The AP reported this weekend that the plane carrying White House Chief of Staff Andy Card made an unplanned landing when smoke was discovered coming from the cockpit.  Thankfully, no one was injured.

In the coverage, the AP characterizes the Gulfstream 4 as a "small, twin engine" plane.   Hardly. 

The National Journal has a must read story today about intelligence presented to President Bush that made clear there were no ties between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.

Ten days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush was told in a highly classified briefing that the U.S. intelligence community had no evidence linking the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein to the attacks and that there was scant credible evidence that Iraq had any significant collaborative ties with Al Qaeda, according to government records and current and former officials with firsthand knowledge of the matter.

This stunning piece from the LA Times just adds further proof to the argument that the Bush administration misled us into the Iraq war by manipulating intelligence.  And the "Curveball" moniker appears that it will apply to this fiasco on several levels.

It's also the first time I remember Colin Powell speaking out directly.  Maybe since he's now done it once, it will get easier for him.  The time for him to be a loyal soldier is passed.  He needs to do what is right for the country and speak the truth about what his former colleagues are doing to the country. 

Think Progress has excerpts from today's press briefing in which National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley hedges when asked if he was Bob Woodward's source in the Plame matter.

The ugliness for the Bush administration continues to mount. 

THE STUNT

Let’s get our terms straight here. We’re not talking “Dumb” as in lacking intellectual acuity or understanding. We’re talking “Dumb” as in lacking the power or ability of speech. We’re talking about a stunt in which the President and Vice President have turned themselves into non communicative mutes. We’re talking about George Bush and Dick Cheney, the silent duo who will not answer to the people of this nation.  We’re talking about two men who scoff at any attempt to hold them accountable for their crimes.

We’re talking about an untenable and unacceptable moment in our history, when silence has become a blight on the presidency and a slap in the face to the nation.

We’re talking about a nefarious President and his cohort who have chosen to play Dumb and Dumber in a very dangerous game.

It is absolutely astounding that, despite all the scandals and failures that surround their administration, the two men at the top simply refuse to utter a word of explanation. No matter who asks the questions, they refuse to answer. Our nation is bleeding from the wounds that these men consciously conspired to inflict, but they have nothing at all to say to us. At this crucial moment when the country is in free fall, George Bush and Dick Cheney have conveniently lost their tongues. The leaders of the free world are playing mute, and it is high time to call their bluff.

Not surprisingly, their ruse is being treated by the press as ordinary as inconsequential. Only days ago in Argentina, the President “batted away questions,” about Karl Rove. He “declined to answer,” they wrote; he “sidestepped the question.”   No one talked of a “cover up” or a  “conspiracy,” - no one at all.

Despite the apparent evasiveness of the President, the reporters who asked about a major scandal seemed unperturbed that he simply ‘wouldn’t comment.”  They showed no overt frustration or disappointment. They asked no follow up questions and raised no additional voices. Instead, when the man in the limelight waved them off, the members of the press simply folded their tents and meekly crept away.

The moral of the story is pretty clear: playing Dumb isn’t really a dumb move at all.  In fact, it works so well that it reeks of Karl Rove cunning.

THE FALLOUT

A fairly reliable political tactic warns that if something ain’t broken, don’t fix it. To prove the validity of that statement, consider the way in which the Bush administration positioned itself from day one. From the start, their message was clear and unmistakable:

We are above the people and we are above the law.  We are accountable to no one. We are responsible to no one.  We will tolerate no questions, no criticism, and no investigations.  We are the power, and we will destroy anyone who gets in our way.

That strategy has been eminently successful for nearly five years. During that time it was never broken and there was absolutely no need to fix it, because much of the nation cheered it on. But as the poet knew, even the best laid plans of mice, men, and neocons can go astray. And so they did.

Somehow, in the past few weeks, the roof has caved in on the Bush White House. Somehow, despite the arrogant belief that they could get away with anything, the Bush team is up against the proverbial wall.  And somehow, for the first time in all these years, people are asking questions.

But questions are not enough, as Special Counsel Fitzgerald discovered in the Plame case. They are worthless without the answers, and a measured silence can assure that they remain little more than enigmas.  And so, we see the efficacy of the Dumb and Dumber routine by our leaders. They refuse to speak to us.  They refuse to answer our questions. They remain mute about the most important issues that this nation has faced in generations.  And they get away with it.

But, in reality, that silence is totally and abjectly unacceptable.  As elected officials, our leaders are accountable to every single one of us. Their actions must be consistent with the provisions of the Constitution they swore to uphold, and they must answer any and all questions about the decisions they make.   That’s not a choice they have.  It’s an obligation of their office.

President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have failed miserably in that obligation. That cannot go on doing so.  It is time that they are forced to come before this nation to explain the failures of their policies and to clarify their roles in the crimes that have been committed on their watch.

Among a very long list of misdeeds, these two men MUST, at the very least, clearly and fully explain the following:

The WaPo reports that Bob "I have a man crush on W" Woodward has suddenly remembered that he is a central figure in the Plame matter.  Somehow, until now, he had previously overlooked that fact. 

Perhaps his close ties to the Bush administration have enabled him to skirt FDA regulations and he has gotten his hands on some memory enhancing drugs.  Not that you can believe what he says, but here is Woodward's statement.

Apparently, David Limbaugh believes the truth is like a well trained dog.  If you play around enough with it, you can teach it to stand on its head.

The fear among the opinion elite of the right is so palpable, you can almost see David sweating as he banged out his latest column.  In it, David attempts to turn virtue into vice and truth into fiction.

Following the Senate’s adoption last week of the Lautenberg Amendment to strip the security clearance of anyone who knowingly reveals classified information, a group of Senators yesterday called on the White House Security Officer to reevaluate Karl Rove’s security clearance.  In addition to Lautenberg, Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), Jack Reed (D-RI),Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Mark Dayton (D-MN) also signed the letter.

During debate last Thursday on the Defense Authorization bill, the Senate adopted an amendment by U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) to revoke the security clearance of anyone who knowingly reveals classified information vital to the national security of the United States, including the identity of a covert intelligence agent.  (In order to avoid a roll call vote on the amendment, Republicans opted for a rare device known as a “Standing Division” to approve the measure.)