Seems like the Republicans can't even get their stories straight these days. Maybe Bush needs to have his meds adjusted again, so he doesn't demoralize the staff? Or are there deeper forces at work? Dan Eggen on their ever-changing stories:

Accounts of Prosecutors' Dismissals Keep Shifting
"It has been described as her idea . . . but I don't want to vouch for origination," press secretary Tony Snow said. "At this juncture, people have hazy memories."

Snow's comments mark the latest revision of the administration's account of the firings, which has shifted repeatedly over the past week as new e-mails and other evidence have come to light in response to congressional demands for information. The precise roles of Gonzales, presidential adviser Karl Rove and the president himself remain unclear, even as calls for Gonzales's resignation continue to mount.

The White House rebuffed demands yesterday from the House and Senate Judiciary committees for more information on the firings, saying the administration needs more time before turning over additional documents or deciding whether to allow key White House officials to testify.

Well, my goodness! They're running round like chickenhawks with their balls cut off! I wonder why?

Well, if Charles Krauthhamer can play the lay analyst in print, then so can I:

Pony Blow, in a rare moment of what must have been unintended honesty, lets the real reason slip for the chaos in the White House. It's the only clear statement we've heard in this entire mess:

Snow was asked yesterday whether Bush might have suggested the firings.

"Anything's possible . . . but I don't think so," he said, adding that Bush "certainly has no recollection [Asked him, then, didja Tony?] of any such thing. . . . I want you to be clear here: Don't be dropping it at the president's Bush's door."

But surely Bush's door is exactly where we ought to be "dropping" the unbuffable turd of accountability?

After all, the DAs serve, by statute, "at the pleasure of the President." So, when the DAs who keep their jobs are good little Bushies, and the DAs who are fired were all investigating Republican corruption or refusing to let their offices become extensions of the RNC, how could Bush not know?

Two possibilities, that I can see:

1. Bush did not know, in which case he's not fulfilling his duties as President, and should be impeached. See the statute below*.

2. Bush did know, in which case he's using the entire Department of Justice as a political tool, and should be impeached.

You know, I think the entire Bush administration is a cry for help: All along Bush has unconsciously been crying Punish me! Consciously, of course, he can't admit this too himself, so any attempts at holding him accountable or even responsible encounter tremendous resistance, and the enablers that surround him reinforce the resistance and tamp down the episode. Then, the repressed returns, and Bush transgresses again, and the cycle repeats.

This time, however, Bush's dark side may have been too much for his enablers ("mistakes were made").

I'm thinking and hoping that Bush will, quite soon, be forced to face his deepest, darkest, and most unconscious desires, and be punished very badly indeed.

Nice work there, Babs.

NOTE * Mary2002 at Kos quotes the statute:

28 U.S.C.541 provides as follows:

Sec. 541. United States attorneys

   (a) The President shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a United States attorney for each judicial district.
   (b) Each United States attorney shall be appointed for a term of four years. On the expiration of his term, a United States attorney shall continue to perform the duties of his office until his successor is appointed and qualifies.
   (c) Each United States attorney is subject to removal by the President.

Note that "shall" means not optional. By statute, the responsibility is Bush's. This is the gaff Bush's enablers are squirming on.