An Obvious Attempt To Smear Senator Reid By Bush Justice Department

The Associated Press is reporting that the Justice Department is leaking a letter claiming concern by the Bush Administration about Senators referring to confidential materials. The Justice Department is edging into the Senate controversy over judicial nominees, writing key lawmakers after Democratic Leader Harry Reid publicly referred to an FBI file on one of President Bush's controversial appointees. "The letter expressed concern about recent remarks on the floor of the Senate which alluded to an FBI background investigation file provided by the Department of Justice to the Senate Judiciary Committee on a confidential basis in connection with a judicial nomination," a department official said Friday night. Of course we knew the Bush propaganda machine would attempt to ratchet up the condemnation of the Democratic Party over the filibuster controversy and the (Republican Party named) "Nuclear Option" to stop the filibuster. But to drag the Minority Leader Harry Read into the fray is a new low even for them. Even though the same "unnamed" department official who of course would only speak anonymously said the letter did not refer specifically to Reid, or to 6th Circuit Court nominee Henry Saad, it sure isn't a coincidence that the letter began circulating just one day after Reid alluded publicly to a confidential FBI report prepared on Saad, a 6th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee. It is utter rubbish that they should suddenly be concerned in the least since Saad's suitability for the office of a Federal Judgeship has been discussed quite openly for well over a year. The only reason they are trying to make this an issue now is to increase the pressure on the Democratic Senators and put them in a bad light by insinuating that they are doing something untoward. But as Senator Reid's spokesman Jim Manley stated: "Senator Reid simply referred his colleagues to the source of those questions. That is Senator Reid's right and responsibility. He added also that: "Any statements or implications to the contrary are baseless and desperate partisan attacks aimed to distract Americans from the outrageous records of a handful of radical, out-of-touch judicial nominees". This whole thing is nothing more than a leak from an anonymous Justice Department source that is obviously nothing more than a politically motivated smear of Senator Reid by the Bush administration. This has been a tactic that Karl Rove has used quite effectively over the years, and he is doing the same thing in this case in order to keep the smear distanced from Bush (by using the Justice Department) so he can have "plausible deniability". Isn't it nice to know that your tax dollars a paying for this crap? Hopefully the public will see this tactic for exactly what it is.