Weekend Roundup: A Scandal for All Seasons

Boy, I bet Alberto Gonzales is pretty thrilled that the MSM has shifted some of their focus to Karl Rove's role in the attorney affair. I doubt the administration is quite as happy about it, though. In light of the emails that emerged connecting Rove to the U.S. attorney firings, the White House is having to backpedal real hard from their earlier attempts to pin the blame on Harriet Miers.

Glenn Greenwald over at Salon explains why at this point, we really can't believe anything the administration says anymore. I think the biggest problem most progressives will have with what he has to say is the use of "anymore."

And props to the LA Times for giving credit where credit is due, and giving Talking Points Memo credit for pushing the U.S. attorney story. I suppose in the eyes of some, TPM may qualify more as an e-zine than a blog, but as I'm not sure where that line gets drawn, I'm just happy to see the blogosphere get some cred in mainstream press.

The problem with such visible lies to the American people, as Greenwald would argue above, is that everything starts being questioned—the government clearly hasn't earned any trust, so why take anything they say at face value? On this note, the LA Times has a piece on former U.S. Attorney H.E. Cummins III and how a corruption investigation he was conducting may have contributed to his being let go, and The Impolitic explains how Arizona ex-U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton pointed out some federal hypocrisy and snubbed Gonzales' war on porn in the process. I'm wondering whether the other fired attorneys' stories will see the light of day. So many scandals, so little time. If you've been having trouble tracing all this US Attorney business, not to worry—TPM has a handy-dandy timeline of the issue.

The Chron has a piece on Ed Owens, the new de facto head of the Texas Youth Commission. As you may recall, the TYC executive director was given the reins by the TYC's governing board shortly before they all resigned en masse. As much as that may have been called for, that puts some significant hurt on the Lege's attempts to get some oversight on the TYC. Ed Owens reports to Perry, not to the Senate like the governing board did. Grits for Breakfast has more on why that's a bad idea.

And in this weekend's bit of good news, all is again right in the White House Briefing Room. Helen Thomas, easily the most recognizable personality in the White House press corps, has reclaimed her front row seat after having it snatched away from her due to the press room's renovation. Instead of CNN and Fox News both getting their front row seats, Helen will keep her chair and Fox will be in the second row. Whether this is out of respect for Helen, or simply additional fallout from Fox News' attempt at hosting a debate for Democratic candidates that they all withdrew from due to Fox's unfair and unbalanced reporting, is anyone's guess.