NYT: Bush Strangely Silent On Subpoenas

[Hissyspit]

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/NYT_Bush_strangely_quiet_on_Attorneygate_0616.html

NYT: Bush 'strangely quiet' on 'Attorneygate' subpoenas
RAW STORY
Published: Saturday June 16, 2007

House Judiciary Committee investigators issued a subpoena for Harriet Miers, former White House Counsel and one-time Bush Supreme Court nominee, and the Senate issued one for Sara Taylor, a former top aide to Karl Rove. Both committees also sought a variety of documents from the White House.

In a column slated for Sunday's New York Times, Sheryl Gay Stolberg notes that "President Bush was strangely quiet last week," even though he "had been quite vocal, and perfectly clear, back in March when Democrats first delivered their subpoena threat."

Bush had said, "I will oppose any attempts to subpoena White House officials," and added that he was "absolutely" willing to fight over subpoenas in court. "But when the subpoenas actually arrived on Wednesday, for Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel, and Sara Taylor, the former White House political director, Bush said nothing," Stolberg observes. "The current White House counsel, Fred F. Fielding -- who recently beefed up his staff by hiring additional lawyers to handle the growing demands for documents and testimony -- has yet to offer a response."

Stolberg continues, "Those sounds of silence suggest that the White House is grappling with a dilemma. If Bush reaches an accommodation with lawmakers on testimony from Miers and Taylor, Democrats will inevitably demand similar terms for Karl Rove, Bush's chief political adviser. The last thing Bush wants is Rove going up to Capitol Hill to submit to questions from Democrats."

MORE

[Warpy]

1. If he ignores them and hopes they just go away

this might provoke the constitutional crisis we have all been expecting.

Let's hope it pisses off even GOP Congressmen and that the Dems morph back from jellyfish to humans with backbones.

[L. Coyote]

3. “Let me be clear: this subpoena is not a request, it is a demand ..." Conyers said

I'm very proud of our Dem leaders and their tireless efforts.
Kudos to Sen. Leahy and Rep. Conyers, for their bravery.

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Miers/Taylor subpoenas: Demands, not requests
Submitted by crew on 13 June 2007
http://www.citizensforethics.org/taxonomy/term/1023

The House Judiciary Committee sent a subpoena to former White House Counsel Harriet Miers. The Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed former White House aide Sara Taylor. The Chairs of the Committee were fairly blunt in the news release:

“Let me be clear: this subpoena is not a request, it is a demand on behalf of the American people for the White House to make available the documents and individuals we are requesting to help us answer the questions that remain,” Conyers said in a press release Wednesday announcing the subpoenas.

In the same release, Leahy noted that the White House has failed to respond to his numerous requests for information, and said the administration can’t have it “both ways” by claiming “nothing improper occurred” and “stonewall” his investigation.

“The involvement of the White House’s political operation in this project, including former Political Director Sara Taylor and her boss Karl Rove, has been confirmed by information gathered by congressional committees,” he added. “Some at the White House may hope to thwart our constitutional oversight efforts by locking the doors and closing the curtains, but we will keep asking until we get to the truth.”

[L. Coyote]

2. EXIT RIGHT. Sara Taylor, WH political director, Rove Aide RESIGNS? "subpoenas for her testimony"

From: EXIT RIGHT. Sara Taylor, WH political director, Rove Aide RESIGNS? "subpoenas for her testimony"
Mon May-28-07 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x990202

.... Taylor is reportedly intimately involved in the U.S. Attorney scandal. According to Kyle Sampson, Taylor was directly promoting efforts to appoint attorneys without Senate confirmation. The House and Senate Judiciary Committees have approved subpoenas for her testimony. ......

... Importantly, regarding Griffin and voter caging and voter purging, is this bit in the WA Post story, "... Taylor was among those who helped use sophisticated analysis of consumer data to enable the Bush campaign to target potential voters..."

========================
Another Top Bush Aide cleared out her office
By Michael A. Fletcher
Monday, May 28, 2007; Page A15
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/27/AR2007052700896.html


...... more top aides are headed out to the private sector. Sara M. Taylor, the White House political director and microtargeting guru who has been with George W. Bush from the outset of his first presidential campaign, is the latest staff member to leave the president's employ.

Taylor, 32, was one of the first people put on the payroll of the Bush campaign, trekking through snowy Washington to interview with Karl Rove and Bush, who was then governor of Texas. Taylor worked on the 2000 campaign, and later became a political aide in the White House. ....

Taylor cleared out her office early last week. She plans to take her skills to the private sector, where the pay will no doubt be better than the $137,000 she earned in 2006 as a deputy assistant to the president. ..............

=================
Top Rove aide, implicated in Attorneys firings, clears out office
Michael Roston
Published: Monday May 28, 2007
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Top_Rove_aide_implicated_in_Attorneys_0528.html


A top aide to White House political adviser Karl Rove has 'cleared out her office,' according to a report in Monday's Washington Post. Sara Taylor, Rove's top lieutenant, has seen her name brought up in recent months in Congressional hearings relating to the firing of 8 US Attorneys.

"Taylor, 32, was one of the first people put on the payroll of the Bush campaign," writes Michael Fletcher in the new 'At the White House' column. "Taylor cleared out her office early last week. She plans to take her skills to the private sector."

Taylor is described by Fletcher as skilled in 'microtargeting,' the practice of identifying voting constituencies at their most elemental levels. She has also come up as a potential target for a subpoena from the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, as RAW STORY has earlier reported.

The White House political strategist was first identified as playing a role in the removal of US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas H.E. 'Bud' Cummins during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with D. Kyle Sampson, the former Chief of Staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

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[Demeter]

4. You Mean, The Subpoenas Were Acually Delivered???? Yipee!

Now we're gonna see impeachment back on that table--even if Nancy and Rahm get sent to bed without any supper!

[L. Coyote]

5. Signed, sealed, and delivered to the White House.

And don't tell the Rs that impeachment is not on the table because the table is too crowded, and we don't want to listen to them whine about impeachment "pay back" etc. We knw they don't want to bring up the subject, so let's just keep impeachment right there under the crowded table top.

Could be I'm wrong, maybe the table has a name, "impeachment." That would make a great editorial cartoon.
Pelosi serving tea in the Rose Garden on a table labeled Impeachment, saying, "Impeachment was never ON the table."
It would be nice to see that crowded table finally cleared and set for afternoon tea on a peaceful day.