"Curiouser and curiouser," said Alice

No matter how favorable the Washington Post tries to spin the latest on the Gonzalez Eight scandal in favor of the White House, it's still lipstick on a pig.

In explaining the 18-day gap in e-mails on the firing of eight U.S. prosecutors, the White House can make a case one way -- that "the boss" in Harriet Miers' memo is Bush and understand he authorized this potential crime and was out of town those 18 days -- or you can have it the other -- that 18 days of documents Congress demanded are missing and presume the White House either destroyed them or is in contempt of Congress, or both.

But, the White House and its lapdogs can't have it both ways.

Doesn't it remind you of President Richard Nixon's famous 18-minute gap in his office tape recordings? Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo has been the leading blogger in this story.

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to hear how these White House officials evaluated N.J. federal attorney Chris Christie in making the hit list of prosecutors not doing enough partisan bidding to suit Bush. See my post Sunday, and help me if you can.