Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman is not in the mood for pulling punches, particularly when it comes to former Bush White House strategist Karl Rove.
In an interview with Sam Stein of Huffington Post, Siegelman fired both the "E" (evil) and "D" (devious) words at Rove. And Siegelman says Rove deserves a place in history for the special brand of corruption he brought to the U.S. Justice Department.
Said Siegelman:
"I think Rove is probably the most devious and evil political operative who has been trained to come on to the political scene in certainly the last fifty years. I can't think of anybody in the annals of history who could even rival this man's pernicious thoughts. It is a lifetime's work for him. . . . I think he learned two things from Watergate: you don't need to establish a secret plumbers union at a mid level office in the White House when you can take over Department of Justice and have them do your dirty work for you, and secondly, you don't leave tapes behind, you destroy evidence."
Siegelman went even further, by saying that Rove is lying when he claims to have had no involvement in political prosecutions:
"Karl Rove saying he's had nothing to do with firing U.S. Attorneys and nothing to do with my case is like President Bush saying he's had nothing to do with the war in Iraq because he hasn't pulled a trigger."
Siegelman's comments came one day after Rove said his involvement in the Siegelman case consisted of learning about the investigations in a newspaper article. The former Alabama governor said last week's subpoena for Rove to testify before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee was a step in the right direction.
"I think the objective from my point is not my case or my vindication or proving any one particular egregious act, but to expose a pattern and practice of political wrongdoing, of abuse of power, of misusing the Department of Justice as a political tool. I do think that my case offers the best route to prove that, and it is the easiest and fastest way to get at abuse from Karl Rove."
Siegelman repeated the suggestion he made last week on Dan Abrams' The Verdict, suggesting that House Democrats compel testimony from lower-level players in his prosecution, including: Bill Canary, an Alabama GOP consultant who reportedly said he would have his wife, Leura, a U.S. Attorney, "take care" of the case, and Rob Riley, the son of the Alabama governor who allegedly helped grease the wheels of Siegelman's trial.
Rove is not lying when he says he learned of Siegleman's indictment in the newspaper. Just parse the words. He knew an investigation was going on, he knew that an indictment might or even would happen, but he learned that it actually happened from the newspaper because that is first fact of the act. If he had been told that Siegleman was indicted over the phone, he would treat that as a rumor until confirmed by the trusty press. So, Rove is no dirt bag liar - of course that depends on what you mean by the word dirt bag liar. I guess he is just a White House liar, and since everyone knew that they lied all the time, then they were not lyng cause you can only lie if the person to whom you lie believe you are telling the truth - so says Scott McClellan.
ReplyDelete