Dan Froomkin (facetiously?) wonders why Bush isn't being more forthcoming about exactly why the nine federal prosecutors were fired.

Instead, the White House's carefully parsed and entirely unforthcoming statements on this matter are reminiscent of the response four years ago to allegations that White House aides had leaked CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity to reporters.

Back then, Bush could well have demanded an answer from his staffers and then shared it with the American people. He chose not to. Whether he chose not to because he knew that two of his top aides were involved in the leaking is still, to this day, not entirely clear. By stonewalling, Bush was able to postpone that revelation until after getting reelected.

The obvious reason must be that because of the severity of the wrong committed, Bush would rather opt for the slower-moving course of action tied to subpoenas and court rulings than the much more expedient alternative of him willfully coming clean. Such stonewalling proved beneficial in the 2004 election with the Plame scandal, and as with Iraq, Bush is just desperately trying to run out the accountability clock. January 2009 cannot come fast enough for this failed lame duck.

It's up to the Democrats to push hard and remain in hot pursuit of the truth for this "mystery" to come to an appropriate end.