Sen. Patrick Leahy was on CNN's The Situation Room. Speaking of Karl Rove, he said (no link, received from show by e-mail):

BLITZER: The White House counsel, Fred Fielding, was up on the Hill today. I don't know if you had a chance to meet with him. But he's not necessarily ruling out allowing some White House staffers, maybe even Karl Rove to come and testify. Do you want Karl Rove to testify before your panel?

LEAHY: I've never met Mr. Fielding. Frankly, I don't care whether he says he's going to allow people or not. We'll subpoena the people we want. If they want to defy the subpoena, then you get into a stonewall situation I suspect they don't want to have.

BLITZER: Will you subpoena Karl Rove?

LEAHY: Yes. He can appear voluntarily if he wants. If he doesn't, I will subpoena him. The attorney general said, Well, there are some staff people or lower level people -- I'm not sure whether I want to allow them to testify or not. I said, Frankly, Mr. Attorney General, it's not your decision. It's mine and the committee's. We will have subpoenas. I would hope that they wouldn't try to stonewall subpoenas.

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Kudos to marijuna advocate Ed Rosenthal. A federal judge in California today threw out the charges against him, agreeing they were the result of a vindictive prosecution:

A federal judge threw out criminal charges today against an Oakland man accused of growing medical marijuana, ruling that authorities had vindictively prosecuted him because of remarks he made after he successfully appealed an earlier conviction.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco dismissed charges of tax evasion and money laundering against Ed Rosenthal, an author and activist who has been dubbed the "Guru of Ganja."

Unlike MYDD, and as always, I speak only for me, I strongly oppose the Dem Leadership/Blue Dog bill that does absolutely nothing to stop the Iraq Debacle. It makes no sense whatsoever to support this Blue Dog bill that gives Bush everything he could want while at the same time giving the GOP the opportunity to demonize the Democratic Party.

For reasons only MYDD can explain, they are whipping Dem members to get them to support this travesty. I strongly oppose their efforts and urge just the opposite.

The Out of Iraq Caucus membership is provided on the flip. Since the GOP will oppose this bill, the Out of Iraq Caucus can stop this bill, a terrible bill, from becoming law. If you agree with me, contact your Congressperson and let them know.

In addition to sleep-driving, sleep-eating emerging as side effects of Ambien, Lunesta and similar hypnotic-sedative sleeping pills, there is also sex while sleeping.

The FDA is asking the makers of Ambien and similar drugs to strengthen the label warnings on the drugs to disclose these and other risks.

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Gonzo's fall guy Sampson getting every consideration:

Good eye, or good ear, from TPM Reader JB. Apparently, the White House and Alberto Gonzales are so miffed with Kyle Sampson for doing the whole Attorney Purge on his own that they're letting him stay on the job -- from which he supposedly resigned on Monday -- indefinitely as he "goes job hunting."

Does Gonzo's denial still pass the red face test? Did it ever? For the record, the way to properly label someone a fall guy is to throw him out immediately and then, when things quiet down, take care of him/her in a discreet manner.

Former New York police and correction commissioner, Bernie Kerik last month turned down an offer from the feds to plead guilty to federal tax fraud and conspiracy to commit wiretapping in exchange for a sentence of less than two years.

One of Kerik's lawyers, Ken Breen, says Kerik turned down the deal because he did nothing wrong and paid his taxes. Kerik's other lawyer, Joe Tacopina, is currently involved in a murder trial which I suppose accounts for Breen making the public response.

Kerik, you may remember, was nominated for Homeland Security chief at the urging of Rudy Giuliani. Kerik withdrew his nomination after negative details of his personal and professional life came to light. [TalkLeft coverage is accessible here.]

Now what? Reading between the lines, I'd say Kerik will soon be indicted, Rudy's campaign will take another hit due to his close relationship and sponsorship of Bernie, and I can't help but wonder, if the feds think Bernie conspired to wiretap Albert Pirro's boat at the request of former Westchester D.A. Jeannine Pirro, whether she's in trouble too. Background on that is here. She's been lawyered up in that investigation for a while. Did she talk her way out of it, give up Bernie to save herself or is she going to go down too? I may disagree with Jeannine politically and on crime issues, but I really do hope she's in the clear on the wiretapping.

I give it a week. Look what Bush said today:

“I do have confidence in Attorney General Al Gonzales,” Mr. Bush said of his old friend from Texas. But he said the dismissals had been bungled, “and frankly I’m not happy about it.” Mr. Bush, speaking at a news conference in Mérida, Mexico, with President Felipe Calderón of Mexico, said that he was pleased that Mr. Gonzales had acknowledged mistakes surrounding the dismissals, but that “Al’s got work to do up on the Hill,” a reference to the Capitol, where many Democrats and several Republicans have expressed anger and dismay over the firings. . . . [T]he president’s anger was clear. “This issue was mishandled to the point that you’re asking me about it now in Mexico,” Mr. Bush said. The president, who said he had spoken to Mr. Gonzales this morning, is to arrive later this afternoon in Washington, where lawmakers of both parties continued to criticize Mr. Gonzales.

Gonzo has work to do up on the Hill. We all know he can't turn that tide:

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska told Bloomberg his confidence in the attorney general had been “shaken” and was “waning,” while Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon said, “I think I share the feeling of many Republican senators of profound disappointment.” And Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, declined to say whether Mr. Gonzales should stay. “That’s the president’s decision,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg News.

He can't fix it. It only gets worse. See you later Al.

Update (TL): Crooks and Liars has the video and transcript of Bush's comments.

At ESPN, Bill Simmons does a March Madness Countdown, ranking in inverse order his choices for the tourney. I liked that approach and decided to adopt it here.

But first, let me tell you who I pick to win it all - the Florida Gators. In large part, because the Florida Gators are my team - grew up in Florida bleeding Orange and Blue (and no I did not attend the university) - I am a blind partisan charter member of the Gator Nation. But I also think there are good reasons for picking the Gators. Andy Katz lays them out:

the Gators have -- when they're playing up to their potential -- the top starting five in the country in juniors Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green and senior Lee Humphrey. They have the experience of winning a title. They have a coach in Billy Donovan who won a title a year ago and coached for the championship in 2000. But there's more here than the numbers. This selection goes deeper. The reason the Gators will win the title is because of their kinship. Sure, there have been plenty of other tight teams, but in the past 17 years, I don't remember seeing one this enmeshed . . .

Gators win it all again, because they are ALL team. Now for my countdown on the flip.

There are other things going on in the world besides the fired prosecutors. With all the Gonzales news yesterday, I forgot to do the Tuesday open thread. So here it is one day late.

All topics welcome. Keep it civil, and don't forget urls have to be in html format because the long ones skew the site. Use the link button at the top of the comment box or follow the instructions at the bottom of the comment page.

So the March Madness controversy du jour yesterday was the "unfairness" of the play-in game last night between Niagara and Fla. A&M (Niagara won). The argument goes like this - these small school won an automatic bid but are not being treated as if they are in the tourney. There is some merit to this argument I suppose. But the fact is these are teams that history tells us will lose the next round anyway. No 16 seed has ever won a game in the regular tournament. So my sympathy is rather limited here.

The argument continues that the last two at large teams should be in the "play in" game. This year presumably it would be Illinois and Arkansas. That would be fine by me. But then they would whine. Someone always does in these things. More.

Hillary Clinton will be on Good Morning America today, calling for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

"The buck should stop somewhere," Clinton told ABC News senior political correspondent Jake Tapper, "and the attorney general — who still seems to confuse his prior role as the president's personal attorney with his duty to the system of justice and to the entire country — should resign.

She has a petition for you to sign on her website. John Edwards also called for Gonzales' resignation.

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I'm not surprised Republicans are not rallying to the defense of Alberto Gonzales. They care more about 2008 than they do about Bush or Gonzales at this point. As Bob Dylan sang, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."

Sen. Charles Schumer said Tuesday on Hardball that Kyle Sampson is the fall guy, much like Scooter Libby. I think Gonzales may be the fall guy.

Bush is standing by him right now, but how much pressure can he take from those within his party's ranks. Is anyone but Karl Rove not expendable to him? Remember when he named Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court? Bush fought the opposition until it reached a peak. Then, she withdrew her nomination and he accepted it.

Smart money would say the same will happen to Gonzales. Neither Bush nor Gonzales will listen to the Democrats. But if Republicans join the call for his resignation, it may be a done deal. Stay tuned.