Guest blogged by David Edwards

Video in Streaming Flash format...

The GAO has release a report that details how the Bush Administration has spent over $1.6 billion on "advertising campaigns" in the last 30 months alone.

The report was requested by Congressional Democrats about a year ago after press reports indicated that the Bush Administration was engaged in using "covert propaganda" on the American people.

The GAO report list the following among a long list of abuses:

• Spending on contracts with public relations firms increased 128% between 2000 and 2004
• More than $1.1 billion PR was spent by the Department of Defense. This included $35 to promote golf courses and $10k to promote recreational cruises.
• $179 million for Air Force recruiting. In all, about $1 billion was spend by the DOD to in an attempt to bolster military recruiting
• The Army spent $2.5 million to promote its' global war on terrorism.
• $86 million to promote the failed Medicare prescription drug benefit

The RAW STORY has some comments from House Democrats:

Apropos to our weekend coverage of Coulter's "raghead" speech at CPAC, and indeed referencing said speech...I can't recommend this piece by Glen Greenwald (via Kos) enough.

For anyone with any questions about what the words "Liberal" and "Conservative" now actually mean in today's political "discourse", this is a must read. (HINT: Those words no longer mean either Liberal or Conservative...which regular BRAD BLOG readers likely already know. But Greenwald says it better than I've ever heard it said.)

In advance of tomorrow's scheduled U.S. House Judiciary Committee mark-up conference for two Resolutions of Inquiry concerning the NSA's warrantless domestic eavesdropping program, The BRAD BLOG has obtained the statement to be given by the committee's ranking member, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI).

The resolutions (H. Res 643 and 644) direct the Attorney General to submit all documents "relating to warrantless electronic surveillance...of persons in the United States conducted by the National Security Agency" to the Judiciary Committee for review.

As we reported exclusively last Saturday, in an unusual weekend email notification the Dept. of Justice announced to the committee they would be holding a last minute briefing on the program for them on Monday --- in advance of tomorrow's session. That briefing occurred yesterday as scheduled.

In his statement for tomorrow's mark-up conference on the resolutions (audio and video to be broadcast live via the Judiciary Committee website beginning at 10am ET on the web), Conyers explains what his resolution --- supported by 44 members so far --- does and doesn't ask for.

While seeking documentation from the Attorney General, Conyers will explain that the information is not sought "in a conclusory fashion."

"We are not saying that the President broke the law or has acted contrary to the Constitution," according to the congressman, "In fact, this resolution may well produce documents that rebut those allegations."

He points out that many of "the Nation's most preeminent legal and intelligence authorities," from both sides of the political aisle, have questioned the constitutionality of the program, and that even the Dept. of Justice, in last Monday's briefing, admitted that "some of the legal questions involved here are close calls."

Conyers goes on to laud the chair of the committee, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), for his recent letter sent to the AG requesting answers to 51 questions about the program. He adds, however, that other committee members have questions they'd like answered as well. Conyers' asks that those other members would also appreciate having their questions forwarded to the Dept. of Justice on behalf of the committee.

The congressman concludes by reaching out to both sides of the aisle:

"It is time that Congress begins to serve as a genuine check and balance on the Administration. This is not a partisan issue, to me it's a constitutional issue, and I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to help us, before its too late."

John Conyers' complete statement for tomorrow's conference follows in its entirety...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Smartmatic paid up to $35M for Sequoia Voting Systems last year, depending on performance. This year they contracted with Cook County and Chicago, Illinois to sell them voting machines worth $50.2M. For that amount of money the state of Illinois could have bought the whole company. A court in Pennsylvania found that at least one county needed to go to the people and ask them, via referendum, how they want to vote. The Arizona legislature rejected a hand audit. Regular readers of DVN will recall that VoteTrustUSA has been sponsoring an Action Alert to ask voters to notify the EAC and demand that they take action with regards to the use of banned software on some voting systems. You all are responsible for 20,113 Emails and 2220 letters sent so far!...

THANK YOU...To those who have answered the call. You'd be stunned to learn how many read BRAD BLOG, yet how few contribute. It's never to late to help. Click here to contribute online.

To create a monthly subscription for any amount of your choosing, see the blue form on the right side of the page.

Otherwise, snail mail works as well: Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594, Los Angeles, CA 90028

Thanks again to those who've helped. I'll take this down soon!

Just breaking from AP:

Guess the incident --- which includes "birdshot lodged in his heart!" --- wasn't quite so minor as it has been downplayed as for the last three days. By the MSM and their sources from Cheney's group of apologists, anyway.

More if I can get anything additional on this from hospital sources or elsewhere...

MORE... Note the story says the heart attack occurred "early Tuesday". Apparently, it was not notable enough for McClellan to mention that in today's White House Press Briefing!

As well, note the section in the transcript where David Gregory asks about "Two timeline questions" in regard to the issue we discussed last night here. McClellan continues to dodge the sequence of events concerning how and when Bush and his people were notified by Cheney's people.

I'm not a big "cover-up" guy, but I see no reason to dispute that what we are now witnessing is indeed a cover-up in action. What they are covering-up, however, is still largely speculation, but I'd suggest this is exactly what one looks like from all the shifty, inexplicable ducking, dodging and dancing that these guys are displaying.

I am less concerned with why Cheney failed to notify the media or the nation in the 21 hours after the shooting, and more interested in why he seems to have failed to give full disclosure to the White House itself.

Thus, I continue to ask: What didn't the President know, and why didn't he know it?

It seems clear there was a fear that Whittington would die from the get-go, and Cheney's team was deciding whether to cover-up the matter if he did so. "Veep Kills Man" is not a great headline, no matter how one tries to spin it. Thus, it seems they "failed" to inform Bush about Cheney being the shooter in the early hours before they knew if Whittington would survive or not --- and we'll see if he actually does at this point, since his condition has changed from what they thought it was --- so Bush would have "plausible deniability" in the event they decided to literally white wash the entire affair.

Still open to less sinister intepretations. But I still fail to come up with any.

STILL MORE... In yesterday's press briefing (which still does not have the video posted along with it, as I pointed out last night!), the following question was asked, and subsequently dismissed by Scottie:

I don't general do "predictions," but I'll go on record here as predicting that question will be arising more and more in the coming days and weeks.

SUSANHU AT BOOMAN OFFERS MORE... from a Texas attorney, concerning what Cheney may be "looking at" if Whittington dies...

FROM JOSH MARSHALL... The gang that couldn't shoot straight manages the media for the guy who couldn't shoot straight...

THINK PROGRESS CONFIRMS THAT WHITE HOUSE KNEW... about the heart attack prior to McClellan's presser today. But that they said nothing. They've got the video from the Hospital's press conference confirming the Hospital informed the White House of the heart attack "between 9:30 and 10:00 am this morning." The WH Press Briefing didn't begin until 12noon.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

The GOP attacked Howard Dean's Sunday interview on CBS Face the Nation (video here). Dean responded to the attack on CNN's American Morning.

Dean also said that that Vice President Cheney "has to go" if he authorized Scooter Libby to leak the classified National Intelligence Estimate as court documents have indicated.

Video in Streaming Flash format...
Video in Windows Media format...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Video in Streaming Flash format...

I began asking questions about this when the story came to light on Sunday.

The nearly 24 hours between the time Cheney shot Harry Whittington and the time the story was finally disclosed to the media remains unexplained --- and raises many questions.

Now it seems that the information that Cheney was the shooter in the incident was even withheld from Bush at the White House, at least for a time. In other words, the White House was informed that there had been "a hunting accident", but not that Cheney was the shooter.

It's not unusual in this White House, or any these days, that Presidents are only told the things they need to know, and nothing more. Particularly when the information could be damaging and they hope to retain "plausible deniability" should they have to testify or be asked questions about it later.

It is certainly starting to look like such a case where "plausible deniability" was on the table in the early hours, before they knew for certain if Whittington would survive the incident, after being admitted in critical condition to the hospital.

When the shooting was finally disclosed, it was by the property's owner, Katharine Armstrong. Cheney's office never actually announced it to the media, but simply "confirmed" the inquiries that came after the initial story in the Corpus-Christi Caller-Times. But media reports have said that Armstrong spoke with Cheney before doing so. In other words, he gave her the okay to let the news out finally on Sunday morning/afternoon.

In the meantime, back at the White House, as discussed in today's contentious Press Briefing, White House spokesman Scott McLellan makes it clear that though Bush was informed of the shooting Saturday evening, it wasn't until late Saturday Night --- or early Sunday Morning --- that he finally learned that Cheney himself was the shooter...

The timeline here would seem to add some fuel to the question I had asked previously: If Whittington had died, would the incident --- or at least Cheney's involvement in it --- have been disclosed at all to the American people?

Or to twist another infamous question: What didn't the President know and why didn't he know it?

The fact that the officials were able to inform the White House of "a hunting accident" not long after the incident, but it wasn't until 3:00am or so, that they were notified that Cheney was the shooter, would seem to point fairly squarely to the idea that initially they were keeping the idea of "plausible deniability" for the White House on the table for some reason. Perhaps as needed in the event that Whittington didn't make it out alive and they had determined a cover-up of Cheney's involvement was needed to avoid embarrassment. Or criminal charges.

If there's a less sinister explanation for all of this, I'd be more than open to it. But Scottie certainly didn't present one in today's Press Briefing.

Speaking of which... So far, no video of that briefing on the White House website. There is usually a link to it on the same page as the transcript. I wish I had saved the WH site's front page earlier, since --- as I recall --- it had said something along the lines of "Today's Press Briefing has now concluded, we will have a transcript and video posted shortly."

Now it says only, "Today's Press Briefing with White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has concluded." with a link to the text only.

Can't imagine why they wouldn't want to post today's video.

Let's see how long it takes 'em to get it up there. (Crooks and Liars has it in the meantime.)

UPDATE: The White House tacked the following on to the bottom of their Press Briefing transcript. Not certain what time they did so:

I'll let you decide about their credibility here and if they've earned the benefit of the doubt. But even with such benefit, why was Card told about the accident, but not told that Cheney was the shooter when they first notified him? Only after Karl "The Architect" Rove interceded was a decision made, apparently, to let Bush know. We report, you decide.

FURTHER UPDATE: Ron Brynaert looks at some related-ish timeline questions from Cheney's side of things.

TUESDAY UPDATE: Whittington suffers heart attack! McClellan fails to inform press corp! Thread continues now here...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Jefferson Co., Kentucky election officials have told the local media that they will be 'testing' their new accessible voting machines in tomorrow's election. This is the same thing we are going to be seeing from jurisdictions all across the country this year. "Testing"! We, the voters, are going to be asked to test these new machines, which will fail more than they should, in real elections. Training for election workers is scarce. Training for the voter is non-existent. I hope I am wrong but I fear not....

We reported late last night on the identify of the third hunter in Dick Cheney's ill-fated hunting party. Apparently, word didn't get out to the DC press corps about it however, as they were asking McClellan for the name of that third hunger this morning at an incredible grilling he received on the matter (Must read transcript here, must watch video here courtesy of Crooks & Liars since the WH doesn't have it up for some reason.)

While McClellan was busy with his greatest tap-dance yet today, avoiding questions about how a Vice-President of the United States can shoot somebody and have it go wholly unreported for a full 24 hours, he didn't need to dance around about this one...because the White House Press Corp apparently doesn't read The BRAD BLOG. At least they didn't this morning.

I'll have to review the full transcript of the Press Briefing when it becomes available, but for my money, the top-question is: Had the victim, 78 year-old, Harry Whittington ended up dying, would we have ever heard about the shooting at all?

The way the White House has behaved so far, and apparently avoided properly informing local law-enforcement officials (one such report is here), suggests this all would have simply disappeared had Whittington actually been shot to death by Cheney.

Anyway, here's what we reported late last night at the end of our long Sunday "Live Blogging" on Deadeye Dick:

===

THE THIRD HUNTER IS REVEALED... by Ron Brynaert over at RAW STORY. It seems the U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland, Pamela Willeford, another Bush Family crony, was also along for the festivities. The revelation by the Cox News Service, has yet to be picked up by any publication. As reported by RAW...

No explanation yet, for the lack of coverage of the Willeford story, despite a couple of lede grafs which seem to us to be too good not to print!...

MORE UPDATES NOW HERE...

...Still rolling on this previous item... Many curious questions exist. See the link for more details.

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Election officials in Cambria and Somerset Counties in Pennsylvania "know" they will have touch-screen voting machines (DREs) in place for this May's primary election even though no contracts have yet been signed. They stupidly think they can take custody of completely new technology, train election workers and the voters and have a trouble free election all with a few weeks preparation. This is pure incompetence. Also Illinois violates their own state laws to help out Sequoia and Sequoia gets an attempted assist in New Mexico....

This just out minutes ago from Associated Press...

UPDATE FROM BRAD: Several sources (Fox, CNN, Reuters) confirming incident, but reporting it took place yesterday (Saturday) at 5:30pm Texas time. Why was the story withheld from the media until now? Almost 24 hours later? The man is reported to be in stable condition, apparently, at this time. Did they wait until they could report that he would be fine before releasing it at all? Would we have found out about it at all, therefore, if the man had died? Did they wait until after it was too late to be discussed discussed on the Sunday News shows?

Just some of the questions I expect we'll be hearing shortly.

FURTHER UPDATES...

Cheney on hunting...

On the Armstrongs, on whose ranch the incident occurred, and their relation to Cheney et al...From WhiteHouseForSale.org...

Katherine Armstrong is the daughter of Anne, and was the one who witnessed the incident, quoted in the stories.

MORE... Shakespeare's Sister has details on Cheney's victim, Harry Whittington, and his long-standing crony-hood with Boy Bush...

DETAILS FROM HOSPITAL ON WHITTINGTON'S CONDITION... As Josh Marshall points out, details on Whittington's condition has so far only been reported by the property owner, Katharine Armstrong who has, by-and-large, downplayed the injury as no big deal.

CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital spokesperson, Yvonne Wheeler, tells The BRAD BLOG that the only information currently given to them by doctors is that Whittington is in "stable condition."

She's not able to say whether or not his condition has been worse previously when he was admitted to the facility at 8:15pm CT on Saturday, and then upgraded more recently.

News reports have said that Whittington was shot at 5:30pm CT, but Wheeler had no explanation for the apparent delay in his admission, other than she understands he was initially treated on-site. While the hospital is a two-hour drive from Armstrong's ranch, Whittington was transported to the facility by the hospital's own helicopter, so the reason for the apparent two-hour time-delay is still unclear.

No word yet on when Whittington may be released from the hospital.

Wheeler said that the media has requested a doctor there give a briefing on hunting accidents in general, and they will be doing so shortly.

We've so far been unable to receive comment from Cheney's office.

According to AP, Armstrong had said about the shooting:

THE LEFT COASTER POINTS OUT... That apparently it's all Whittington's own fault --- not Cheney's! --- that he got shot...At least according to Armstrong...

BRAD BLOG commenter Bonnie reports...

JAMES AND SARAH BRADY RELEASE COMMENT... And a hilarious one at that...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon, of VotersUnite and VoteTrustUSA

The "DVN Top 5" is a feature in the weekly voting newsletter of VoteTrustUSA. The February 07 edition can be found here. The selection of what will be the "Top 5" for each week and where it goes on the list is all mine. The fact that you may disagree with my choices is great because it shows that you have been reading the DVN articles that I've posted throughout the week here on The BRAD BLOG!...