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination and refused to testify before a Senate committee investigating the replacement of U.S. attorneys.</p>

<p>But they didn't meet until January 2006. Neither Goodling nor anyone else ever told her about a plan to replace U.S. attorneys, Paulose said.</p>

<p>Six weeks after starting her job in Washington, Minnesota U.S. Attorney Thomas Heffelfinger resigned, and Paulose was quickly appointed as his interim replacement. A lifelong Republican, she said she was as surprised by the appointment as anyone, noting that she had signed a year's lease for an apartment in Chevy Chase, Md.</p>

<p>Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., submitted the names of two candidates to replace Heffelfinger. His staff said Paulose was not one of them. Clayton Robinson, a longtime friend of Coleman's who now oversees criminal cases in Ramsey County, said he interviewed for the U.S. attorney job in March 2006, but was told several weeks later that the administration was looking elsewhere.</p>

<p>Coleman eventually embraced Paulose's nomination, largely based on recommendations from respected lawyers, and the Senate confirmed her in December.</blockquote></p>

<p>It's quite a remarkable run, especially since Paulose didn't have the support of Coleman, who as the state's sole Republican senator would usually play a pivotal role in selecting his state's U.S. attorney.</p>

<p>There's more to this. There has to be. Paulose has laid down quite a marker though: She was as surprised as anyone when she was appointed interim U.S. attorney. Keep that marker in mind as this story unfolds.</p>
		
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013643"></a> (April 14, 2007 -- 11:38 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013643.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps"><a href="http://www.startribune.com/587/story/1121306.html">McClatchy</a>:</p>

<p></span><blockquote>Philip Heymann, a Harvard law professor and former deputy attorney general under Reno, said the Justice Department has always been vulnerable to allegations of playing politics with prosecutions.</p>

<p>"But these allegations are vastly greater and more credible," Heymann said. "Really good attorney generals go out of their way to keep appearances straight as well as realities. I think something serious has been going on, and I think it's terribly important that it come out.</p>

<p>"If politicians were going to the White House and saying they didn't want this or that case brought, and the White House was letting the U.S. attorneys know by firing them, it would be terribly immoral and destructive."</blockquote></p>
		
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013642"></a> (April 14, 2007 -- 10:14 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013642.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps">I'll wait to</span> see more before judging just how this fits into the larger Bush administration voter suppression agenda.  But let me take note of Friday's ruling in a case that pitted the Bush Justice Department against the State of Missouri, specifically, Secretary of State <a href="http://www.sos.mo.gov/">Robin Carnahan</a>.   There's a jurisdictional issue in the case: balancing the state's versus localities' responsibility for administering elections.  But the heart of the case is that the Bush administration sued the state for <a href="http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/Apr/20070414News009.asp">not being sufficiently aggressive</a> in purging voter rolls.  (See the original <a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/nvra/mo_nvra_comp.htm">DOJ complaint</a>.)</p>

<p>This is a classic battleground in the voter suppression game.  Voter roll purges strikes names of people who've died or moved.  But they also knock off the lists of a lot of occasional voters.  This is what the Bush administration calls voting right enforcement.  </p>

<p>In addition to finding against the Bush administration on the jurisdictional issue and a number of factual points ...</p>

<blockquote>[U.S. District Judge Nanette] Laughrey said it was difficult to gauge the scope of the problem "because the United States has not presented the actual voter registration lists and shown who should have been included or excluded and why."

<p>"It is also telling that the United States has not shown that any Missouri resident was denied his or her right to vote as a result of deficiencies alleged by the United States," Laughrey wrote. "Nor has the United States shown that any voter fraud has occurred."</blockquote></p>

<p>It's all part of the same story.  </p>

<p>(<em>ed.note</em>: At TPM we're actively pursuing a Missouri angle to the US Attorney Purge story which again turns on administration 'voter fraud' claims.)</p>
		
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<h2 class="date"> <a name="013641"></a> (April 14, 2007 -- 09:33 PM EST // <i><a	href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013641.php">link</a></i>)</h2>
<p><span class="smallcaps"><em>Harper's</em> <a href="http://harpers.org/subjects/ScottHorton">Scott</span> Horton</a> is a welcome new voice in the blogosphere. You can find his wit and wisdom at his blog <a href="http://harpers.org/subjects/NoComment">No Comment</a>.</p>
		
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