Well, Lookie Here

CREW unearths the 2003 photo of Dubya and indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff together. According to the WaPo, a friend attests to the authenticity of the photo, saying he saw it displayed at Abramoff's house.

When asked about this photo, a Bush spokesperson said, "The White House has previously acknowledged that they've met."

Oh? When was that? Because the nearest thing to an acknowledgment you got from the White House was this:

Q But he [Abramoff] has the special designation as a Pioneer, as Terry was alluding to, raising more than $100,000. And he attended, as you told us, three events, holiday receptions at the White House. How likely is it that the President would not have met him --

MR. McCLELLAN: That's why I said it's possible. But I just told you what I know at this point, and the President doesn't recall meeting him and he certainly doesn't know him.

Q Will you release -- go ahead.

Q Since you often take photos in those instances at receptions, will you make that available?

MR. McCLELLAN: I haven't thought about that. I'll take it under consideration.

Q How about the logs of the people -- how many times he came into the White House?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, I'm checking into that. I said I'd check into that -- I think someone asked that question the other day. I think it's very few times that he's been here, in addition to any holiday receptions.

And that's the last we heard of it.

So we're supposed to believe that Abramoff was just one of the faceless riff raff visitors to the White House, even though an independent Congressional report documented hundreds of contacts between him and White House officials, including at least ten direct contacts with Karl Rove.

Abramoff padded his client billings so those contacts may be exxagerated, but there's no way to find out for sure, because the White House made its visitors' logs off limits:

The White House and the Secret Service quietly signed an agreement last spring in the midst of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal declaring that records identifying visitors to the White House are not open to the public.

The Bush administration didn't reveal the existence of the memorandum of understanding until last fall. The White House is using it to deal with a legal problem on a separate front, a ruling by a federal judge ordering the production of Secret Service logs identifying visitors to the office of Vice President Dick Cheney.

Mighty convenient, that.

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