Throwing Fitz

Marcy Wheeler is to der shmartness as Aquaman is to der wetness, yet she may have missed a key point in her recent important story about Patrick Fitzgerald. The story confirms what we already knew: Rove had hoped to have Fitz removed.

Marcy thus quotes Fitz:

I learned some time in or about early 2005 from agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") that a cooperating witness (who later testified at the Rezko trial, but not about this topic) had advised the FBI agents that he had earlier been told by one of Mr. Rezko's co-schemers that it was the responsibility of a third person in Illinois to have me replaced as United States Attorney. I should be clear that I did not understand that any putative effort to replace me as United States Attorney was related to my conduct as Special Counsel but understood instead that it was related to the investigative activities of federal agents and prosecutors conducting a corruption investigation in Illinois.

Emphasis mine -- and the part I emboldened differs from Marcy's choice.

Hop aboard Dr. Doom's time machine and place yourself back in 2005. Hastert is the House Speaker, the Dems aren't split, Randi Rhodes is still tolerable, and Plamegate is all that anyone on the left wants to talk about.

Now imagine that a shadowy informant tells you: "The White House wants to can Fitzgerald."

"I'm not surprised," you answer. "They want to protect Libby, Rove, Cheney, Bush..."

"No," your informant tells you. "This ain't about Plame. They want to protect Tony Rezko and his crooked pals in Illinois."

How would you react? Probably with a dropped jaw and a loud "Whaaaaaa?" Or perhaps you would wave your hand dismissively. "Get outta here. Who the hell is Tony Rezko, and why would Rove give a shit about him?"

Pretty good question.

Protecting the Illinois Combine mattered more to this White House than protecting Scooter Libby. Think about that.

Marcy alleges that the attempt to fire Fitz occurred because the Republicans wanted to protect bigwig Republican donor Bob Kjellander. She cites the testimony of Ali Ata, the Blagojevich aide who testified at the Rezko trial. But that's not quite what Ata said:

"[Ata] had conversations with Mr. Rezko about the fact that Mr. Kjellander was working with Karl Rove to have Mr. Fitzgerald removed," Hamilton told U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve.

Kjellander was part of the problem, according the Ata. But he was hardly the sole motivating force.

The point is that Kjellander (pronounced Shelander), a Republican national committeeman who has received $800,000 in unexplained fees through a state bond-borrowing deal engineered by Democrat Blagojevich, is no fan of Fitzgerald's either.

Now go here:

One fellow in the federal documents of the Operation Board Games case was listed as “Individual K.” And his buddy appeared several times in those same documents as “Individual A,” for Alpha.

Individuals A and K have not been indicted. But the Tribune identified them as Big Bob Kjellander (pronounced $hell-ander) and his buddy, Big Bill Cellini, the political boss of Springfield.

Kjellander is the Republican committeeman of Illinois who flaunts his friendship with Rove and who recently resigned as treasurer of the Republican National Committee. Kjellander also represented the famous Carlyle Group before the teachers' pension fund board and he received $4.5 million in questionable consulting fees.

Get the picture? Taxpayer funds were being channeled into partisan races. That's the same thing Brent Wilkes tried to get away with.

Blagojevich, a nominal Democrat, was part of the Bush money machine. And never forget: Every time a pay-to-play contract resulted in a "donation" to Blago, Barack Obama (as we have seen in previous posts) also got a share.