The Workday Liberal

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow backpedaled from pointing the finger at Harriet Miers as the genesis of the prosecutors firing scheme. After emails were revealed which showed Karl Roves early involvement with Alberto Gonzales, Snow now says that memories of how it all went down are "hazy".

It is one thing to forget what happened. It is entirely another matter to remember events which never happened, and base justifications on those made up memories. Remembering something that did not happen is the definition of just making stuff up, otherwise known as lying. Being found out in the middle of a lie and deciding to lie to cover the original lie... causes one to have to remember other stuff that didn't happen. But when all of this is spelled out in email which sees the light of day, it causes the White House to just throw out the hazy memory defense and look like a bunch of idiots.

Beyond the evident lying, we have the issue that the White House and Justice Department set forth a plan to mislead Congress. Before the firings they generated talking points which everyone from the administration who faced political pressure MUST adhere too. On the appointment of a political appointee to the prosecutors office in Arkansas, there is clearly a plan to mislead Congress spelled out by the following:

“I think we should gum this to death,” Mr. Sampson wrote. “Ask the senators to give Tim a chance, meet with him, give him some time in office to see how he performs, etc. If they ultimately say ‘no never’ (and the longer we can forestall that the better), then we can tell them we’ll look for other candidates, ask them for recommendations, interview their candidates, and otherwise run out the clock. All this should be done in ‘good faith’ of course.”

So we have proof that the White House and Justice Department launched this with the intent to lie about it, and then when caught lying they lie some more, and finally they plead hazy memory.

I'm afraid we have come to the point with this administration that their lying is so commonplace and expected that even doing so under oath and before Congress, with malice aforethought, is not actually considered grounds for the punishment of those who perjure themselves. Even planning in detail the use of "good faith" stall tactics, once clearly a case of obstruction, is now just more of the same, hardly causing a lifted eyebrow. This administration has zero credibility, and it is due to the lead of the President, the Vice President, the ex Secretary of Defense, Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzales, Condy, ex Press Secretary McClellan and current P.S. Snow (who continuously lie to the press for a good living) and the rest of this patently dishonest cabal. It is a rarity to hear one of these folks talk in a forthright and honest manner.

It must just irk the average neoconservative, once so concerned and outraged by the lies of President Clinton over an extra marital affair, having to defend this group. They are congenital liars, to the point that they put the plans to mislead Congress and the nation into emails to coordinate the deception. It really is a sad commentary on the state of honesty in this administration.