—By David Corn
Mother Jones, Mon May. 26, 2008 8:42 AM PDT
On Sunday, Karl Rove gave students of spin a prime example of a non-denial denial. He was a guest on ABC News' This Week and after discussing the presidential campaign, he was asked by host George Stephanopoulos about the Don Siegelman controversy. Siegelman is the former Democratic Alabama governor who was convicted and imprisoned for corruption and who charges that the Justice Department prosecution against him was part of a secret campaign mounted by Rove and other Republicans. Last week, the House judiciary committee subpoenaed Rove in connection with the Siegelman case and the firings of U.S. attorneys.
EXCERPT...
t's pretty damn obvious: Rove would not say, "I did not contact the Justice Department about the Siegelman case." Confronted with this simple question, he first said that others supposedly on that particular phone call have denied the call took place. Pressed by Stephanopoulos, he then twice said that he learned about the Siegelman investigation and indictment from newspaper reports.
Why would Rove not state that he had not contacted the Justice Department and egged it on to prosecute Siegelman? Two explanations come to mind. (A) He did do something like that. Or, (B) he doesn't remember whether he made such a call but he knows it's the type of call he might have made. So rather than plainly deny he contacted the Justice Department, Rove parries the question with a shifty formulation. Stephanopoulos did call him on this, noting Rove was not actually denying the accusation. [font color="red"]But Stephanopoulos was too polite to say, "Excuse me, Mr. Rove, this is BS. Did you or did you not communicate with the Justice Department at all about the Siegelman matter at any time?"[/font color] No doubt, though, the House judiciary committee's investigators paid close attention to how Rove handled the question, and his non-answer ought to motivate them to dig further.
SOURCE: http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2008/05/siegelman-scandal-rove-offers-very-suspicious-non-denial-denial
The congressional investigators, for some reason, must not have been motivated.
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