Housing Chief's New Home: The Woodshed

Looks like Alphonso Jackson as taken a little trip to the woodshed, and come out relatively unscathed. It was almost inevitable that the White House would step in and distance President Bush from Jackson's recent boast that he quashed a HUD contract won by a political foe of the president. (Jackson now says he made up the story.) And sure enough, here's White House Press Secretary Tony Snow today (courtesy of AP), slapping Jackson's wrist but not throwing him over the side:

Alphonso Jackson has admitted that what he said earlier was improper, that it was a mistake and the president accepts that and still supports a man with whom he's had a long and close relationship.