All Roads Lead to Rove

The release of the transcript of Jill Simpson's testimony before Congressional attorneys provides even more evidence to show that White House strategist Karl Rove was at the heart of political prosecutions by the Bush Justice Department, with the Don Siegelman case front and center.

Adam Zagorin, of Time magazine, has a second major report on GOP machinations in Alabama, and Scott Horton, of Harper's, notes that Zagorin's piece adds to a mountain of evidence that has been pointing to Rove for some time.

"The external evidence perfectly matches the allegations--the vigor of the prosecutorial inquiry was measured perfectly to whether Siegelman was going to contest the GOP's grip on the Alabama statehouse," Horton writes. "Moreover, Karl Rove's fingerprints are now well documented, and they are all over the Siegelman case."

Horton goes on to point out the pivotal role certain Alabama newspapers have played in trying to counter the Simpson testimony. "We should also consider the role played by The Birmingham News and the Mobile Press-Register in this entire affair, including their reporting the last couple of days. Given these recent revelations it seems to me that these papers were active participants in the coverup and the original plan to take down Siegelman."

So what does Simpson's testimony mean? "For months, the Alabama Republican machine has attempted to brush off claims about Rove's involvement as some sort of fantastic speculation," Horton writes. "Those efforts have just been exploded. We are one step closer to understanding why Karl Rove left the White House, and perhaps also why Alberto Gonzalez stepped down as attorney general. The Siegelman case is emerging, as we predicted, as the most damning exhibit yet in the story of the Bush Administration's use of the Justice Department as a partisan political tool."

A key word in that last sentence, I think, is "yet." As more and more information comes out about the Paul Minor case in Mississippi, I think we will see it rival the Siegelman case as the most flagrant example of a "political hit" by the Bush DOJ.

We turn to the Minor case next.