Update: When Jack Met Dubya

The White House continues to try to distance the Big Cheese from the toxic waste emanating from disgraced super lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his powerful Republican pals.

It isn't working.

A spokesman for the president initially said that there were nothing more than superficial contacts between King George and King Rat, whose plea bargain in return for testifying about his extensive dealings with Republicans has the capital on tenterhooks. Then photos of the prez and Abramoff turned up that put the lie to that contention. Then the photos mysteriously (sic) disappeared from the Web site of the company that shoots major White House events.

In the latest development, ThinkProgress says that it has obtained emails written by Abramoff in which he details an extensive relationship with Bush. This includes a personal invitation to the president’s Crawford, Texas, ranch in 2003. (Abramoff, a devout Jew, did not attend because of a religious observance.)

On January 26, Bush told reporters that “You know, I, frankly, don’t even remember having my picture taken with the guy. I don’t know him.”

That outright lie elicited the following email from Abramoff (who apparently bangs out email messages in all capital letters) to a friend:

HE HAS ONE OF THE BEST MEMORIES OF ANY POLITICIAN I HAVE EVER MET. IT WAS ONE IF [sic] HIS TRADEMARKS, THOUGH OF COURSE HE CAN’T RECALL THAT HE HAS A GREAT MEMORY! THE GUY SAW ME IN ALMOST A DOZEN SETTINGS, AND JOKED WITH ME ABOUT A BUNCH OF THINGS, INCLUDING DETAILS OF MY KIDS. PERHAPS HE HAS FORGOTTEN EVERYTHING. WHO KNOWS.

Given the Bush administration’s addiction to covering up and lying about even things it needn’t sweat, it isn’t clear whether the president is indeed implicated in the Abramoff scandal even if he is fibbing about his relationship with the man.

What is clear is is that the White House is doing a pretty good imitation of acting like the president is in trouble.