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I've been following the Don Siegelman case for a couple of months, but as much as I know about this case, it didn't prevent my blood pressure from leaping up dangerously high. Imprisoning political rivals? Someone tell me again how tyrannical Castro was, because I sure don't recognize this country as my own when things like this happen.

(Grant) Woods is one of the 52 former state attorneys-general, of both parties, who’ve asked Congress to investigate the Siegelman case.

“I personally believe that what happened here is that they targeted Don Siegelman because they could not beat him fair and square. This was a Republican state and he was the one Democrat they could never get rid of,” Woods says.

Now a Republican lawyer from Alabama, Jill Simpson, has come forward to claim that the Siegelman prosecution was part of a five-year secret campaign to ruin the governor. Simpson told 60 Minutes she did what’s called “opposition research” for the Republican party. She says during a meeting in 2001, Karl Rove, President Bush’s senior political advisor, asked her to try to catch Siegelman cheating on his wife. [..]

She says she spied on Siegelman for months but saw nothing. Even though she was working as a Republican campaign operative, Simpson says she wanted to talk to 60 Minutes because Siegelman’s prison sentence bothers her conscience.

Simpson says she wasn’t surprised that Rove made this request. Asked why not, she tells Pelley, “I had had other requests for intelligence before.”

“From Karl Rove?” Pelley asks.

“Yes,” Simpson says.

Simply horrifying how low Karl Rove and company will go. Someone definitely needs to be spending some serious time in prison...but I'm pretty sure it isn't Don Siegelman. Scott Horton of Harper's (who is scheduled to speak with Sam Seder on AirAmerica at 4:00 pm est) has been covering this story from the beginning, and truth squads some of Rove's statements. Guess who isn't telling the truth?

The full segment and transcripts available here. If you live in Alabama, that's the ONLY way you'll get to see the whole segment.