Story Creep

If the White House thinks that throwing Attorney General Albert Gonzalez under the proverbial bus will be enough to end the US Attorney's scandal, they had better thing again, because it is clear that this scandal goes beyond the constituion-hating Bush consigliore all the way to Karl Rove and maybe the President himself.  The NYT reported today, and the email below proves (thanks TPM Muckraker) that Karl Rove was deeply involved in the discussion over firing US Attorneys, a long time before Tony Snow or anyone else in the White House had previously admitted.  (Note: 'Judge' is a nickname of Alberto Gonzalez who served as a State Court Judge in Texas)

What does all this mean?  It means the White House was full of it when they said this was all Harriet Mier's idea, in the hopes that Mier's, who resigned in January, could be the White House fall-guy.  Clearly this goes to the highest levels and was being batted around between Rove, then White House Counsel Gonzalez and who knows who else.  And everyone involved lied about it to Congress and the press.  The forecast is for Tony Snow's memory to remain hazy and for the White House's story to keep "evolving."

And for your moment of zen, here's the unflattering Rove pic the Times ran with the story...