John Dean: 'Not a Lot of Help for Rove' Likely from Obama White House

Wouldn't we all love to have been a fly on the wall during Obama's first meeting at the White House with Bush. Also, I would love to know the contents of the personal, private letter he left for Obama. One can only wonder what "promises", "threats" or deals etc. were involved. I bet there was some pleading going on by Bush.

I was a Democrat long befor you all quit Sh----g yellow as my dad use to say I was brought up on FDR and JFK Presidents that were not affraid to offend the REPUBLICANS. I did not vote for CLINTON I wrote DR. DEAN in.

I'm hoping Bush gets actively involved in this. He'll single-handedly motivate the Obama administration to aggressively go after the criminal Retardicans. There's only one president at a time, and Bush is crashing in on Obama's show time. If Bush was smart, which of course we all know he isn't, he'd stay on the sidelines until he's invited to the ballgame. Go, go Bush! Show off some of your Yale ejewkashun. The advice of a former president should be worth something ....

What Bush is trying to do now is as illegal as just about everything he did while in office. Anyone, including our new president, who attempts to save the Bushies from accountability for some of the worst crimes in American history is obstructing justice, not to mention further eroding the United States of America in the eyes of the rest of the world. I'm sure he knows that.

If the highest officials in the land are above the law, there will be a growing distrust and disrespect for the law among the people. It doesn't take a historian or a social psychologist to see where that will lead, especially with all of the social stressors already present in our society today. They are likely to get worse before they get better.

We have forgiven and forgotten too many times before consequences were realized by past criminals in high office. If Bush, Cheney and company are not held accountable to the fullest extent of the law, we guarantee ourselves that these crimes will be committed again, in another administration in the not too distant future. Were I a betting person, I would wager my savings that the crimes committed next time will be far worse.

If Rove fails to show for questioning he should be arrested, a special prosecutor should be appointed and a grand jury seated. There is enough evidence of the politicization of the DOJ in the public domain for a law student to make a prima facia case. Where a crime is reasonably suspected, executive privilege goes out the window and there is no way the Bushies can scream national security. The prosecutor, however, can. Using the DOJ to manipulate elections in a Democracy is, indeed, a national security issue. It threatens the very foundations of democratic rule in this constitutional democratic republic of ours. It's also illegal.

I hope everyone will read Russ Baker's book Family of Secrets. They will learn the truth about Dean. Keith needs to read it.

So, dumbya is attempting to keep his finger in the pie by reassuring rove that he STILL doesn't have to testify, huh? It's time to ARREST rove exactly 30 seconds after his deadline, if he's a no-show this time. I think rove represents the best candidate for a betrayal of bush's trust, and if he's grilled with enough intensity, is most likely to roll on bush. What I'd most love to see is rove being promised immunity for implicating the bushies, only to have him prosecuted anyway, after he spills his guts, and when he bleats "you promised me immunity", told "we lied". It's time to give these roaches a taste of their own medicine.

fahma says: We're in the 8th day of Obama's Presidency, and here's a slam against him from what sounds like a paid night-shift republican (posted at 1:54 a.m.).

Yes, he's doing what republicans and anti-Obama democrats have been doing for a couple of years to tear down his credibility. And this is before he's done anything but started to restore the rule of law in this once-great Country.

It must be working, because some of the polls show Obama's "popularity" has slipped since Inauguration Day.

I wonder what blackjack will say if President Obama shows any more Progressive behavior....

OpEdNews Original Content at http://www.opednews.com/articles/Bush-Sent-Rove-a-Letter-Sa-by-Jason-Leopold-090127-848.html January 27, 2009 In Bold Extension of Exec Power, Bush Sent Rove a Letter Saying He Still Doesn't Have to Testify By Jason Leopold George W. Bush is seeking to extend his sweeping concept of executive privilege into his post-presidency, with the first battle likely to be fought over a renewed demand from House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers that Karl Rove finally testify about the politicization of the Justice Department. On Monday, Conyers reissued a subpoena for Rove, a former White House deputy chief of staff, to testify before Congress about his role in firing nine federal prosecutors deemed not “loyal Bushies” as well as the controversial prosecution of Alabama’s former Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman. Rove’s attorney, Robert Luskin, told the Washington Post that former President Bush recently sent a letter to Rove reasserting executive privilege that would prevent Rove and possibly other ex-White House officials from testifying. Bush sent the letter at Rove's request before he left office, according to Luskin. However, it does appear that Bush is determined to extend his broad claims of executive privilege beyond his departure from the White House on Jan. 20. In his last years in office, Bush succeeded in frustrating congressional inquiries by asserting a sweeping interpretation of executive privilege, a tradition that grants some confidentiality for advice between the President and his top aides. Bush expanded the scope of the privilege to include even discussions among his subordinates inside and outside the White House. In September 2008, U.S. District Judge John Bates rejected Bush’s position, saying the concept of blanket executive privilege lacked legal precedent. “The Executive cannot identify a single judicial opinion that recognizes absolute immunity for senior presidential advisors in this or any other context,” wrote Bates, a Bush appointee. "In fact, there is Supreme Court authority that is all but conclusive on this question and that powerfully suggests that such advisors do not enjoy absolute immunity.” However, Bush’s lawyers appealed Bates’s ruling to a Republican-dominated Appeals Court panel in Washington that relied on a technicality – the looming adjournment of the 110th Congress – to declare the issue moot. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “GOP Judges Aid White House Cover-up.”] At the time, Conyers promised not to let the issue drop, and his announcement that he is reissuing the Rove subpoena under the 111th Congress indicates the case may soon return to the federal courts. “I have said many times that I will carry this investigation forward to its conclusion, whether in Congress or in court,” Conyers said in a prepared statement. “Change has come to Washington, and I hope Karl Rove is ready for it. After two years of stonewalling, it’s time for him to talk.” The subpoena demands that Rove appear before Congress for a deposition on Feb. 2, at 10 a.m. But it appears unlikely Rove, who was considered Bush's political guru, will show up to give testimony to the committee. Conyers’s Judiciary Committee also has pursued testimony and documents from Bush’s last White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers about their involvement in the decision to fire the federal prosecutors. It is believed subpoenas will be issued for their testimony as well in the weeks ahead. Rove as Victim In public comments, Rove has presented himself as the victim of a Democratic witch-hunt, particularly after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Fox News’ Chris Wallace two weeks ago that she supported a renewed probe into the politicization of the Justice Department. “I think that we have to learn from the past, and we cannot let the politicizing of the — for example, the Justice Department, to go unreviewed. Past is prologue. We learn from it," Pelosi said. Rove, a Fox News contributor, was asked about the exchange and said Pelosi was out to get him. "What do you think she's talking about?" Rove said. "Who do you think she was pointing a finger towards? Read carefully the description of who she said we ought to be looking at." Rove’s lawyer Luskin argued that Rove and other Bush administration officials are protected by an umbrella of executive privilege that extends past the end of Bush’s term. "It's generally agreed that former presidents retain executive privilege as to matters occurring during their term," Luskin said. "We'll solicit the views of the new White House counsel and, if there is a disagreement, assume that the matter will be resolved among the courts, the President and the former President." However, President Barack Obama stated during Campaign 2008 that he believed Bush was overreaching with his claims of executive privilege. On his first full day in office, Obama also signed an executive order reining in the power of former presidents to keep their historical records secret. Obama directed the National Archives and Records Administration to consult with the Justice Department and White House counsel "concerning the Archivist's determination as to whether to honor the former President's claim of privilege or instead to disclose the presidential records notwithstanding the claim of privilege." Theoretically, the standoff could lead to the arrests of Bush administration officials who refuse to comply with congressional subpoenas, though that practice has not been employed in recent times. Traditionally, disputes over executive privilege are resolved through negotiations, but Bush’s position was so broad that talks between Congress and the White House broke down. Last year, Rove made an end-around against Democratic leaders by having his denial of sponsoring Siegelman’s prosecution inserted into the Congressional Record by Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the Judiciary Committee’s ranking Republican. In written responses to questions from Smith, Rove denied speaking to anyone “either directly or indirectly” at the Justice Department or to Alabama state officials about bringing corruption charges against Siegelman. Siegelman was convicted of corruption in 2006, but was released from prison on bond in March 2008 after an appeals court ruled that “substantial questions” about the case could very well result in a new trial or a dismissal. Siegelman has long maintained that Rove was intimately involved in the prosecution and other attempts to blunt Democratic southern inroads that Siegelman’s governorship represented. In an interview with The Anniston Star on May 18, 2008, Siegelman said Rove first targeted him in 1998. “It started when Karl Rove's bag man, I call him, Jack Abramoff, started putting Indian casino money into Alabama to defeat me in 1998,” Siegelman told the newspaper. “Shortly after I endorsed Al Gore in 1999, Karl Rove's client, the attorney general of Alabama (Bill Pryor) started an investigation. “In 2001, Karl Rove's business associate and political partner's wife, Leura Canary, became a U.S. Attorney and started a federal investigation,” Siegelman said. “It started with the attorney general and the state investigation, followed by the federal investigation, followed by indictments in 2004, and then another series of indictments leading up to the 2006 election.” On Monday, several Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee said if Rove refuses to comply with the subpoena this time they will urge Conyers to have Rove arrested. Authors Website: http://www.pubrecord.org Authors Bio: Jason Leopold is editor of the online investigative news magazine The Public Record, http://www.pubrecord.org, and the author of the National Bestseller, "News Junkie," a memoir. Visit www.newsjunkiebook.com for a preview. He is also a two-time winner of the Project Censored award, most recently, in 2007, for an investigative story related to Halliburton's work in Iran. He was recently named the recipient of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation's Thomas Jefferson Award for a series of stories he wrote that exposed how soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been pressured to accept fundamentalist Christianity. Back

I no longer trust Obama, He is more interested in what the REPUBLICANS think than what WE the PEOPLE Think.