Bush files

Bush hearts Abramoff: After the White House claimed the president doesn't know corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff, after the White House allegedly ordered a photo studio to purge photos of Bush's meeting with the former Bush fundraising "pioneer," after Bush flat-out denied any knowledge of Abramoff ("I, frankly, don't even remember having my picture taken with the guy. I don't know him."), a photo of Bush and Jack meeting with Indian tribal leaders is, at last, published (above).

Dubya Dubya III? The Pentagon is advancing attack plans on Iran, reports the Telegraph, with bombing raids backed by submarine-launched ballistic missile strikes intended as a "last resort" to get Tehran to stop enriching plutonium.

Heckuva job, Deutschie: Old news by now, but worth repeating: after it was revealed that he lied about completing college, 24-year old NASA public affairs officer and former Bush campaign worker George Deutsch resigned from the space agency. Deutsch built his resume at NASA by telling a web designer to add the word "theory" to every mention of the Big Bang and directing public affairs officers to limit reporters' access to a key climate scientist. As Jonathan Alter writes, "Doesn’t every single person in the country who ever said a word about George W. Bush’s 'competence' owe an apology to every single other person in the world?"

The Trust Gap: A New York Times editorial today: "We can't think of a president who has gone to the American people more often than George W. Bush has to ask them to forget about things like democracy, judicial process and the balance of powers — and just trust him. We also can't think of a president who has deserved that trust less." Read it.