[Oopsie. Scottie walked it back. I guess it was just a cheap stunt to sell books. Who knew?]

Your case has re-opened. On Plame, what did Bush know, and when did he know it? ’Cause Scott “Sucker MC” McClellan dropped a dime:

E&P was first mainstream news outlet to report on Monday night that the McClellan excerpt [from his new tell-all book] reads:

“The most powerful leader [sic] in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.

“There was one problem. It was not true.

“I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration “were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President’s chief of staff, and the president himself.”

Chris Dodd—yay!—responds:

During his confirmation process, Attorney General Mukasey said he would act independently. Accordingly, today, I call on the Attorney General to live up to his word and launch an immediate investigation to determine the facts of this case, the extent of any cover up and determine what the President knew and when he knew it.”

I’m sure Judge Mukasey is a standup guy, who will be unafraid to demonstrate his tremendous integritude by stepping up to the plate dealing with the matter at once….

Funny how all the old Nixonian tropes are true, aren’t they? Cover-up, what did he know, when did he know it? Except they’re not true for Nixon and his little cabal; they’re true for the entire government and most of the Conservative movement. Sigh.

NOTE Via Big Orange.