Does anyone care that Iglesias is testifying beofre the House Ethics Committee tomorrow? Why is this news absent from TPM?

Only Truthout has reported it and they got it directly from iglesias

I hope TV cameras are on hand to record Specter's face when he opens the envelope and pulls out a cutout photo of hand with the middle finger raised.

Arlen is deliciously credulous. He thinks he's found a way to save Gonzo and smooth the whole thing over. But the lies they told him behind closed doors yesterday are not going to stand up to scrutiny. When he opens that letter, he's going to be standing there in front of the press holding his dick.

Code: face - you're going to have egg all over it, Arlen, but you'll keep coming back for more, you shameless slut.

BS! We aren't waiting. The budets get cut now. If the President, AG, and Specter want money, they need to cooperate now.

The longer the delays, the longer the President goes without money. Cease work orders need to go out; terminate contracts, shut down. Termination liabilities. Time for the reprogramming actions inside OMB to pickup pace.

Was it not Arlen's office which inserted the stipulation in the new Patriot act which allowed temporary assignment of US attorneys?

Deliciously credulous is right....

Code, after, like we will hear about it after the damage is done.....

Dobby the House Elf is bound to be disappointed once again. He'll get some really short letter from Fielding saying, essentially, that Gonzales' testimony the other day was consistent with his previous testimony. The letter won't clear anything up, won't satisfy anyone, and Specter will do absolutely nothing in response.

Here it comes -- another magic bullet story.

Specter may huff and puff, but he will never blow the Bush/Cheney White House down.

As with the sun setting in the west, he can always be depended upon to drop his pretense of outrage and to fold meekly in the end.

One wonders what leverage the White House has on him to make him so predictable. Something unsavory and potentially embarrassing?

Moondancer...

Fantasy Island? "Look boss! The Plame, the Plame".

Let's not forget that Arlen Specter was the 'genius' on the Warren Commission who invented "The Single Bullet Theory."

I.e., he's not above helping this administration bullshit its way out of Gonzo's quagmire of lies and close the book, just as he helped explain away the conflicting evidence 40+ years ago.

Arlen's such a helpful lad.

I suppose cynics will probably just accuse him of being an apologist or yet another of W's lapdogs. However, I believe Arlen's still a loyal supporter of the Fuhrer and the Reich, underneath this show-trial veneer of being exasperated and logical.

"I hope TV cameras are on hand to record Specter's face when he opens the envelope and pulls out a cutout photo of hand with the middle finger raised."

Arlen's not going to be surprised by what's in the envelope. He helped them write the letter. Anyone who thinks Senator Spector is on the side of getting to the bottom of this hasn't noticed what a shitty actor he is. He's been playing the outraged nincompoop for his entire career. He never takes action on anything.

Raise Hell!!

You aren't screaming loud enough. You have to give it your all. Make phone calls. Accuse people. Geesh guys.. get with the plan.

Let us not forget that Sen. Specter is the world's reigning expert on perjury. Just ask Anita Hill.

"Specter might be thinking about his own legacy. His demand sounds like he is personally drawing his line with Bush/Rove/executive power grab. I hope."

Ha, he fooled ya! This is all a big show. Specter is the fixer. He fix the JFK investigation, he's fixing the Gonzales investigation. He prides himself on being a showman and able to fool the masses.

The plan is to make him look angry and tough and like he is bearing down on the admin. (Why look, he broke the rules and criticized the shrub on AF1....he must be a straight-shooter if he did that.) These preliminary huffing and puffing sessions are intended to bolster his credibility and paint him as an opponent or critic. That way, when he finally clears gonzo, people are supposed to believe him and trust him.

The meeting yesterday was deemed classified only so no one would dare ask about it, and some classified info awas discussed so they could refuse to answer if someone did.

What it really was was a strategy session for and part of the drama of the ultimate plan to clear gonzo and kill this investigation before it kills bush and the gop, politically speaking.

Code: SMALL - yes, Specter is indeed small, petty, vain, dishonest and corrupt.

BULLPUSSY! Impeach them all.

At 12:01pm, if Spector was anything other than a tool for Gonzo, he'd have switched party affiliation and declared war on the Executive. he's been mad to look like an idiot.

He's a tool, trying his best to look tough while sucking neocon teat.

Snow/DoJ on letter: My pet goat ate it.

code: goat

P.S.

Where's that BOMB SHELL LETTER?

They are delaying it to increase the drama, that's where it is. Plus they want to dump it right in time for the evening news with no time for analysis or rebuttal.

You know they really must be terrified of where this is going to ramp up the theatrics to this degree. This is all about manufacturing cover for the now wobbly GOP rubber-stamp-republicans to back bush and so they can claim that it's all just a partisan demoratic witch hunt. The complacent, complicit media will provide plenty of cover, too.

AND IF ALL OTHER 'PC' OPTIONS FAIL:

http://www.senate.gov/reference/office/sergeant_at_arms.htm
As chief law enforcement officer of the Senate, the Sergeant at Arms is charged with maintaining security in the Capitol and all Senate buildings, as well as protection of the members themselves. The Sergeant at Arms serves as the executive officer of the Senate for enforcement of all rules of the Committee on Rules and Administration regulating the Senate Wing of the Capitol and the Senate Office Buildings and has responsibility for and immediate supervision of the Senate floor, chamber and galleries. The Sergeant at Arms is authorized to arrest and detain any person violating Senate rules, including the President of the United States.
"As chief law enforcement officer of the Senate, the Sergeant at Arms is charged with maintaining security in the Capitol and all Senate buildings, as well as protection of the members themselves. The Sergeant at Arms serves as the executive officer of the Senate for enforcement of all rules of the Committee on Rules and Administration regulating the Senate Wing of the Capitol and the Senate Office Buildings and has responsibility for and immediate supervision of the Senate floor, chamber and galleries. The Sergeant at Arms is authorized to arrest and detain any person violating Senate rules, including the President of the United States."

probably in the next several hours = NOT IN TODAY'S NEWSCYCLE.

It never ceases to amaze me how these people have since day 1 played (and largely won) the 24 hour newscycle. Nothing seems more important to them. Win the spin- 24/7.

What ever happened to the FBI investigation of Specter's senior staffer, Vicki Siegel Herson and the $50 million in Specter earmarks that benefited her husband Michael's clients?

They released the letter. All it says is that

“One particular aspect of these activities and nothing more, was publicly acknowledged by the President and described in December 2005.”

So, ergo, Gonzo was not lying and it was the other non-disclosed activities that everyone was going to resign over?

How lame.

And Cheney says he does not recall whether he ordered gonzo to strong-arm Ashcroft into signing off on the stuff everyone was going to resign over.

Sure thain, Dick

let's call a spade a spade.

First and foremost, The Flight in-which Specter Shared With The President On Air Force One Was For Two Reasons 1: To Work SomeThing Out To Clear The Attorney General From Purgery Proceedings, To Which We See In The News Today. 2: To Finalize Sen Specters New Immigration Package, To Which He Will Soon Present To His Fellow Senators In Hope Of Bringing The Entire Immigration Debate Back To Floor In Yet Another Attempt At Giving Bush His Long Awaited Legacy. Once Again And Like The Grand Bargining That Went On With The Last Immigration Bill, This Bill Is Also Being Crafted In Secret For The All American Grand Slam.

Specter is one of the worst Bush enablers and apologists. He only pretends to be a moderate once in awhile. Blood is on that man's hands. It will be good to see him humiliated.

Atrios picked up on it. From the Larry King transcript with Dick Cheney

Q In that regard, The New York Times -- which, as you said, is not your favorite -- reports it was you who dispatched Gonzales and Andy Card to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft's hospital in 2004 to push Ashcroft to certify the President's intelligence-gathering program. Was it you?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't recall -- first of all, I haven't seen the story. And I don't recall that I gave instructions to that effect.

Q That would be something you would recall.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I would think so. But certainly I was involved because I was a big advocate of the Terrorist Surveillance Program, and had been responsible and working with General Hayden and George Tenet to get it to the President for approval. By the time this occurred, it had already been approved about 12 times by the Department of Justice. There was nothing new about it.

Password is jump as in jump the shark.