Photo shows Bush with disgraced lobbyist

[IDemo]

White House has sought to distance president from Abramoff

Associated Press - Updated: 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON - A liberal watchdog group published on its Web site Monday a picture of President Bush and imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the kind of photo the White House has refused to release.

The picture was taken at a campaign fundraiser in December 2003, according to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. It was taken by a private photo contractor who posted it on a Web site, but then was removed before it made it into distribution, said Melanie Sloan, CREW's director.

A previous photo of Bush and the disgraced lobbyist surfaced last year, but Abramoff was in the background, slightly blurry.

"This is the one they didn't want you to see," Sloan said.

Kim Eisler, Washingtonian magazine writer and a friend of Abramoff's, confirmed the photo's authenticity for The Associated Press. He said he had seen the picture at Abramoff's house.

The White House did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16532577/

[Jackpine Radical]

1. iirc the scrubbed the net for Bush/Jackoff pix.

Did a damned good job of it too. But obviously not a perfect job.

[oblivious]

6. Wasn't there a massive DU search for such a photo earlier?

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Not just DU. Everybody. I even tried. Nichts. Nada. Rien. Zippo.

[ixion]

2. well, so much for the gee-I-never-met-the-guy excuse.

:evilgrin:

[aquart]

3. If they're not French kissing..........

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

4. Surprise, surprise. How many other pics will be slowly leaked? I feel like we're all in the middle

of a John LeCarre novel..MKJ

[tblue]

5. QUICK! Save it to your hard drive before Alb*erto G*nzales disappears it off the MSNBC site.

[krispos42]

21. Even better... made a PDF document out of it

Picture, article, and comments. :-) Just like it would print out if I used a regular printer. Ads, icons, the whole shebang. Up to comment #20.

If anybody wants it, PM me your email address.

[tblue]

26. Good idea. Thank God for technology and the Internets!

[AndyA]

27. Bush might even use The Google to see how many people know about the photo!

*GASP* He's going to be horrified.

Wouldn't it be great if the Dems all held up the photo at tonight's speech? :rofl:

Instead of applause, they could just hold up the photo!

[Rose Siding]

7. "It's hard for me to say I didn't have pictures with the guy when I did."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/01/20060126.html

Ah, but you would if you thought you could get away with it, right?

[ccpup]

9. is it me

or does bush look totally toasted and a bit too "happy" in this pic?

[IDemo]

10. W had only a passing acquaintance with Abramoff

Nicknames included "Johnny", "Jacko", "Jackie boy", "Mr. J", "J-man", "J.A."...

[UTUSN]

11. Well alrighty roorrie!!!!11111 n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. Why did this take so long to appear??

[humbled_opinion]

13. The fundies will call it photoshopped... n/t

[Pacifist Patriot]

14. I have to admit it looks photoshopped to me.

But as I'm no expert I hope no one listens to me. Those two are thick as thieves, photo or no photo.

[Contrite]

20. It's real

Kim Eisler, Washingtonian magazine writer and a friend of Abramoff's, confirmed the photo's authenticity for The Associated Press. He said he had seen the picture at Abramoff's house.

[ShrewdLiberal]

15. He was for the pic before he was against it

:nopity:

[ShockediSay]

16. "taken at a campaign fundraiser in December 2003"

Why am I not surprised?

[truthisfreedom]

17. kinda tilty

don'cha think?

[Bluebear]

19. Definitely. Bush probably was on his third or fourth bourbon. nt

[rodeodance]

18. dripple

[truthisfreedom]

22. Did bush ever return that money?:

Or did he keep the dirty $100k?

[westcott]

23. At least

He's not wearing all black and the Black Fedora in that one.

[SpiralHawk]

24. Birds of a feather are flocking together

Corrupt republicon cronies.

Why do they hate America?

Why do they lie to, and steal from America?

[underpants]

25. Secret Service visitor logs were declared not open to the public-REMEMBER?

ABC via Huffpost via Crooksandliars
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/01/09/bush-abramoffthe-missing-photograph/

The White House and the Secret Service quietly signed an agreement last spring in the midst of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal declaring that records identifying visitors to the White House are not open to the public.

The Bush administration didn't reveal the existence of the memorandum of understanding until last fall. The White House is using it to deal with a legal problem on a separate front, a ruling by a federal judge ordering the production of Secret Service logs identifying visitors to the office of Vice President Dick Cheney.

[yellowcanine]

28. Are they holding hands? They look pretty cozy there for not knowing each other.