Rewriting history

President Bush and his allies have been accusing Democrats that are critical of the Iraq war of rewriting history. However, the American Progress Action Fund has found President Bush is now doing some serious rewriting and trying to act like he barely knows Rep. Tom DeLay.

Through unattributed sources and blind quotes, allies of President Bush did their best this weekend to distance the White House from DeLay. In a single story for Time magazine, sources close to Bush described a "longtime chill between the two pols," described DeLay as "a useful servant," said DeLay and adviser Karl Rove had "never been close," and claimed "DeLay is not the kind of guy -- in background and temperament -- the President feels comfortable with." History suggests otherwise. Bush has repeatedly defended DeLay in public over the last year, taking "the unusual step of saying he believed in Mr. DeLay's innocence" just weeks ago. Meanwhile, for all its supposed distance from corruption scandals, the White House is apparently feeling the heat. "Bracing for the worst, Administration officials obtained from the Secret Service a list of all the times Abramoff entered the White House complex, and they scrambled to determine the reason for each visit," Time reports. "Bush aides are also trying to identify all the photos that may exist of the two men together."

A quick search finds statements like this from the Washington Post:

In an interview with Fox News, Bush said he hopes DeLay will be cleared of charges that he illegally steered corporate money into campaigns for the Texas legislature and will reclaim his powerful leadership position in Congress. "I hope that he will, 'cause I like him, and plus, when he's over there, we get our votes through the House," Bush told Fox News's Brit Hume.

That statement came just a few weeks ago so there hasn't been much chill in the air between the two in the last month.

So I thought maybe I need to go farther back and then I found this on the White House website:

I have confidence in Tom DeLay's leadership, and I have confidence in Tom DeLay. And I am -- we've worked closely with Tom DeLay and the leaders in the House to get a lot done during the last four years, and I'm looking forward to working with him to get a lot done during the next four years.

This statement came soon after the House Ethics committee slapped Rep. DeLay on the wrist and the scandal was starting to unfold.

I'll keep looking. The evidence of the chill must be out there somewhere.