OntheWilderSide

KW: I have to hand it to the Huffington Post. They really took the correct angle on the story about the release of documents showing Karl Rove’s participation in the US Attorney firings. The HP is sending their readers straight to the documents (here) and asking people to review the material, and posts excerpts and commentary. Talk about participatory democracy.

Below are three versions of the Karl Rove Story: The Washington Post, which is the most straight-newsy. (Although they seem miffed that Rove told them a different story last month.) The Hill, which tends to be a rather status quo, two-party web-site, and actually allows for some Republican-apologist comments. And, the Huffington Post, where I expected to find a left-wing slant, and was elated to find the even better, read-and-review project.

(excerpt from) The Washington Post
Documents Detail Campaign to Oust U.S. Attorney
By Carrie Johnson / Tuesday, August 11, 2009; 4:56 PM

The dismissal of New Mexico U.S. Attorney David C. Iglesias in December 2006 followed extensive communication among lawyers and political aides in the White House who hashed over complaints about his work on public corruption cases against Democrats, according to newly released e-mails and transcripts of closed-door House testimony by former Bush counsel Harriet Miers and political chief Karl Rove.

A campaign to oust Iglesias intensified after state party officials and GOP members of the congressional delegation apparently concluded he was not pursuing the cases against Democrats in a way that would help then- Rep. Heather Wilson in a tight reelection race in New Mexico, according to interviews and Bush White House e-mails released Tuesday by congressional investigators. The documents place the genesis of Iglesias’s dismissal earlier than previously known.

…In an interview with The Washington Post last month, Rove asserted that he had played no role in the development of the list of prosecutors to be fired and said he spent little time on the issues. Refuting rhetoric from Democrats, Rove told lawmakers that he “never attempted directly or indirectly to influence any particular case that was before the Justice Department.” Miers made similar statements to House investigators.

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Link to story at The Hill is: here.

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(excerpt from) The Huffington Post
New Documents Show Rove’s Role In Political Firings: Help Us Read Through Them
By Ryan Grim

…According to the committee, the materials — including over 5,400 pages of Bush White House and Republican National Committee emails — show that Bush White House officials were deeply involved in the US Attorney firings and that the administration then attempted to cover up that fact.

“After all the delay and despite all the obfuscation, lies, and spin,” Conyers said, “this basic truth can no longer be denied: Karl Rove and his cohorts at the Bush White House were the driving force behind several of these firings, which were done for improper reasons. Under the Bush regime, honest and well-performing US Attorneys were fired for petty patronage, political horsetrading and, in the most egregious case of political abuse of the US Attorney corps – that of US Attorney Iglesias – because he refused to use his office to help Republicans win elections. When Mr. Iglesias said his firing was a ‘political fragging,’ he was right.”…

Help us [The Huffington Post] read through the documents and send the most interesting things you find to ryan at huffingtonpost dot com — or post them [at the article at the HP].

Filed under: elections, News, politics, progressive politics, US Politics Tagged: | bush, Bush Administration, David Iglesias, George Bush, Harriet Miers, Heather Wilson, Huffington Post, karl rove, new mexico, US attorney firings