As predicted on these pages one week ago today, the question in the TreasonGate affair has quickly become "What did the President know? And when did he know it?"

The net is abuzz this morning since the confluence of several different reports today. One by Frank Rich in NY Times concerns the 12 hour gap between the time that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was told to notify the White House about the Plame Leak Investigation at 8:30pm on Sep 12, 2003 --- he was to instruct the White House not to destroy anything in regard to the matter --- and the time he actually officially informed the White House at 8:00am the next day.

The follow-up to that came this morning from Bob Shieffer on Face the Nation when he asked Gonzales about that matter, and Gonzales admitted that he waited to give "official" notice to the White House the next morning, but...(get ready)...notified Chief of Staff Andrew Card on the night of Sep 12!

In other words, the White House had a full 12 Hours to shred anything they may have felt needed shredding!

Think Progress has an excellent description of the sitch, including transcript from today's Shieffer grilling and admission by Gonzales. Crooks and Liars has the video natch.

Steven G. Brant covers this as well and notes, to CNN and Wolf Blitzer's continuing shame, Gonzales appeared on CNN with Blitzer after the FtN appearance but he didn't bother to follow up on the Andrew Card issue at all.

Editor & Publisher also covers Gonzales, Schieffer and the "12 Hour Gap".

I would, however, like to point out another issue which I mentioned aloud for the first time on Thom Hartmann's national radio program on Friday and which seems to now be getting some attention elsewhere. (Hartmann himself posted an article titled "What Did Bush Know, And When Did He Know It?" yesterday which points to yet another damning indication of Dubya's own personal fingerprints on the Plame leak.)

NY Times' Richard W. Stevenson nips around the issue I alluded to a bit with Hartmann in an article today headlined --- yes --- "Who told Bush what in leak case, and when was he told?".

So, what I've been wondering about... If Bush spoke to Rove early on, as it was claimed, to find out if he was the leaker, then Rove either lied --- or not --- to Bush. Since we now know that Rove was one of the leakers, he needs to be fired immediately if only for lying to Bush about it. If he didn't lie to Bush --- and chose to share the truth with his good friend by letting him know in some way that he leaked --- then it means that Bush has been involved in a cover-up of that fact this entire time.

Either way, Rove needs to be dismissed immediately, of course, but more to the point: Watch for George W. Bush to be in deep deep doo doo on this matter in the near future. Unless someone comes up with a clever alibi. And quick!

John Aravosis at AMERICAblog has some supporting evidence via transcripts and questions around this same issue today as well...

There is now much buzz about all of the above all over the net. I'll leave it to the excellent eagle-eyed BRAD BLOG commenters to include links to additional coverage.

UPDATE: Wow...Even David Gergen asked the question...in precisely those words...during the Stephanopoulos round table this morning on ABC's This Week! He said he felt this is all going to "come back to the President." Video clip and transcript now here...

Via AMERICAblog...

Crooks and Liars has the video.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

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FLASH UPDATE: Jim Marcinkowski just added to guest list for tomorrow night's BRAD SHOW!

Jim Marcinkowski, former CIA case officer, gave some remarkable testimony at today's Joint Democratic House/Senate Hearings on Karl Rove's TreasonGate. He described the leak about Valerie Plame's identity and its subsequent coverup by the White House as "a disservice to our country," resulting in an "increase in the risk to the people of the United States."

Blasting those attempting to protect themselves with attacks on Ambassador Joe Wilson and others trying to sound the alarm bell about what this Administration has done, Marcinkowski said those who would "shine up your American Flag lapel pin and fix your patriotism to your sleeve, [should] think about what impact your actions are gonna have on the security of the American people."

The resulting message he says is sent around the world: "Politics in this country does indeed trump National Security."

Crooks and Liars has the video of his testimony.

ConyersBlog has more details on today's proceedings.

Here are a few of the stunning key passages from Marcinkowski's testimony:

UPDATE: Looks like David Corn also has both the transcript and additional info and thoughts on today's hearings.

RAW STORY has the testimony from Valerie Plame's CIA colleague Larry C. Johnson who sets out to "correct a malicious and disingenuous smear campaign that has been executed against a friend and former colleague, Valerie (Plame) Wilson."

Another BRAD BLOGGER in the news! (Add him to the list.)

Yes, in a front page story now up at RAW STORY, our own Winter Patriot --- Official BRAD BLOG Concierge, frequent Guest Blogger, and all around good guy --- gets some ink of his own for his smart Whispering Campaign website.

Devastatingly simple, the brilliant campaign offers readers single-page, large font versions of important, under-reported stories which can be easily printed out and distributed about town where they may be seen by folks who might not otherwise patronize those websites and blogs which are reporting the real news seen as unfit for our failed modern Mainstream Corporate Media.

The RAW headline terms Winter a "Modern-day samizdat bring[ing] news to public places." We admit we had to look up the term "samizdat" to find out that it's defined as follows:

Given the remarkably Kremlin-like state of our current White House, coupled naturally with an intimidated and repressed American Press Pool that has failed for four-plus years now to report on the unprecedented dangers wrought by this damagingly un-American Administration, a "modern-day samizdat" sounds like a good description to us!

For being the media...cuz someone's got to...we say: Waytago, WP! Keep up the good work! America --- and The BRAD BLOG --- thanks you! For all that you do, this blog's for you!

The 'Downing Street Documents' continue to cause trouble for the Bush White House, as a formal "Resolution of Inquiry" into the matter was finally introduced in the U.S. House today according to AfterDowningStreet.org...

Lee's resolution, asking the White House for information concerning the Downing Street Documents comes just two days prior to more than 300 nationwide events scheduled for this Saturday, July 23, which are set to mark the third anniversary of the original Downing Street Memo.

The documents are official high-level British minutes and memos documenting the Bush Administration's plan to "fix" the intelligence and facts around their pre-determined policy to topple Saddam Hussein by military force. That policy, the documents conclude, was based on "thin" evidence concerning Saddam's WMD, included plans to goad Saddam into a war through U.N. sanctions and early bombing of targets in Iraq, and explain that the Bushies had little or no planning for post-war Iraq. They were all written while the Bush Administration was telling the American People and Congress that no plans had yet been made for attacking Iraq.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) will be a guest on this weekend's BRAD SHOW to discuss the DSM/TreasonGate town hall being held in Los Angeles. We will also have reports from John Conyers' Detroit event as well. More details on all the events are here.

More information on the Resolution of Inquiry, and how you can help by contacting legislators, is here [PDF].

Within the past few hours, The BRAD BLOG has learned, a Federal District Court has ruled against the National Federation for the Blind (NFB) who had filed suit against Volusia County, Florida earlier this month to force the county to use paperless Electronic Voting Machines in the upcoming fall elections there.

The court order denying NFB's motion has been obtained by The BRAD BLOG and is available here [PDF].

The BRAD BLOG has also learned that the NFB has decided late in the day to file an emergency appeal to that Federal District Court decision.

This debate, and the decision by the District Court in Orlando, could have far-reaching implications in the national debate concerning touchscreen voting machines for which the NFB has been an advocate nationwide.

The objectivity in regard to the NFB's national campaign for paperless touchscreen voting machines, or DRE's, has been questioned by several groups due to the NFB's receipt of a $1 Million contribution from America's largest voting machine company, Diebold, Inc.

On the ground in Volusia, another disability advocacy group, the Handicapped Adults of Volusia County (HAVC), says they are "opposed to spending money on machines that do not provide a paper record of a person's vote," according to a report by The New Standard.

HAVC joined with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in a court brief which opposed the now-rejected motion brought by the NFB. The decision of the suit will be stayed pending the NFB's emergency appeal.

Earlier today, NFB member and vice-president of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), Jim Dickson --- who has been very outspoken nationally in support of the paperless touchscreen voting machines made by Diebold --- told The BRAD BLOG that U.S. District Judge John Antoon II was wrong in his verdict siding against the NFB and in favor of Volusia County's decision to not purchase voting machines made by Diebold.

Dickson, who has also been alleged to have accepted money from Diebold, which he has denied, said the decision was "crap"...

Earlier today, Larisa Alexandrovna of RAW STORY reported on the 70-page position paper released by House Judiciary Democrats outlining their disenting view on the renewal of the PATRIOT Act as now being debated on the House floor.

In a statement obtained by The BRAD BLOG for today's debate, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), the ranking member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, called several of the PATRIOT Act provisions --- 16 of which are now up for renewal --- into question, cited hundreds of instances of "abuse" and outlined those provisions which he viewed as the most significant threat to our civil liberties.

Citing evidence of "a few provisions that are subject to abuse, and need greater checks and balances," Conyers outlined three of the provisions specifically of concern during debate today of "HR 3199 USA Patriot and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005"

Amongst those which Conyers' expressed concerned about is Section 215 which allows for the FBI to obtain any record "relevant" to an investigation, including library books and medical records. Conyers said that targets are not allowed to tell anyone --- even their own attorneys --- about such records requests. The provision has been "abused," said Conyers', citing reports from the American Library Association alone of some 200 such requests since September 11.

Another concern is Section 505 which allows the FBI "to obtain financial, telephone, internet and other consumer records" without requiring prior judicial approval. Though this provision has been found unconstitional by Federal Courts, the Bush Administration continues to use it, according to Conyers.

Conyers also cites the provision which allows so-called "sneak and peek" searches in homes, cars and business, even when there is no emergency. The provision --- which Conyers' says was not in the version of the PATRIOT Act that came out of Judiciary Committee conference but was added by the Administration "in the middle of the night" --- has been "subject to wide spread abuse." The provision, the statement says, has been used more than 240 times...Moreover, only 10% of these uses have had anything to do with terrorism, the purported justification of the PATRIOT Act."

Conyers also calls for renewed "sunsets" to the current PATRIOT provisions, rather than making them permanent as the Bush Administration has called for.

The BRAD BLOG has obtained Conyers' statement which follows in full [emphasis from the original document as obtained via Conyers' office]...

Oh, Canada! Way to go!

Thank you for setting the standards for how elections should be counted (by hand), wars should be fought (only when necessary) and how human beings who wish to wed should be treated by the state.

As reported by AP, the bill which became law today "gives homosexual couples the same rights as those in traditional unions between a man and a woman."

Imagine that.

Just back in town after a day off, and man do I have a lot to catch up with...While I'm doing that, if you haven't noticed already, the Franklin County, Ohio Elections Director, Matt Damschroder, who last week acknowledged accepting a $10,000 check from a lobbyist for Diebold, was given a slap on the wrist yesterday and docked 30 days pay from his yearly $97,240 salary.

He has also claimed that the Diebold lobbyist, Pasquale "Pat" Gallina, told him that he'd made $50,000 in donations to groups that support Ohio's Secretary of State (and, coincidentally, the Co-Chair of the Bush/Cheney Re-Elect Committee) J. Kenneth Blackwell.

All of this has come about amidst a lawsuit filed by voting machine company, ES&S in Ohio against Blackwell for giving the entire state to Diebold. This should be very interesting to watch. Depositions are upcoming.

In the meantime, while Franklin County's head of election, who seems to have accepted a $10,000 bribe gets off virtually scot-free, Sherole Eaton --- the courageous whistleblower from Hocking County, OH, who gave testimony in an affidavit of employees from voting machine company, Triad gaming the Ohio recount --- has been accused of absolutely nothing. Nonetheless, she is still fired from the Hocking County Board of Elections.

Ohio. Retaining its slim edge over Florida for now...as the filthiest fucking state in the union.

Never one to put all of our democracy lovin' eggs into a single basket, no matter how much treason is in that basket's "gate", the breadth of scandals finally coming home to roost right now on this administration (has there ever been a dirtier one?) is simply remarkable.

While any one of the scandals and investigations listed below would have likely taken down "lesser" administrations long ago --- though those administrations, unlike this one, would likely have had some help in that direction from an actual fourth estate --- it's remarkable to see how many of these scandals are currently rolling.

To date, we don't believe anyone has actually been held accountable yet for any of the following (with the exception of a few poor sap soldier/scapegoats from Abu Ghraib --- of course, when the rubber meets the road, the Bush Administration blames the troops rather than supports them!).

This list is rather extraordinary when taken in total. So... We leave it to you... Tell us which scandal and/or investigation will be the straw that finally breaks this Administration's back and why? (The various options presented here are in no particular order)

1) Plame/Rove "TreasonGate" investigation
2) Jack Abramoff/Tom Delay investigation
3) Thomas Noe/Ohio "Coingate"/RNC investigation
4) "Duke" Cunningham/MZM investigation
5) Sproul & Assoc./RNC investigation
6) Halliburton/Dick Cheney investigation
7) Downing Street Documents/Iraq War investigation
8) Abu Ghraib/Gitmo/Torture accusations/investigation
9) Election Fraud allegations/investigation
10) Jeff Gannon investigation
11) 9/11 investigation
12) Combination of all of the above
13) Scandal/investigation we failed to list above
14) An as of yet unknown/unpublicized scandal/investigation
15) None of the above and none in the future

Place your bets in comments and consider it an open thread as I attempt to get the hell outta Dodge for 24 hours or so to celebrate (my birthday, not Bush's woes). We'll see if I make it out of town or not. Trying to...If I do, hopefully Winter Patriot will feel free to cover the slack here --- as needed --- while I'm gone. Peace.

As if Dubya didn't have enough (self-inflicted) problems...OpTruth.org, a coalition of U.S. veterans of the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars whose slogan is "Really Support the Troops - Listen to Them!", is taking out an ad in tomorrow's Washington Post critical of the Bush Administration and calling on Bush to "provide leadership" by meeting the needs of healthcare for returning vets.

In their ad, the group generously attributes the $1 Billion shortfall in Bush's 2005 budget for "Veterans of the War on Terror" to a "miscalculation".

In 2006, the ad claims, the budget shortfall will be a full $3 billion short of what our returning veterans need to cover health care costs at Veterans Administration hospitals. OpTruth covers this issue in more detail on their website.

OpTruth.org founder Paul Reickhoff --- who we've previously covered here and more recently here, quit his Wall Street job after 9/11 to fight in Afghanistan and has been critical of Bush's level of support for troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Reickhoff tells The BRAD BLOG that this ad represents the "first time an Iraq vets group has taken out a major print ad."

The text from the OpTruth ad is as follows...

A graphic version is below (click to see full PDF version):

(Hat tip Jesse at Stakeholder!)