How are Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson handling the revelation that they contacted a federal prosecutor with the apparent desire to gain a political advantage by influencing the timing of an indictment? They don't want to discuss it.

Mr. Domenici has apologized, saying he was not seeking to intimidate Mr. Iglesias. The senator did not respond to requests for an interview.

Ms. Wilson, after first declining to confirm her own call to Mr. Iglesias, conceded that she had made it but denied trying to pressure the prosecutor. She also declined to be interviewed.

A broadly exculpatory denial followed by an exercise of the right to remain silent.

McClatchy newspapers reports today:

Presidential advisor Karl Rove and at least one other member of the White House political team were urged by the New Mexico Republican party chairman to fire the state's U.S. attorney because of dissatisfaction in part with his failure to indict Democrats in a voter fraud investigation in the battleground election state.

In an interview Saturday with McClatchy Newspapers, Allen Weh, the party chairman, said he complained in 2005 about then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to a White House liaison who worked for Rove and asked that he be removed. Weh said he followed up with Rove personally in late 2006 during a visit to the White House.

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Dan Froomkin in the Washington Post brings us up to speed on Karl Rove, whom he aptly notes, was up to his ears in PlameGate, but unlike Scooter Libby, talked his way out of getting indicted.

It turns out he's alive and well and plotting in his windowless West Wing office just how to spin Bush's greatest weakness into a great strength -- and in that way burnish his boss's legacy.

What's he pushing? The Bush Doctrine.

The Bush Doctrine...maintains that regimes that harbor terrorists are as culpable as the terrorists themselves and that the U.S. is entitled to take preventative military action to neutralize potential threats before they have materialized.

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Newt Gingrich comes clean and tells Focus on the Family that while he was calling for President Clinton's impeachment, he was in the midst of an extra-marital affair. (He has since married his flame, Callista, pictured with him above.)

"The honest answer is yes," Gingrich, a potential 2008 Republican presidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson to be aired Friday, according to a transcript provided to The Associated Press. "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards."

How does he differentiate himself from Clinton? He says he didn't commit perjury.

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Vice President Dick Cheney has been diagnosed with a blood clot in his calf. He will be on blood-thinners for several months. He returned to work immediately after the diagnosis.

I know most of us here don't approve of Cheney, but calling for his demise or ill-health is unacceptable. Any such comments will be deleted.

Crooks and Liars is all over the Walter Reed hearings today, with some video.

Think Progress notes Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley has been accused over an abuse cover-up before -- with respect to the detainees. It notes, "Despite these inexcusable cover-ups, Kiley continues to serve as the Army’s surgeon general."

Sounds like it's time for Kiley to go.

You can watch the hearings at C-Span here.

Well, he was in Colorado this weekend, but this is a fun rap video about Karl Rove.

This is interesting. The Coulter line is snark, but I figured the Malkin line was too. I was wrong on that.

Why? How about this?

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has indicated he is too busy to answer letters from Democratic congressional leaders about his firing seven U.S. attorneys involved in probes of public corruption, though a lower-level Justice Department official rejected their proposals.

Contempt of Congress. Issue a formal subpoena to make it official.

Jim Wallis a few months ago:

"When the Democrats became just the party of rights, they lost something, a moral appeal," Wallis contends. The Democratic patchwork frayed as some of its largest constituencies, particularly working-class whites, began to feel culturally estranged from the party. The breaking point was in 1972, when Republican Richard M. Nixon argued that a vote for Democrat George McGovern was a vote for "acid, amnesty and abortion." To many voters, McGovern embodied an emerging perception that liberals were outside the American mainstream.

Jim Wallis today:

So Kos, let’s made a deal. How about if progressive religious folks, like me, make real sure that we never say, or even suggest, that values have to come from faith – and progressive secular folks, like you, never suggest that progressive values can’t come from faith (and perhaps concede that, in fact, they often do). If we progressives, religious and secular, could stop fighting among ourselves (shooting ourselves in the foot) and join together on some really big values issues – like economic fairness, health care, and a more just foreign policy – think of the difference we could make. How about it?

You first Jim. As Kos responded:

I have no idea what Wallis is talking about. Isn't his point exactly what I wrote? Maybe I'm missing something, but it's as if Wallis didn't bother reading my post and merely heard about it second-hand.

With "friends" like Jim Wallis, Dems need no enemies.

See also Frederick Clarkson and PastorDan.

Tim Griffin, the former Rove aide pushed by Harriet Miers and Alberto Gonzales to replace Arkansas U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins says he won't seek the appointment because of the objections of Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy, who are leading the effort to block his appointment.

Tim Griffin, the former White House aide who has been at the center of a political storm over U.S. attorneys' firings, said yesterday that he will not seek the nomination to be chief federal prosecutor in Little Rock.

Griffin, 38, a military lawyer who previously worked for presidential adviser Karl Rove and for the Republican National Committee, was appointed interim U.S. attorney in Little Rock in December on the White House's recommendation. The Justice Department said it intended to nominate Griffin for the job permanently.

Griffin will remain interim U.S. Attorney until a new replacement is named. He said because of the opposition to his appointment, he won't subject himself to the "circus."

More....

Embattled San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will undergo alcohol treatment:

Just days after disclosing his affair with a staff member married to one of his top political aides, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom admitted Monday he has a drinking problem and said he would seek treatment for alcohol abuse.

[Background here.]

...."Upon reflection with friends and family this weekend, I have come to the conclusion that I will be a better person without alcohol in my life," he said in the three-paragraph statement. "I take full responsibility for my personal mistakes, and my problems with alcohol are not an excuse for my personal lapses in judgment."

Apparently, there have been prior signs of alcohol-related problems for the Mayor: