Star Wars, the Sequel

Stolberg writes that for "a presidency still haunted by memories of Hurricane Katrina," what she calls a "forceful round-the-clock response" was a "political no-brainer -- the 'anti-Katrina,' in the words of Peter Wehner, a former domestic policy adviser to Mr. Bush."

Here's Bush this morning, announcing that he declared the fires to be a major disaster.

Politicization Watch

Richard B. Schmitt writes in the Los Angeles Times: "A former U.S. attorney general on Tuesday accused the U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh of launching public corruption probes that targeted Democratic officeholders while looking the other way when presented with evidence of misconduct by Republican officials.

"The incendiary remarks by Richard L. Thornburgh, a former Republican governor of Pennsylvania as well as the top Justice Department official from 1988 to 1991, represented some of the most extraordinary testimony yet in the continuing congressional investigation into allegations of politicization of the Justice Department under ousted Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales."

Philip Shenon writes in the New York Times: "The House Judiciary Committee is investigating the Justice Department's handling of the prosecution of several prominent Democrats around the country, most notably the prosecution and conviction of former Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama on federal corruption charges."

Laura McGann writes for TPMMuckraker: "A former lawyer for Don Siegelman (D-AL) told the House Judiciary Committee today that his client's case took a '180 degree' turn in 2004, after Justice Department officials in Washington told local prosecutors to take another look at the case -- from top to bottom.

"According to former US attorney for Alabama Doug Jones, in the summer of 2004 prosecutors told him the case was going nowhere. By October 2004 the case against Siegelman had been dismissed. But one month later, in a surprising turn of events, Washington officials told local prosecutors to give it another shot, Jones testified today."

Excerpts from the hearing can be found here.

The New York Times editorial board reminds us that when it comes to the politicization of the Justice Department, "the best evidence about what occurred lies with the current and former members of the Bush administration -- and [Karl] Rove and Harriet Miers have pleaded executive privilege and defied Congressional subpoenas. They should testify about what they know, and the Justice Department should hand over documents the committee requested months ago."

Cuba Libre

Ginger Thompson writes in the New York Times: "President Bush is planning to issue a stern warning Wednesday that the United States will not accept a political transition in Cuba in which power changes from one Castro brother to another, rather than to the Cuban people. . . .

"In effect, the speech will be a call for Cubans to continue to resist, a particularly strong line coming from an American president."

Here's the transcript of a press briefing from an anonymous senior administration official yesterday. The official took reporters through Bush's speech nearly line by line, concluding: "He will then address a comment to the ordinary Cubans who are listening. He will say to them that they have the power to change, and/or to shape their destiny; that they are the ones who will bring about a future where Cuban leaders are chosen by them, where their children can grow up in peace and prosperity. He will remind them that over the years there have been many so-called experts that have said that change would never come to certain spots in the world, that there would always be totalitarian in Central and Eastern Europe, or there would always be authoritarianism in Spain or Chile, and that has not been the case; that there you had a case in which the people understood that they could shape their own destiny. Cubans can do the same. And at that point he will pretty much end the speech. . . .