Turd Blossoms Turd
Dan Bartlett
White House Communications Director (2001-2005); Councelor to the President (2005-Present)
BARTLETT WAS ON AIR FORCE ONE: Bartlett was one of several senior administration officials on a July 2003 flight to Africa. During the trip, Bartlett gave a background briefing in which he urged reporters to look into the CIA’s sole in sending Joe Wilson to Niger. The briefing has not drawn “substantial interest” the prosecutor’s office recently. One source for a New York Times article on the subject said Prosecutor Fitzgerald knew about the briefing but was not pursuing it. A different source for the same article said the Mr. Bartlett did not see the State Department memo that was otherwise witnessed on the plane. [NYT, 7/27/05]
BARTLETT TESTIFIED BEFORE THE GRAND JURY: According to Anne Kornblut of the New York Times, citing “a person who has been briefed on the case,” Bartlett told investigators that “he did not know who Ms. Wilson was” when her name was leaked. Bartlett’s attorney has refused to discuss the case, citing requests by the special counsel. [[NYT, 7/27/05; Washington Post, 7/21/05]
BARTLETT HAS LONGSTANDING TIES TO KARL ROVE: Rove and Bartlett go way back, and the influence of the former still has a tendency to affect the later. As Newsweek reports: “Technically, Rove was in charge of politics, not ‘communications.’ But, as he saw it, the two were one and the same–and he used his heavyweight status to push the message machine run by his Texas protege and friend, Dan Bartlett.” [Newsweek July 25, 2005.] He has worked closely with both Bush and Rove since 1994, when he worked on Bush’s first successful campaign for governor. Before that, Bartlett was an employee of Karl Rove and associates, a political consulting firm established by Karl Rove after the 1980 primary defeat of George HW Bush against Ronald Reagan. [Link; White House]
BARTLETT OFFERED CONTRADICTORY EXPLANATIONS OF 16 WORDS: In July of 2003, Bartlett, referring the infamous “16 words” in Bush’s State of the Union address, told reporters that “there was no debate or questions with regard to that line when it was signed off on.” The very same week Condoleeza Rice told reporters that there was “discussion on that specific sentence, so that it reflected better what the CIA thought.” [Washington Post, 7/15/03;=]
MEMBER OF WHITE HOUSE IRAQ GROUP: Bartlett was a regular participant in the weekly meetings of the Bush Administration’s White House Iraq Group. The main purpose of the group was the systematic coordination of the “marketing” of going to war with Iraq as well as selling the war here at home. One clear example of this fact is that “the escalation of nuclear rhetoric” during the pre-war stage, “including the introduction of the term ‘mushroom cloud’ into the debate, coincided with the formation” of WHIG. The group included the two individual who have been confirmed as leakers, Karl Rove and Lewis Libby. [Washington Post, 8/10/03]
White House Communications Director (2001-2005); Councelor to the President (2005-Present)
BARTLETT WAS ON AIR FORCE ONE: Bartlett was one of several senior administration officials on a July 2003 flight to Africa. During the trip, Bartlett gave a background briefing in which he urged reporters to look into the CIA’s sole in sending Joe Wilson to Niger. The briefing has not drawn “substantial interest” the prosecutor’s office recently. One source for a New York Times article on the subject said Prosecutor Fitzgerald knew about the briefing but was not pursuing it. A different source for the same article said the Mr. Bartlett did not see the State Department memo that was otherwise witnessed on the plane. [NYT, 7/27/05]
BARTLETT TESTIFIED BEFORE THE GRAND JURY: According to Anne Kornblut of the New York Times, citing “a person who has been briefed on the case,” Bartlett told investigators that “he did not know who Ms. Wilson was” when her name was leaked. Bartlett’s attorney has refused to discuss the case, citing requests by the special counsel. [[NYT, 7/27/05; Washington Post, 7/21/05]
BARTLETT HAS LONGSTANDING TIES TO KARL ROVE: Rove and Bartlett go way back, and the influence of the former still has a tendency to affect the later. As Newsweek reports: “Technically, Rove was in charge of politics, not ‘communications.’ But, as he saw it, the two were one and the same–and he used his heavyweight status to push the message machine run by his Texas protege and friend, Dan Bartlett.” [Newsweek July 25, 2005.] He has worked closely with both Bush and Rove since 1994, when he worked on Bush’s first successful campaign for governor. Before that, Bartlett was an employee of Karl Rove and associates, a political consulting firm established by Karl Rove after the 1980 primary defeat of George HW Bush against Ronald Reagan. [Link; White House]
BARTLETT OFFERED CONTRADICTORY EXPLANATIONS OF 16 WORDS: In July of 2003, Bartlett, referring the infamous “16 words” in Bush’s State of the Union address, told reporters that “there was no debate or questions with regard to that line when it was signed off on.” The very same week Condoleeza Rice told reporters that there was “discussion on that specific sentence, so that it reflected better what the CIA thought.” [Washington Post, 7/15/03;=]
MEMBER OF WHITE HOUSE IRAQ GROUP: Bartlett was a regular participant in the weekly meetings of the Bush Administration’s White House Iraq Group. The main purpose of the group was the systematic coordination of the “marketing” of going to war with Iraq as well as selling the war here at home. One clear example of this fact is that “the escalation of nuclear rhetoric” during the pre-war stage, “including the introduction of the term ‘mushroom cloud’ into the debate, coincided with the formation” of WHIG. The group included the two individual who have been confirmed as leakers, Karl Rove and Lewis Libby. [Washington Post, 8/10/03]
posted by professor rat at 4:55 AM
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