Don't Let the Door Hit Ya Where the Good Lord Split Ya

Outta there:

Over the past several years, Peter H. Wehner has sent a blizzard of e-mails around the White House and the rest of Washington, offering strategy and policy ideas to President Bush and making the case for those policies to outsiders. The president calls them "Wehner-grams," and their author has been so prolific that they now fill 24 binders.

But sometime in the coming weeks, Wehner will gather those 24 binders in a box and sign off of his well-worn White House e-mail account for the last time. Wehner, the White House director of strategic initiatives and the official in-house intellectual for a president often derided as anti-intellectual, will be the latest Bush aide to move on.

Wehner says, "I've been here six years, and there was just the sense that it was time to go." "Insiders" say that Wehner's departure "owes more to the cycle of a presidency late in its tenure rather than to any overall design." White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten says it's just the "natural ebb and flow" of the institution.

I say maybe this has something to do with it: "Wehner became best known, though, for his e-mails. They started out as notes to colleagues pointing out an essay they might have missed and evolved into lengthy musings on the role of the Bush presidency in history or the nature of radical jihad—sent to 1,000 officials, lobbyists, journalists and others." Hmm. I'd love to read those. I'm sure the now-Democratic chairs of a couple of Congressional committees would, too, all things considered.

And likely outta there:

Multiple sources reported today that a top aide to President George W. Bush's key adviser Karl Rove will soon step down from her job in the White House. The aide, Sara M. Taylor, was identified in yesterday's hearing with a former top Justice Department official as seeking the resignation of a US Attorney in Arkansas. She could still face a subpoena, RAW STORY learned.

…Both the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire blog reported today that Sara Taylor, the White House political director, is set to resign soon.

In fact, the Wire reports that not just Taylor, but Barry Jackson, a longtime Rove aide, is also expected to leave soon.

There are two issues likely at play here. One is that Taylor, along with her deputy, Scott Jennings, were both identified by Kyle Sampson during his testimony yesterday as being keen to replace ousted US Attorney Bud Cummins with Tim Griffin. (You may remember that convincing Arkansas' Democratic Senators of the wisdom of Griffin's interim appointment was described by Sampson as needing to "be done in 'good faith' of course.") So there's a road into Rove's office from the US Attorney Scandal.

The other issue is that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is seeking more information about the PowerPoint presentation given to the General Services Administration " that discussed targeting 20 Democratic congressional candidates in the next election." (Recall GSA director Lorita Doan's pitiful testimony about said presentation on Wednesday.) That presentation was given by—surprise!—Taylor's deputy, Scott Jennings. So there's a road into Rove's office from the GSA Scandal.

Shocking.