It just ain't a good week for Bush. And it just ain't a good time to be associated in any way with Jack Abramoff.
According the AP, "Timothy E. Flanigan has withdrawn as a nominee to be deputy attorney general amid a delay in his confirmation because of his dealings with indicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff..."
More below...
Normally, a nomination for Deputy Attorney General does not get much scrutiny, but, when you are an ex-Tyco exec and you're connected to Jack Abramoff, heads will turn!
According the AP story, "Flanigan joined Tyco in 2002, after leaving the White House. He has told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Abramoff, subject of a federal investigation into his lobbying activities, began lobbying on behalf of Tyco in the spring of 2003 and bragged about his ties to then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and Karl Rove, Bush's top political aide."
But, when Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee tried to question him on his connection to Abramoff, he had claimed attorney-client privilege.
Now, personally, I don't think anybody should be able to claim A-C privilege with a straight facewhen it comes to a lobbysist, but it doesn't matter, because Tyco waived the privilege anyway (remember, it's Tyco's to really claim or waive, not Flanigan's!).
So, what did Flanigan do? He blinked.
Mr. Flanigan wrote to President Bush, telling him "that he was withdrawing because of 'uncertainty concerning the timing of my confirmation,'" according to the AP which says they have a copy of the letter.
"Uncertainty of the timing," or "Abramoff is radioactive?" You be the judge. But, I suspect that it was BushCo themselves that encouraged Flanigan to withdraw his name personally, in order to avoid any further attention or additional revelations regarding the connections Abramoff had to the White House.
In addition, Flanigan apparently had a "role in crafting administration policy allowing aggressive interrogation techniques be used on detainees in Afghanistan and Iraq."
Unfortunately, this is another area of national importance that Democrats won't get a chance to probe.
My suggestion for Bush? He should start using a litmus test: "are you, or have you ever been involved in any dealings with Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, or Karl Rove?"
Sad thing is, this significantly shrinks the candidate pool!
