Never Heard of Him

That was the President's line on Kenny Boy Lay. That was the line on Ahmad Chalabi. And now, that's the line on Jack Abramoff.

“You know, I, frankly, don’t even remember having my picture taken with the guy. I don’t know him.”

Except Abramoff spoke up today. And he's singing a different tune:

But according to (national editor of Washingtonian Magazine Kim) Eisler, Abramoff told him that the two have met almost a dozen times, shared jokes, and spoke about details of Abramoff’s family:

HE HAS ONE OF THE BEST MEMORIES OF ANY POLITICIAN I HAVE EVER MET. IT WAS ONE IF [sic] HIS TRADEMARKS, THOUGH OF COURSE HE CAN’T RECALL THAT HE HAS A GREAT MEMORY! THE GUY SAW ME IN ALMOST A DOZEN SETTINGS, AND JOKED WITH ME ABOUT A BUNCH OF THINGS, INCLUDING DETAILS OF MY KIDS. PERHAPS HE HAS FORGOTTEN EVERYTHING. WHO KNOWS.

This game of "I dunno" is quaint, and the media always does a good job of lapping it up. But it always has been a lie, and it is again in this case. Bush's folksy, "aw-shucks" denials belie the truth. And for some reason he rarely, if ever, gets called on it.