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Rachel Maddow takes Karl Rove to task for his op-ed in the Wall Street Journal complaining that he's been "wronged by the press for years" and it's time for the press to own up for their mistakes about him. Rachel rehashes Rove's role in the US Attorney's scandal and tells Rove, good luck with your complaints.

Someone needs to ask the Obama Justice Department why they're not doing something about getting rid of these "Bushies" that are still in place in the Justice Department, and why Don Siegelman hasn't seen any justice yet.

MADDOW: In the opinion pages of today`s "Wall Street Journal," there is a startling claim by former Bush senior advisor Karl Rove. According to Mr. Rove, he has been wronged by the press for years and it`s time for the press to finally own up to its mistakes about him.

Specifically, Mr. Rove rails against allegations to the U.S. Attorney scandal, that he manipulated the judicial process for political reasons. He says in "The Journal" today that his role in the firing of U.S. Attorneys was minimal and entirely proper and that critics should just let up on him about these demonstrably untrue allegations.

You know what? The press actually doesn`t need to let up on Mr. Rove at all. Let me explain. In his article today, Mr. Rove emphatically disputes the claim that, quote, "The judicial process had been manipulated for political reasons."

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Okay, this is really just disgusting to hear. Why aren't these corrupt Bush DOJ appointees fired yet? According to Don Siegelman, the talk in Alabama is that A.G. Eric Holder cut some sort of deal with Jeff Sessions, yeah, Jeff Sessions, and is keeping Leura Canary in place as Attorney General in Alabama. File this one under you've got to be f@#$ing kidding me.

Call your Congress critters and tell them that these corrupt Bush DOJ appointees need to go now. Don Siegelman deserves some justice and it's long over due.

Comments from Left Field: The White House is set to release an IG torture report. Dem Congressional staffers tell me this report is the “holy grail,” because it is expected to detail torture in unprecedented detail and to cast doubt on the claim that torture works — and its release will almost certainly trigger howls of protest from conservatives.

TAPPED: Offensive remarks?  Oh wait.  Wanda Sykes didn't say these things, Rush Limbaugh said them about Obama and other Dems, and he wasn't kidding.

Legal Schnauzer: As Texas Governor, Bush did the same thing that landed Don Siegelman in prison

Where’s the Outrage? Say what? Health Care Industry pledging $2 trillion in cuts

Pharyngula: Elephant's Wings (h/t Vagabond Scholar)

ANNALS OF JOURNALISM: Just wondering...Hard Hitting journalism always provides a megaphone for frauds...Waiting for CNBC...A world without Newspapers...Clear Channel reaping the whirlwind...Newspaper Narcissism...Fire this assh*le...NYT finally prints the word 'torture'...Mustard...Play Misty for me...EFCA for very slow reporters....Kindle to the rescue... Interview with Greg Mitchell, editor of Editor & Publisher Magazine...How much was Fox paid to shill Bush's War Crimes?

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From GoLeftTV:

It has been almost a year since Don Siegelman was released from prison, after being convicted on bogus charges. Siegelman's only crime was being a political enemy to Karl Rove. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. of Air America's Ring of Fire talks with Governor Siegelman about the latest updates in his case, and how he thinks the new Democratic majorities will help bring Rove to justice.

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From Democracy Now Dec. 22, 2008.

AMY GOODMAN: A top Republican internet strategist who was set to testify in a case alleging election tampering in 2004 in Ohio has died in a plane crash. Mike Connell was the chief IT consultant to Karl Rove and created websites for the Bush and McCain electoral campaigns. He also set up the official Ohio state election website reporting the 2004 presidential election returns.

Connell was reportedly an experienced pilot. He died instantly Friday night when his private plane crashed in a residential neighborhood near Akron, Ohio.

Michael Connell was deposed one day before the election this year by attorneys Cliff Arnebeck and Bob Fitrakis about his actions during the 2004 vote count and his access to Karl Rove’s email files and how they went missing.

Velvet Revolution, a non-profit investigating Connell’s activities, revealed this weekend that Connell had recently said he was afraid George Bush and Dick Cheney would “throw [him] under the bus.” Cliff Arnebeck had also previously alerted Attorney General Michael Mukasey to alleged threats from Karl Rove to Connell if he refused to “take the fall.”

Well, Mark Crispin Miller joins us now, a professor of media culture and communication at New York University, the author of several books, including Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008 and Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They’ll Steal the Next One Too. Mark Crispin Miller joins us now in our firehouse studio.

Transcript to follow.

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From Countdown, Nov. 14, 2008 featuring Blackwater-Gate, Bailout-Gate and Siegelman-Gate. Emptywheel has more on the latest in the Don Siegelman case.

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You knew it was going to happen. For all his big talk about being happy to talk to the House Judiciary Committee looking into the conviction and incarceration of Don Siegelman, when push came to shove, you had to know that Karl Rove would never, ever freely respond to the HJC subpoena. CQPolitics:

Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, cited executive privilege as the reason that the former White House adviser would not appear before the Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee on July 10.[..]

"Mr. Rove will respectfully decline to appear before the Subcommittee on July 10 on the grounds that Executive Privilege confers upon him immunity from process to respond to a subpoena directed to this subject," Luskin wrote.

Luskin renewed an offer that would have Rove submit to an off-the-record, untranscribed interview or answer written questions about the Siegelman case, but not the broader issue of the politicization of the Justice Department.

Not even man enough to stand up for his actions. Hear that, Karl? Not even man enough. Dan Abrams brings NYU Law School Professor Michael Waldman and former HJC counsel Julian Epstein to discuss the latest in Bush League (In)Justice:

Abrams: Okay, Michael, let me start with you: it is clear, Karl Rove is not coming. I mean, the House Judiciary Committee can say as much as they want, we're still hoping, we're still encouraging him to come, we're still insisting that he come, he's not coming. So what do they do now?

Waldman: Well, it's really quite remarkable, as you say, you can just say no to a lawful subpoena from Congress. Congress has a bunch of tools they can use. They can, of course, throw him in jail. There's a jail in the basement of the Capitol. That's probably the extreme remedy. There's all kinds of other things. They can cut off funding, they can hold up nominations, they can bring a lawsuit as has been the case in the Miers...the Harriet Miers contempt case. But what Congress has to have when it looks in its toolbox is not any of these tools but some backbone. Congress is a co-equal branch of government and it needs to stand up for its rights in this.

Backbone in Congress? What's that? I'll believe it when I see the perp walk.