Quotes of the Morning: Heroism!

“President Bush invoked executive privilege Monday to deny requests by Congress for testimony from two former aides about the firings of federal prosecutors.
The White House, however, did offer again to make former counsel Harriet Miers and one-time political director Sara Taylor available for private, off-the-record interviews.”
-Associated Press, July 10, 2007

“Fearless Leader has a history of bold action. His crusading work in Iraq and his infinite compassion with the situation in New Orleans being only a few of the more notable examples. But he would not be able to move forward with his fierce leadership if he didn’t have an honest assessment of the world around him, and for that he needs good advice from his advisors. He couldn’t get that if people were always pestering them with questions, so Fearless Leader has, once again, taken bold action.”
-Skippy

“President Bush is expected to claim executive privilege to prevent two more White House aides from testifying before Congress about the firings of federal prosecutors.
Today is the deadline for Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser, to provide testimony and documents related to the firings, under a subpoena from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Also subpoenaed was White House political aide J. Scott Jennings. The Justice Department included both men on e-mails about the firings and the administration's response to the congressional investigation.
White House Counsel Fred Fielding has consistently said that top presidential aides, present and past, are immune from subpoenas, and has declared the documents sought off-limits under executive privilege.”
-Associated Press, August 2, 2007

“But wait! He only claimed executive privilege for Karl Rove! J. Scott Jennings testified!”
-Skippy

“A young White House political aide was grilled inconclusively by the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday about the firings of U.S. attorneys after Karl Rove, the president's senior political adviser, failed to show up at the committee's hearing in response to a subpoena.”
-Washington Post, August 3, 2007

“Yes, we all knew that Rove wouldn’t show. He is allergic to sunlight and only arises after dark to suck the blood of the living, but what about Jennings? He testified!”
-Skippy

“J. Scott Jennings, 29, the deputy political director for the White House, refused to address the firings but tried to explain how thousands -- or possibly millions -- of White House e-mails to and from the political office were transmitted only through communications accounts controlled by the Republican National Committee.
That use of the RNC accounts put some of the political office's messages outside the reach of the National Archives, which sought to preserve them under a federal law mandating eventual public access, and the reach of Democratic congressional investigators, who have sought to look at them for evidence of improper actions.
Jennings offered a stripped-down explanation: He wanted a White House-supplied BlackBerry and was told no, and so he got one from the RNC, as many other political affairs aides had done.
‘I was receiving a lot of e-mail on my official account. And I requested [a BlackBerry] at that moment, and I was told that it wasn't the custom to give political affairs staffers those devices,’ Jennings said.”
-Washington Post, August 3, 2007

“Oh.. He refused to talk about the central issue and his excuse for violating the Presidential Records Act was apparently that he really, really wanted a Blackberry. Good enough for me, though a little confusing.
Why wouldn’t the White House want staffers testifying? Well.. apparently they aren’t very good at it. The Executive branch has had problems with expressing itself…”
-Skippy

“Nobody has accused me of having a real sophisticated vocabulary. “
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, October 11, 2006

“…and it shows.”
-Skippy

“With potential perjury accusations hanging over him, embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales sent a letter to Senate leaders Wednesday acknowledging he ‘may have created confusion’ in his previous testimony. […]
‘I recognize that the use of the term 'Terrorist Surveillance Program' and my shorthand reference to the 'program' publicly 'described by the President' may have created confusion, particularly for those who are knowledgeable about the NSA activities authorized in the presidential order described by the DNI [director of national intelligence], and who may be accustomed to thinking of them or referring to them together as a single NSA 'program,' ‘ Gonzales wrote. [...]
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales writes of his concern with ‘suggestions that my testimony was misleading.’ But he said he did not mean to mislead senators and was ‘determined to address any such impression.’"
-CNN, August 1, 2007

“You see, it looks bad when people accidentally mislead and confuse Congress with half-truths and little white lies. It is much better to take the simpler, clearer choice.”
-Skippy

“Senator, pursuant to the president’s assertion of executive privilege, I must respectfully decline to answer your question at this time.”
-White House Deputy Political Director Scott Jennings, August 1, 2007

“Much better.. Now if there were only a way to make not testifying sound like a good thing. Hmm.. something that would make him sound like a mighty hero for ignoring Congress. If there were only some way..”
-Skippy

“Jennings, 29, was the first sitting White House official to appear, but he made it clear from the outset that he would not answer any questions related to the firing of the nine prosecutors.
‘I hope that you can appreciate the difficulty of my situation,’ Jennings told the panel. ‘It makes Odysseus’ voyage between Scylla and Charybdis seem like a pleasure cruise.’”
-Cox News Service, August 3, 2007

“Well done Mr. Jennings. Someday you will sit at the Emperor’s right hand.”
-Skippy