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At this point, I'm pretty realistic about the strategy of the Sternly Worded Letter. But Joe Biden gets off a good one here, writing to Fred Fielding:

On December 10, 2007, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino stated that you issued a written directive to White House employees to preserve documents related to the destruction of the CIA interrogation tapes. Ms. Perino did not provide a copy of the directive, however, and she was unable to answer questions as to its breadth and scope.

Please confirm that the directive to preserve documents applied to the Executive Office of the President, including the National Security Council, in addition to immediate White House staff. In light of the Office of the Vice President’s record of fatuous arguments that it is not subject to the authority of the President, please also confirm that the directive included the Office of the Vice President and that the Office of the Vice President intends to comply.

Indeed. Read more…

Every day a new stupid from the Dem [cough] leadership. TPM:

The House Democrats were set to hold a vote this Friday on whether to find White House officials in contempt of Congress for ignoring subpoenas related to the U.S. attorney firings investigation, The Politico reports. But no more. The vote, already delayed since July, has been pushed to December, at the earliest. The reason? The Politico quotes a "top House Democratic leadership aide": "[Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-NY)] has been saying that this week is not the time to do this, that it will step on our message on Iraq and FISA."

What a wuss. The common factor in all three stories--FISA, Iraq, and Bush blowing off the subpoenas--is overweening, arrogant, unaccountable power. That's the message, unless you're a preening, credit-grabbing, camera-hogging, weinie-scarfing machine politico Master of the Teabags like Rahm. Surely that--the power grab part, that is--is not a hard message to send, by now? And the American people already understand it.

But wait! I've got an idea: Read more…

What a surprise. AP:

The White House on Friday asked a Senate panel for more time to produce subpoenaed information about the legal justification for President Bush's secretive eavesdropping program.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy had set Monday as the deadline for administration officials already subpoenaed to provide documents and testimony about the National Security Agency's eavesdropping program.

In Fielding's letter to Leahy, which was released by the White House in Crawford, Texas, where Bush is staying at his ranch, the president's lawyer said that while the White House had identified a core group of documents in response to the subpoenas, the work is "by no means complete" and could not be completed by Monday.

Naturally, Leahy will say "Give us what you've got," right?

And now the kicker: Read more…