White House officials have admitted that they “conducted 20 private briefings on Republican electoral prospects in the last midterm election for senior officials in at least 15 government agencies covered by federal restrictions on partisan political activity.” Today, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino tried to defend these briefings, stating, “There’s nothing in the law that says you can’t do that. It’s not unethical.”

But the Hatch Act prohibits partisan campaign activities on federal property. CNN’s Ed Henry pointed out that six witnesses remember that at one of the briefings, Lurita Doan, the head of GSA, asked Karl Rove-deputy Scott Jennings, “What then, after getting this briefing, can we do to go help Republican candidates? And he said, Let’s talk off-line about that.”

Perino responded that she didn’t know what Jennings meant, adding, “I haven’t spoke to Scott Jennings about this. I don’t think that I will.” Henry asked Perino how she could “make a blanket statement saying no laws were broken” without knowing any details. Watch it:

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Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, covering yesterday’s flag-draped coffin procession for the Blue Angels pilot who died in a crash last weekend:

This is a scene we are not accustomed to see during war times. They don’t allow us to see the victims — uh, heroes who died for us in Iraq. We don’t get to see their caskets come back. It’s a wonderful honor to be able to pay tribute to this man in this way. Wouldn’t it be nice if we were able to do this with the hundreds upon hundreds who have died for us in Iraq?

Watch it:

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“Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey is scheduled to appear before the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing Thursday next week to testify about his involvement in the plan to fire certain U.S. attorneys. The committee will vote on authorizing a subpoena for Comey’s testimony on Tuesday. Comey’s expected to shed light on the early part of the purge process.”

“Concerned about the growing dependence of the nation’s spy agencies on private contractors, top intelligence officials have spent months determining just how many contractors work at the C.I.A., D.I.A., F.B.I., N.S.A. and the rest of the spook alphabet soup. Now they have an answer. But they cannot reveal it, they say, because America’s enemies might be listening.”

You can watch Bill Moyers’ full documentary HERE. Glenn Greenwald writes:

If you didn’t watch Bill Moyers’ documentary last night regarding the joint, coordinated behavior of our government and its media in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, I can’t recommend it highly enough. [...]

One of the most important points came at the end. The institutional decay which Moyers chronicles is not merely a matter of historical interest. Instead, it continues to shape our mainstream political dialogue every bit as much as it did back in 2002 and 2003. The people who committed the journalistic crimes Moyers so potently documents do not think they are guilty of anything — ask them and they will tell you — and as a result, they have not changed their behavior in the slightest.

“The Senate on Thursday narrowly passed legislation ordering U.S. troops to begin coming home from Iraq by Oct. 1. The vote was 51-46. The House on Wednesday passed the same war spending bill, and President Bush next week is expected to receive, and swiftly reject, the legislation. The veto could fall on the fourth anniversary of the president’s Iraq ‘victory’ speech, which is Tuesday.”

UPDATE: AMERICAblog has video of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) remarks HERE.

UPDATE II: A case of the pot calling the kettle black — the “White House warns of a ‘P.R. stunt.’” Dana Perino said, “If it is the case that they withheld money for the troops in order to try to play some ridiculous P.R. stunt, that is the height of cynicism.”

UPDATE III: A new ad from Americans United:

“Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, depicted the situation there as ‘exceedingly complex and very tough’ Thursday and said the U.S. effort might become more difficult before before it gets easier.”

On Tuesday’s Daily Show, Jon Stewart asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) about his notorious recent shopping trip at a Baghdad market. McCain responded, “I had something picked out for you, too — a little IED to put on your desk.”

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) last night blasted McCain’s comment, calling it “outrageous” that he would “joke about IEDs when our kids are getting blown up!”

This morning on ABC’s Good Morning America, McCain called Murtha a hysteric. “I don’t know how to react to that kind of hysteria to a comedy show. All I’m going to say to Murtha and others. … Lighten up and get a life.” Watch it:

When he recently faced criticism over his “Bomb bomb Iran” song, McCain similarly responded, “Lighten up and get a life.” Hardly a surprise from someone who thinks it’s “fun” to “misspeak” about the war.

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