Monday, April 10, 2006

Do you think anyone is even going to try to get to the bottom of this?

Key figures in a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in 2002 had regular contact with the White House and Republican Party as the plan was unfolding, phone records introduced in criminal court show.

The records show that Bush campaign operative James Tobin, who recently was convicted in the case, made two dozen calls to the White House within a three-day period around Election Day 2002 -- as the phone jamming operation was finalized, carried out and then abruptly shut down....

The Justice Department has secured three convictions in the case but hasn't accused any White House or national Republican officials of wrongdoing, nor made any allegations suggesting party officials outside New Hampshire were involved....

Repeated hang-up calls that jammed telephone lines at a Democratic get-out-the-vote center occurred in a Senate race in which Republican John Sununu defeated Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, 51 percent to 46 percent, on Nov. 5, 2002....


And where exactly did the calls go?

Virtually all the calls to the White House went to the same number, which currently rings inside the political affairs office. In 2002, White House political affairs was led by now-RNC chairman Ken Mehlman. The White House declined to say which staffer was assigned that phone number in 2002.

"In 2002, White House political affairs was led by now-RNC chairman Ken Mehlman."

And at the time, Mehlman's boss would have been...?

And when you're at the White House, who do you report to as political director?

Karl Rove.


Yeah -- Mehlman was the head of Political Affairs, but he answered to Rove.

When do we nail the sonofabitch? When does our political class stop being amused at the notion that Rove fights dirty but leaves "no fingerprints"? When does someone actually start looking for some fingerprints?

This was a crime -- not a "dirty trick," a crime. A GOP Congress won't investigate it. When is the press going to develop a pulse and start trying to determine whether Rove belongs in prison?

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