And Bush wants even more power, Part III

And now, on with the Evil portion of our program:

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove personally called the Texas secretary of state about a newspaper story quoting a staff lawyer about whether Rove was eligible to vote in the state.

The lawyer was subsequently fired.

Secretary of State Roger Williams said that he decided to dismiss the lawyer after talking with Rove but that the White House adviser didn't request that he do so.

"Absolutely not," said Williams, a longtime supporter of President Bush and a major GOP fundraiser.

"Karl called me. He had read the article and wanted to know if it was our stance" that his voter registration status in Texas might be in jeopardy, he said. "I told him it wasn't and that the person who gave that opinion was not authorized to do so."

The call to Williams came at the height of the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe, the weekend after the storm struck. Rove was involved in the early White House response and subsequently has been a leader in the federal government's reconstruction effort.

Once again one just sits here stunned as I've not had enough coffee yet for outrage.