ARTICLE: "Return of Jefferson Files Is Sought: Bipartisan Request Sent to Justic Dept.," by Shailagh Murray and Allan Lengel, Washington Post, 25 May 2006, p. A1.

REPORT: "Bush Orders Documents From F.B.I. Raid Sealed," AP, New York Times, found online at their webpage

The details of this case notwithstanding, it was extremely bad judgment for any arm of the Executive Branch to treat a member of Congress in the way that William Jefferson has been treated.

This one really crosses a line that quickly get everybody's back up againt the wall on the Hill, so I'm really puzzled by why the Bush White House is letting this one continue to simmer in full public view.

You can say Bush's decision today is designed to cool things off, but frankly, I just see it giving his opponents 45 days to work the subject in the mass media.

To me, it's just another detail in an otherwise odd pattern of political self-destruction. Bush's collapsing presidency reminds me of Newt Gingrinch's self-destruction. As soon as they start celebrating your "genius" in the Post Style section, I used to tell my wife while living in DC, your fate is sealed, because what gets artificially pumped up (the "genius" of Rove and the White House machinery in getting re-elected by a mere 40k margin in Ohio) eventually gets aggressively deflated. And like Gingrich, the Bush team is strangely compliant in their own demise.