ARLEN IS SNARLIN': GIVES BUSH 18 HOURS TO COME CLEAN OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES-- OR IS IT JUST A WHITE-WASH IN THE MAKING?

It wasn't that long ago that Bush was flying high and the extremists who dominated his party were demanding that the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee not be given to the unpredictable and volatile Arlen Specter (R-PA). Specter was humiliated by the right and forced to agree to a series of horrific demands regarding what he could and could not do if they allowed him to take the chairmanship. He was allowed to huff and puff, but other than that, he had to clear everything with Rove. Now the Democrats control the committee, Patrick Leahy is chairman and Arlen is the ranking minority member. He's getting his revenge on the extremists-- or is he?

According to the Hill he "emerged from a crucial Monday briefing and gave the Bush administration 18 hours to resolve the controversy over apparent contradictions in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s congressional testimony." I think Leahy didn't put a date on a similar demand he made Sunday on Face the Nation. We now have 4 influential senators requesting a special prosecutor, half a dozen congressmen introducing an impeachment motion in the House, and the two highest ranking members of the Judiciary Committee demanding an explanation to something that can't be explained without a resignation.

Specter is hinting that Tuesday afternoon will see a bombshell.

“Given the difficulty of discussing classified matters in public, I think it is preferable to have a letter addressing that question [of Gonzales’ veracity] from the administration … by noon tomorrow, which will be made available to the news media,” Specter wrote in the statement. “The administration has committed to producing such a letter.”

Specter expects the letter clarifying the attorney general’s testimony to be addressed to himself and Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who declined to comment on the matter.

Specter has a long and untrustworthy history. He is always on the verge of standing up for what is right... but never does... never. We'll have to see what happens today, but my bet is that Specter and the White House have cooked up some bullshit exculpatory memo that will give him and other Republicans-- and reactionary Democrats-- the wiggle room they need to let Gonzales off the hook. I hope I'm wrong. Update any minute.


UPDATE #1: WHITEWASH EXPECTED LATER TODAY

The whitewash Specter cooked up with the Bush Regime is late but Tony Snow just announced it will be coming soon. They're still making up crafting the final touches.


UPDATE #2: WHITEWASH DELIVERED

This is a bombshell? That it's all classified?

The Regime sent out a legalistic Philadelphia lawyer type of rationale for how Gonzales may have mislead but technically didn't exactly commit perjury. It's pure hogwash. Arlen, you still snarlin'?


UPDATE #3: SNARLIN' ISN'T COMMENTING YET... STILL NOT SATISFIED BUT WAITING TO HEAR FROM ABU GONZO

Wolf Blintzer had Arlen Specter on today to ask him about the bombshell that never exploded. Actually it didn't even go Pop! Specter seems to think Gonzales' late explanation will be forthcoming any minute, although... "If he doesn’t have a plausible explanation then he hasn’t leveled with the Committee," he told Blinzter.