Tinker to Evers to Chance: Rove, Corallo, and Goodling?

[bleever]

Karl Rove and Monica Goodling:



It is, as Jon Stewart has noted, a miracle: a list of US Attorneys targeted for firing, that was drawn up by...no one. "Immaculate Termination" was the humorous moniker he gave the story that the list, according to all public testimony from Justice Department officials most intimately involved in the firings, had no author.

Not to be missed in this miracle is the fact that (presumably by divine ordination) the attorneys targeted were in districts of key political importance to Republicans. Carol Lam, indicter of Duke Cunningham, investigator of Kyle Foggo, Brent Wilkes, and Jerry Lewis. Bud Cummings, working in the state of Arkansas, the prior residence of a past president and a current presidential candidate. John McKay, who aggressively pursued the murder of a fellow prosecutor and pushed for faster implementation of an information sharing program between local and federal law enforcement, both of which greatly irritated for some reason the folks running the DOJ back in D.C. And the list goes on.

Last week we were treated to the testimony of Monica Goodling, former senior counsel at the DOJ, about her role in the firings. While her testimony included strong evidence pointing to perjury and obstruction of justice by both Alberto Gonzales and Kyle Sampson, the Republicans were quick to claim victory, doggedly pursuing the metaphor of a "fishing expedition" and repeatedly exclaiming, "No fish!"

In fact, it was all supposedly business as usual:

Goodling's only crime was her lack of subtlety, said Mark Corallo, the Justice Department's chief of public affairs under Ashcroft, and Goodling's onetime boss. "She probably was a little too overt about it," Corallo told NEWSWEEK. "But let's face it—the Democrats do this, too, they all do it. The idea that career employees are above politics is total crap. The so-called career employees are mostly liberal Democrats." He noted that in the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco, career employees refused for months to hang portraits of Bush, Cheney and Ashcroft.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18881810/site/newsweek/page/5/

Hmm, not hanging portraits of Bush and Cheney and Ashcroft sure justifies breaking the...hey, wait a minute: Mark Corallo? Why do we know that name?

Oh yeah:

Former CIA officer Valerie Plame on Friday said she and her husband filed their lawsuit against top Bush administration officials "with heavy hearts" but at the same time "with a renewed sense of purpose."...Reacting to the suit, Rove spokesman Mark Corallo said the allegations "are absolutely and utterly without merit."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/07/14/cialeak.lawsuit/index.html

Further background on Mr. Corallo:

Mark Corallo is a political communications and public relations professional, who is currently the co-founder and co-principal of Corallo Comstock.<1> Corallo is a Washington communications veteran who has worked on Capitol Hill, in the executive branch, for campaigns, and with grass roots organizations.<2><3>

Corallo was chief spokesman for U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft from 2002-2005, as the Public Affairs Director for the Department of Justice.<3> The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has compiled numerous examples of statements Corallo made during that period which the ACLU believes misrepresent the the department's understanding of the USA Patriot Act and which were designed to mislead the press about the scope of Justice Department actions.<7>

Shortly before the indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, related to Libby's alleged involvement in the outing of Valerie Plame, Corallo became a part of Karl Rove's "public relations defense team." Corallo spoke to the media on Rove's behalf, and denied reports that Rove was under indictment for his involvement in "Plamegate".<9> Corallo has also attended a fundraiser to raise money for Libby's legal defense fund at the residence of James Carville and Mary Matalin.<10>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Corallo

So it turns out that Monica Goodling's previous boss, Mark Corallo, is privately employed by Karl Rove.


A post by MisterApologist lays out specific links between Corallo and Rove and the firings of two of the US Attorneys:

...Mark Corallo is the most likely source of back door information sharing between Karl Rove, the Attorney General and the highly influential Republican Donor Sheldon Adelson in a case of political retribution spanning two states and regarding two US Attorney's: Dan Bogden of Las Vegas and Carol C. Lam of San Diego.

http://misterapologist.blogspot.com/2007/03/bogden-lam-gonzales-rove-corallo.html

Perhaps Congressman Conyers and Senator Leahy would like to have a word or two with Mr. Corallo.



The resemblance between Mr. Corallo and the guy in the back in this photo is, in all likelihood, just coincidence, but it's an image that is always worth revisiting:

[babylonsister]

1. Rec'd! What a tangled, interlocking web they've woven. Great digging,

bleever!

[bleever]

3. Thanks, and thanks to autorank for the Rove-Goodling picture.

:hi:

[JanusAscending]

17. This girl with Rove,

looks nothing like the Monica Goodling I saw testifying on C SPAN ! Anyone else agree?? How old is this photo?

[acmavm]

2. These people have done pretty well keeping their little secrets and

political inbreeding quiet for as long as they have. But eventually someone slips up and it all comes out.

That's what happened during Watergate. The only difference is then the American people had enough pride and concern in and for their country that they did something about it.

[EST]

4. Didn't Monica not-so-Good-ling testify that she had no personal

relationship with Karl Rove, particularly that she'd never really met him, only in meetings?
That first picture, with his arm around her, seems to belie that argument.

[bleever]

5. Her exact words were:

"I have never attended a meeting of the White House Judicial Selection Committee. The attorney general and Kyle Sampson attended those meetings. To the best of my recollection, I’ve never had a conversation with Karl Rove or Harriet Miers while I served at the Department of Justice. And I’m certain that I never spoke to either of them about the hiring or firing of any U.S. attorney."

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/23/goodling-points-to-white-house

Video at link.

[EST]

6. Thanks, that's the testimony I was referring to.

Looks like I'm not so accurate.

[bleever]

7. Or, maybe

you're accurate, and it's just that her words were chosen very, very carefully.

[bleever]

8. Corallo's new partner is Barbara Comstock.

With Hurricane Subpoena bearing down on Capitol Hill, veteran GOP spin masters Mark Corallo and Barbara Comstock are hitching their wagons to help Republicans fight the storm and — well, sure — rake in some dough.

Corallo and Comstock are forming the crisis management firm Corallo Comstock, Inc. They aim to open shop on Jan. 1, just before the new Democratic chairmen will start banging their gavels and demanding information from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

“Just in time for subpoena season,” Corallo told HOH.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002090.php

This as thieves, as they say.

Goodling worked for Barbara Comstock at RNC in opposition research:

"Among Goodling's close associates were Barbara Comstock, who was then head of opposition research" for the RNC and "later the chief spokeswoman" for Attorney General John Ashcroft. Comstock and Goodling "helped prepare Ashcroft and Theodore Olson for their confirmation hearings to be attorney general and solicitor general, respectively," Goldman and Schwartz wrote.

In 2001, when Tim Griffin left the Justice Department, Goodling became Comstock's deputy. "When Comstock became Ashcroft’s spokeswoman in 2002, she brought Goodling along as her deputy. Goodling stayed for three years," Goldman and Schwartz wrote. In 2007, Goodling helped Griffin "to win the interim appointment to replace one of the eight ousted U.S. attorneys in Arkansas."

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Monica_Goodling

And Barbara Comstock is a prime mover the annals of making sure people's votes aren't counted:

Her team was also instrumental in assisting Republican operatives in the 2000 Florida vote recount and in writing the Republican 'playbook' defending Bush nominees such as John Ashcroft, for attorney general.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Comstock

She was also a prime mover in digging up any and everything that might make a real case out of Whitewater during the Clinton years.

Thus we have the Justice Department firings in the hands of dyed-in-the-wool political operatives and their proteges. At what point would they bother to let the law get in their way?

[mod mom]

13. Shocking.

:sarcasm:

[grasswire]

15. My belief is that Comstock was running the...

....politicization of DoJ from outside the WH, through Goodling and her other proteges that she took over to the DoJ from the RNC.

I believe that if Congress got Barbara Comstock under oath and obtained her communications with any DoJ employee, the flood gates would open. She's a vicious, evil harpy and anti-American.

[bleever]

9. Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble.

For those unfamiliar with the bit of baseball lore cited in the OP's title, it refers to a legendary Chicago Cubs trio who could turn a hit into a double play, just as the trio in the OP were working to turn election wins by Democrats into "losses".

"Baseball's Sad Lexicon"

These are the saddest of possible words:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."
Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
Tinker and Evers and Chance.
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,*
Making a Giant hit into a double--
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."

In 1910, New York newspaper columnist Franklin Pierce Adams immortalized the Cubs double play team Joe Tinker (SS), Johnny Evers (2B), and Frank Chance (1B) in verse, cementing their legend and helping them gain election to the Hall of Fame as a trio 36 years later.

*The term "gonfalon" refers to a flag or pennant, and Adams uses the phrase "pricking our gonfalon bubble" to describe the repeated success of the Chicago Cubs and their celebrated infield against their National League rivals, his beloved New York Giants.


http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/extra/tinker_evers_chance.htm

[autorank]

10. Well, the mistery begins to unravel...you and your memory. Impressive!

What a tangled web he weaves, that Rove. And it's Ashcroft and Corallo together along with Rove.

This is like "Dallas" with everybody living together or near each other. The main activity: ruining
your family member or friend/spouses life. In the case of the Rove crew, it's ruining the country
and the world.

Excellent work. This bears study and reflection. It's quite a compressed set of associations and
relationships.

K*R # 5 - GREAT POST

[bleever]

11. They took the party of Lincoln

and turned into a trashed frat house. Then, they found more ways to make money off the trash.

Reminds me of the weasels taking over Toad Hall in The Wind in the Willows.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

12. AMERICA HAS A CANCER, AND IT IS CALLED REPUBLICANS

THIS GETTING TO BE BEYOND BELIEF

[grasswire]

14. I don't believe that's Goodling in the photo with Rove

Goodling doesn't have brown eyes, the hair is totally different in texture, the eyebrows are different, the hairline is different ---- everything. I believe the girl in that photo is misidentified. We've discussed this before on DU.

[Patsy Stone]

16. Nice catch!

They're are all one big happy family. She'll probably just go back to working for Corallo/Comstock after this dies down. Bleccch. Where's Victoria Toensing when you need her?

But I have to say, with all due respect to you and autorank, I don't think that's Monica. I zoomed in on the photo, and that woman has pointy teeth. Save the photo and then zoom in. Look at the teeth:



Not to say that she couldn't have had dental reconstructive surgery, but she still looks more like that college photo and that stupid overused Regent picnic photo then she does this girl.

Is there a link I missed that proves this is her? Or at least identifies where this was taken?

[snowbear]

18. That's what I was thinking too.. thanks for showing those 2 photos

~~~

I thought I was seeing things..

[Eurobabe]

19. Some other Rovian flunky underling in training

but definitely not Monica Goodling.

[autorank]

20. autorank here, i take responsibility for the look alike problem. but Bleevers words are the focus

This is the original url.
http:// (and) farm1.static.flickr.com/59/204490457_edc4497c67. (followed by "jpg")

I got it from flicker and may have sent the agove ut this is where I posted it ecause I use photobucket
for images I post in order to use my own bandwidth
http:// (and ) img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/autorank/Goodling.(followed by "jpg")

Sorry Bleever if this isn't her, and who knows, although the comment on the "teeth" is persuasive.

I'll get on flicker when they're ack up. They're down for routine maintenance.
Their message is amusing:

Flickr logo. If you click it, you'll go home

Flickr is having a massage.

For updates, please check the Flickr Blog.
http://blog.flickr.com/

[Patsy Stone]

21. The post was spot on

The photo affected none of the truth contained within. She's still connected to him, whether or not there's photographic evidence at this time.

:hi:

[autorank]

22. It is spot on.

But I'm not at 5 am or so. Have to check out flickr now.

How many more scandals until we impeach this guy. It's the stall again...let them crash and burn, then we'll get elected and do little or nothing because we need to stay in the center. This is getting old.

:hi: