Mondo Washington: The Bush-Abramoff Photo Scrub

[johnfunk]

New York'sVillage Voice on Josh Marshall's hunt for elusive snapshots of Bush and Abramoff together in their natural habitat, the corridors of power...

The Bush-Abramoff Photo Scrub
Blogger goes searching for missing pics
by James Ridgeway with Michael Roston

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Jack Abramoff picture scrub has taken a new turn. Yesterday President Bush said photos of himself with the lobbyist Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to charges involving public corruption in a scandal that’s ensnaring a wider and wider circle of lawmakers, were no big deal.

Bush was just doing what a president does, he said: "Shake hands with people and smile."

"I had my picture taken with him evidently," Bush told a White House press conference yesterday. "I've had my picture taken with a lot of people. Having my picture taken with someone doesn't mean that I'm a friend with them or know them very well." Bush also noted, "Those pictures will be used for pure political purposes and they're not relevant to the investigation."

More at the Voice.

[leftchick]

1. An awful lot of scrubbing going on....

<snip>

However, Joshua Micah Marshall of Talking Points Memo found a 2003 photo of Abramoff and Bush on the site of a company called Reflections Photography, among numerous archived Republican political photos. Marshall identified the URL where the pic was supposed to be, but found it gone. All the other pics were there, numbered in sequence, but the Bush-Abramoff photo was missing.

When Marshall called Reflections, the helpful woman answering the phone set out to find the photo for him, but to no avail. Because certain photos can only be obtained on a CD, Marshall asked if it was possible to get the Bush-Abramoff photo that way. Most obligingly, the woman pulled the CD, and then, according to Marshall, with a note o astonishment in her voice, said the photo of Bush and Abramoff "was deleted.'' Marshall asked why, and the woman said sometimes that happened because the White House wanted a certain photo removed from the file.

Marshall then called Abramoff's office. No comment.

The White House didn't return his calls.

[buddysmellgood]

2. Funny, the scrub is causing more questions and attention than the photos

themselves...accept for the one of bush blowing abramhoff.

[pokercat999]

7. $100,000.00 BJ

[hippiechick]

3. kick

:kick:

[madame defarge]

4. Hmmm...

This is sounding more and more like the infamous "18 minute gap" on tape...

[goforit]

5. WTF??...He'll stand there in broad daylight and admitt sneaking on

the public's private information, yet can't
own up to photos with a murderous thug?

Hmmmm....I wonder what his good buddy friend Abramhof thinks of
him now???

The saga continues......LOL!!!

[oldtime dfl_er]

6. How much $$ would it take for someone to come forward

with a verifiable photo?

I have $25 to kick in. Let's start a "reward" fund.


http://www.cafepress.com/scarebaby/658010

[rodeodance]

9. money talks.

[johnfunk]

8. KICK! Gotta... scrub... the corruption... off my hands...

[rodeodance]

10. K and R

[rodeodance]

11. "will be used for pure political purposes"---will be used for legal purpos

es-hopefully.

[rodeodance]

12. Business owner said it was a 'business decision' to delete pic-How

or who convinced her of this move?----

However, Joshua Micah Marshall of Talking Points Memo found a 2003 photo of Abramoff and Bush on the site of a company called Reflections Photography, among numerous archived Republican political photos. Marshall identified the URL where the pic was supposed to be, but found it gone. All the other pics were there, numbered in sequence, but the Bush-Abramoff photo was missing.

When Marshall called Reflections, the helpful woman answering the phone set out to find the photo for him, but to no avail. Because certain photos can only be obtained on a CD, Marshall asked if it was possible to get the Bush-Abramoff photo that way. Most obligingly, the woman pulled the CD, and then, according to Marshall, with a note o astonishment in her voice, said the photo of Bush and Abramoff "was deleted.'' Marshall asked why, and the woman said sometimes that happened because the White House wanted a certain photo removed from the file.

Marshall then called Abramoff's office. No comment.

.......
Marshall phoned Joanne Amos, the company president, who explained that photographs—plural—had been removed because they showed Abramoff and President Bush together. Why? Because they are "not relevant," Amos told him. Marhsall asked who told her to scrub the pics, and Amos further explained it was her "business decision."

[rodeodance]

13. hope some WH press person gets wind of this and asks Scott.

[AndrewJacksonFaction]

14. Send it to David Gregory (sp?) @ MSNBC. He likes to giv Scott a tough time