Yes, keep digging.
Cause these bad boys are going down!

Doesn't this mean they are admitting that someone lied to Congress (when they claimed the firings were performance-related)?

OK, I have been wondering about th people that were named to replace the fired attorneys. 1) Has Congress worked to repeal the loophole that Specter's office got inserted into legislation? 2) Is there anything that Congress can do to get these administration shills out of office? I was thinking of doing something along the lines of threatening to cut funding to the affected attorney's offices unless the shills are replaced, replaced using the old rules.

Stromboli,

Not yet, but I understand that language will be inserted into the bill to implement the 9/11 recommendations in the Senate. That should get through and Bush will have to sign it.

You people are dreaming if you think anyone "big" is going to take a hit on this. Congress doesn`t have the balls to do what needs to be done cause they lost them a long time ago.

"People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.� - Otto von Bismarck

How many other time bombs have Republicans planted in six years of legislation, with the Democrats asleep at the wheel?

How many times do Democrats have to be told, "Yes, Republicans really, really are not your friends, they have to be watched every minute, and it's YOUR job to do it!"?

Did you catch Barney Frank on Bill Maher tonight? He talked about how he didn't vote yes on going to war with Iraq or on any bills to fund it - he knew that this was a lying administration and he didn't believe anything they said. He also said that he doesn't have any sympathy for his fellow Democrats who say they were taken in by this administration; if he knew what they are about, why didn't they?

And he's right.

In Bob Woodward's book, "State of Denial," all of the classified intelligence that was available to Bush was made available to all members of Congress. All they had to do was go to a guarded room at the Capitol to see the files. Very few did.

I've been trying to find out for months who did and who didn't, with no success.

The old days of collegial fraternity in Congress are over. Forever. This is not an anomaly. These are not just the usual political dirty tricks, Donald Seghretti-style rat-fucking, "all's fair" kind of tactics.

Out of Watergate came a group of very angry and cunning young men who were willing to go beyond the line of ethical limits. And they were also willing to wait, to spend a couple of decades, if need be, preparing for a revolution that would keep them in power for generations. Once a Lee Atwater arrives in politics, there are a dozen others who will (and did) study at his knee, and build upon what they learned. If Karl Rove were to disappear tomorrow, his spawn would just pick up where he left off.

That is the problem with memes, once they are launched.

Unfortunately, the Democrats in office today just don't understand that. They stand around looking stupefied as Bush-Cheney ignore them. If it's not Bush's signing statements, it's the Democrats rendering themselves irrelevant (Pelosi assuring Bush that there will be no impeachment inquiry, a non-binding resolution on the war in Iraq).

I can envision Bush-Cheney, after the vote on the reauthorization of the Patriot Act, laughing themselves silly over the fact that the Democrats rendered themselves irrelevant by voting yes. "We can replace any U.S. attorney and they can't stop it. All we had to do was challenge their patriotism in the media to bully them into voting yes. They're scared to death to vote no - we could slip in an authorization to attack Iran, N. Korea, France, and they wouldn't even know it because they don't read the bills! There's no law that requires us to disclose what's in the bill: Caveat emptor!"

Talk about your dilletantes. We've got bigger troubles than Bush-Cheney and Republicans. We've got a lot of dead wood in office, Democrats, who need clearing out.

Kinda like claiming Bernie Kerik threw in the towel because of a 'nanny problem.'

Joe Lieberman will be delivering the Democratic response to Bush's radio address tomorrow morning.

Karl Rove better have pictures of Harry Reid with a dead little boy (in which case the party really does need a thorough purging), because there's no other excuse for Democrats giving Lieberman a gift, this showcase.

Oh, its a surprise. The Admin. has stuffed friends into every corner of the government and seven years later we are going to get uppity about it? Don't forget Ken Lay was one of the chosen to help create the energy policy back in 01'.

Stop going after the small fish and go after the top. Dumb and Darth are watching the clock and protecting the lead with some pretty heavy defense that looks alot like offense. Brownies and Bremers will come and go, but filling the Judicial pipeline with F.o.B.'s will shape the country for decades.

The Congress, both D & R, need to have a quick refresher course on why and how this country was formed and get these people out. The longer they wait the more ownership they assume.

".....senior Justice Department officials identified the prosecutors they believed were not doing enough to carry out President Bush's policies on immigration, firearms and other issues, White House and Justice Department officials said yesterday." - Kevin

So they were fired for not doing their job? What an atrocity!

Don't worry though, the Democrats will come up with an entitlement program for them.

"Give 'em hell, Harry", as a true haberdasher, knew something about heads - Said that "The Buck Stops Here", as the head of government.

To $hrub, his government style is more like a plumber - That is "Shit runs downhill from the top"

There is a story going around in NM that Rove was also involved with pressuring Iglesias (probably at the behest of repubs). It speaks very well for Iglesias that he stood up to pressure.

I like that you used the word "purge."

Purge: to clear or rid a nation, a political party, etc. of individuals held to be disloyal or undesirable. To have the effect of a thorough bowel movement.

Here's a previously stated lie from this habitually deceptive, falsehood uttering administration:

"Allegations that politics inappropriately interfere with personnel decisions made about U.S. attorneys are reckless and plainly wrong," department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said. "... The bottom line is that we nominate experienced attorneys who we believe can do the job."

And did not Attorney Gonzales just say to Congress in January that this administration does not consider politics when making these decisions.

Bring on the hearings.
Subpoena--the word is derived from Latin, meaning pain and penalty.
Words are cool.

Cheney appears to be the real president, according to a lot of observers' guesstimations- why does he keep a staff of 81? And we all know about the aura of corruption that hangs around that guy, in relation to so many matters- maybe Patrick Fitzgerald said it best in his Libby trial summation.

For a Cheney topical post, see my blog.

http://www.aquietevening.blogspot.com

Oh and separation of powers and defeating the spoils system was so important to all of you during the Jackson administration.

Your holier than thou attitude is actually quite amusing. This is simply business as usual. The success of this effort in strengthening the Republican party in criminal cases will trump any bad press due to the seven holdouts.

So typical of a liberal, Kevin. You lack basic understanding of the way our government works, as set down in the Constitution.

The attorneys were employees of the Executive branch. The President is the head of the Executive, and the attorneys' job was to carry out his policy. They didn't and were fired. The same thing that would happen in any well-run corporation.

Why do liberals find that so hard to understand?

Words are cool.

Along with opposable thumbs, they set us apart from the other denizens of the animal kingdom.

That was pretty amazing for them to change stories so fast, and for Abu Gonzalez to open himself up to charges of lying to Congress. Someone must be scared shitless.

I suppose it's too much to ask the Democrats to put anyone behind bars for, you know, lying to them. As with WMD, they may very well buy this new spin. But is it too much to ask that they at least demand, and get some resignations, specifically Abu. Where is their outrage?

I like Josh's take: If it really was about them not enforcing policy priorities, that would actually be a pretty legitimate cause for a reshuffle. So why in the world not just say so in the first place, especially since the potential for misconstruing the action was so strong, given the unprecedented number of firings and the nature of what some of them were working on. Why the initial story line about performance revue, which didn't hold up? I mean, come on. The Broderite press is certainly dumb enough to buy it, but I sense the Dems on the committees have a bit more blood-lust up than that. It's not going to hold up when people start testifying under oath.

Oh and separation of powers and defeating the spoils system was so important to all of you during the Jackson administration.

I dunno, but that's why we have past-life regression therapy. Comes in very handy when addressing questions like this.

And (parody?)Al: not that it does any good, but let's once again note that replacing USAs at the inception of an administration is routine, but pressuring and firing them in midstream is not, nor is the fact that the normal Congressional approval process has been rescinded.

And hahaha--it is time for some long overdue accountability.
Administration apologists are in squirm mode now.
We had mid-term elections and a much needed end to one-party rule.
Indeed, people have opened their eyes to the corruption and deceit of the republican party.

Well said, from the Slate article:

"The U.S. attorney purge probably exploded into a scandal as a result of a perfect storm that the White House never anticipated: Players at the highest levels were making strategic, ideological decisions to consolidate executive power and reward party loyalists while folks on the ground at the Justice Department bungled the firings with inflammatory comments and false ("performance-related") statements. Incumbent U.S. attorneys surprised the White House by punching back, just as a Congress under new Democratic control decided to exercise meaningful oversight."

"Perhaps the most important lesson to be drawn from the purge isn't that the Bush administration puts ideology above the rule of law. That isn't exactly news. The real point may be that between inexperienced fumblers at Justice, energized Democrats in Congress, and a public that seems finally to have awoken from its slumber, it's just become harder for the administration to get away with it."

Thank you, Kevin, for staying with this story

I also find it continually astonishing that, in order to swallow the Bushco party line on this and so many other cases of a like pattern, the Bushites have to accept that there's an incredibly long list of Bush appointees and civil servants with well established bipartisan credentials who have suddenly caught Bush-hatred disease and "betrayed" Dear Leader, in this case by supposedly ignoring his policy priorities. Gosh, ain't he just plagued with scoundrels. Never was a president beset with so unbelievably many of these turncoats.

I mean, just the shear number of cases where they've all had to echo some version of this same talking point would strain credulity after a while, even for these koolaiders.

Again it shows you the low/no morals of Busb admin people.

They basically publicly slandered these attorneys for months by claiming they were poor workers.

This issue has been addressed at length by a couple of real, working attorneys (who also comment here) at Watching Those We Chose.

Thanks, Global Citizen, for staying with this story.

I have read Dahlia Lithwick's piece in Slate. it lists about 6 reasons for the firings and three more for why the firings are blowing up into a full scandal. They all can be boiled does to a simple phrase "lack of adult supervision." The AG pulled this stunt because he thought he could get away with it. Nobody said, wait a minute bucko, you really think this is right. There was no grown up telling him to cool his jets.

How it happened that such a bunch of radicalized and infantile ideologues gained control of the levers of power is one for the history books, but it happened. What America has to do now is restore adult leadership to the Department of Justice.

"senior Justice Department officials identified the prosecutors they believed were not doing enough to carry out President Bush's policies on immigration, firearms and other issues, White House and Justice Department officials said yesterday."

OK, I get the immigration, but firearms? What were they supposed to be doing, handing them out at NRA sanctioned events? They weren't meeting the necesary yearly quota of old men shot in the face? What?

we told you so....

For every Al and Hawk who faithfully swallow the White House feed, there's now 10-15 others who have adopted Frank's outlook: "I trust nothing they say or do".

The workings of the Bush Admin. are now seen as 'shenanigans' by most Americans.

...and I wasn't bragging, laughing or being spiteful with that comment. I am instead very saddened.

In their attempts to strengthen the Presidency, they have diminished it.

Democrats should halt ALL approvals of ALL officials until the WH reverses this policy.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't read the white house statement as changing its story. They said all along that the performance issue, at least with regard to Lam, was that she wasn't prosecuting enough illegal alien cases. How is this different from "not doing enough to carry out President Bush's policies on immigration"?

It seems to me to be the same old lie.

And interestingly enough, the administration calls up John "miscoded" Solomon to push its spin. Funny that his attention to fine detail misses entirely the partisan overtone of this affair.

Not a single confirmation should be occurring, for anything, for any position, period.

That's a brilliant post by Maeven... it absolutely nails the current situation.

We have to drill down another level though and ask the underlying question.

Why there are so few people with courage and integrity in the Congress? The sad answer is that the political system has become structured to remove those people early in the process.

Ron Byers gets the credit for keeping this issue on the front burner, CWA.

I directed my tantrum at my 14-year-old juvenile offender of a governor this morning.

We've got a lot of dead wood in office, Democrats, who need clearing out.

Seeing as how my newly elected Democratic Senator isn't even in a permanent office yet, and she already has her name on a piece of significant legislation, I'll hold off on calling for her head, thanks.

On mydd and booman tribune, I have posted diaries to try to get a campaign going. Bush and Gonzales used that disgusting tool Arlen Spectre to get the law passed to allow them to sidestep the Senate for US Attorneys in special circumstances. So, what the Senate MUST do is link all confirmations to all offices together, and refuse to proceed with any until the rule of law is restored.. Democrats need to stop all confirmation hearings for any office whatsoever, and link that to the restoration of the December 2006 Massacre victims to their previous positions.

If you like this idea, or would like to modify it, go ahead - I don't own it, but would like to see this as a campaign. It is a very good one for Democrats. We keep corruption of Republicans in the headlights, get to talk about unelected attorneys who are not even subject to the confirmation process, talk about an out-of-control Attorney General, and get to stall Sam Fox from his confirmation as Swift Boat Ambassador to Belgium. It's a win-win-win-win-win-win-win.

Thanks for your help, should you choose to provide it.

Call your Senator and tell him/her to "STOP THE CONFIRMATIONS, ALL CONFIRMATIONS, UNTIL THE ATTORNEYS ARE RESTORED TO OFFICE."

One thing that I found quite interesting about this affair was the reaction of Jay Carney, Time magazine's Washington bureau chief. Read this blog post from mid-January and compare it to the events that have occurred since. And people wonder why we want to scream whenever we hear about the so-called "liberal" media.

it looks a hell of a lot better than firing a bunch of prosecutors because they were being a little too aggressive at investigating Republican malfeasance.

Uhuh, which still looks better than slipping legislation for a corruption coverup in the PATRIOT act. Remember who these people where replaced with. PATRIOT act powered Karl rove clones. Even Berlusconi didn`t claim to be fighting terrorist when he changed laws to cover his investigated corrupt a%$. And any discussion of the (localish?) corruption forces the spotlight away from the national, potentially lasting PATRIOT act change requested by Karl Rove`s side of the machine.

There is a whiff of Walter Reed here. Patriots support troops. (Uh... war, not vets) Patriots support the patriot act. (Uh... Executive coverup authority. not fighting terror)

Walter reed is the kind of bubble bursting story story that allows you to follow with "And in other GOP coverup related news".

The list of prosecutors was assembled last fall, based largely on complaints from members of Congress, law enforcement officials and career Justice Department lawyers, administration officials said. But not the official performance reviews.

Hmm the white house started blaming congresspeople the moment the names got out. Sounds like these GOPers are on their own.

anandine> How is this different from "not doing enough to carry out President Bush's policies on immigration"?
It *is* the same lie, plus an admission that congress people where the source of, let say, "performance worries". I didn`t steal it, I borrowed it. I borrowed it.... + without asking when greg asked me to get it.

Its worded this way so as not to disturb the true believers.

dataguy - I agree - hold up confirmations.

now, go check your email.:)

Yes, keep digging.
Cause these bad boys are going down!

How many of you are still going to be sane by January of 2009?

The fact that the article you referenced was co-written by John Solomon gives it no credibility whatsoever. Just another whitewash.

I'm just a bit curious...all those Republicans who were foaming at the mouth over Clinton's purge of the WH travel office?...why aren't they yelling about impeaching Bush, like they were so hot to do for Clinton? As I recall Ann Coulter, among others, included Clinton's abuse of power in that incident among his "high crimes and misdemeanors" toward impeachment. Seems considerably less of an offense than this purge for purely political reasons. All Clinton wanted to do was help out a friend with a nice lucrative contract...something that Bush has raise to a fine art.

Al: "You lack basic understanding of the way our government works..."

Boy, if there was ever a one-line summation of your contributions here.

So they were fired for not doing their job?… Jay at 8:29 AM

…defeating the spoils system was so important to all of you during the Jackson administration. … AI at 9:19 AM

Perhaps the most important lesson to be drawn from the purge isn't that the Bush administration puts ideology above the rule of law. That isn't exactly news. The real point may be that between inexperienced fumblers at Justice, energized Democrats in Congress, and a public that seems finally to have awoken from its slumber, it's just become harder for the administration to get away with it.

Excuse me Dahlia, dear but just how did Bush not get away with it?

Last I checked those attorneys are still fired and Dems are still their usual spineless selves, nothing has changed. Harry Reid still can't look the camera in the eye.

Last Sunday Tim Russert asked Sen. Carl Levin why Walter Reed Hospital was doing such a horrible job for wounded war veterans under the Democratic control congress.

Never mind that NPR has stated that the problem at Walter Reed have been going on for well over a year now.

You would never know anything was different by watching TV, that somehow Bush isn't still the ever popular 9/11 president so this part about "awoken from its slumber" is irrelevant. A majority of Americans don't like Bush now but the media has failed to notice it and certainly Bush doesn't care and will leave office with his criminal aspects celebrated and intacted.

Perhaps the most important lesson to be drawn from the purge isn't that the Bush administration puts ideology above the rule of law.

It is too bad that the lawyers of this country failed utterly to articulate the real threat and damage the Bush administration was doing to democracy and the rule of law.

majun:

I might just add that running the White House Travel office is a far less weighty and important job than a U.S. Attorney and affects far fewer lives as well...

TCD

Whenever you think of the Bushit Administration, think of icy tics, because for them there is absolutley no difference between pol-ICY and poli-TICS.

Ah, Kevin.

I see nothing wrong here. No crimes broken, nothing out of the ordinary, no ethics violations.

More tempests in a teapont from Kevin Dumb.

Egbert, you are obviously a troll, in modern Scandinavian, often regarded as imps
inhabiting caves or living underground.
And you are able to state-- "nothing out of the ordinary, no ethics violations?"

I wonder now if you aren't a joke. How dare you post here and insult our host.
You are sickening. I will accost you at every turn.

Egfart: "I see nothing wrong here."

That will be on your tombstone, shit-for-brains.

Maevan: "How many other time bombs have Republicans planted in six years of legislation, with the Democrats asleep at the wheel?"

From your comment, it looks like you weren't exactly paying much attention yourself to what was going on over on Capitol Hill the last dozen years. GOP leadership routinely excluded Democrats from any participation in key conference committees where final decisions are made, and regularly scheduled floor votes for Final Reading that precluded most all members -- regardless of party -- from being able to review those measures prior to passage.

egbert: "I see nothing wrong here."

You've really outdone yourself this time, and have somehow managed to sound even dumber than what you probably think that Kenji already thinks you are.

Curious, the White Houses’ official defense line is that local U.S. Attorneys don’t have the right to set their own priorities in response to local conditions; they are supposed to respond in lock step to orders from Washington.

No NO! fafner1!

The Republican Party's all about State's Rights. And a Strong Executive.

And Rugged Individualism. And Letting the Market Decide. And controlling everyone from K Street. And Trusting the People, going Over Heads of the Filter. And Shutting Everyone the Hell Up.

What did you say your name was?

You lack basic understanding of the way our government works, as set down in the Constitution... the attorneys' job was to carry out his policy. They didn't and were fired... Why do liberals find that so hard to understand?

Posted by: Al

I might turn that in its ear and ask you, Al: what kind of, quote unquote, "policy" is appropriate to a President of The United States, that allows him to squelch criminal investigations of individuals the administration deems charmed? This is a "policy"?

In my loony liberal mind, this is not a "policy"; it's called "obstruction of justice". You may recall, an entire administration once made history, crashing and burning over that very thing. I believe the "Saturday Night Massacre" was the tipping point in the Nixon administration, where the criminal tyrants in the White House could no longer bluff their way past two political parties (one of them their own), once it became clear that they had attempted to hijack the entire American justice system.

In the fine comment by maeven, above, it's made clear exactly who is responsible for today's criminal activity: the bitter and determined exceptionalist refugees from that very deposed administration. Christ, it's been 31 years... can't we EVER lose these guys?

(I cannot tell you how much I loved finally seeing in print the observation: "Out of Watergate came a group of very angry and cunning young men who were willing to go beyond the line of ethical limits. And they were also willing to wait, to spend a couple of decades, if need be....")

It's hard not to notice that all the arguments from Kool-Aid drinking, kneepad-wearing trolls I'm reading here conveniently seem to be spotlighting the alleged NEGATIVE actions of the U.S. attorneys, in their "failures"... which, as much as my inferior liberal mind can comprehend it, amount to: [a] Iglesias' not fast-tracking his investigation of a Democrat, prior to the 2006 elections, and; [b] a nebulous lack of prosecution of unnamed "immigration issues".

It's hilarious how in denial you are about the POSITIVE actions of these attorneys... their actual real world prosecution of Republicans; the quashing of which (for some strange reason) you have never once tried to defend here. Just once, I'd like to see an "Al" try to assert the putative right of this administration to stop all criminal investigations of its friends, who happen to be just down the political food chain (just like the Saturday Night Massacre).

What, cat got your tongue? Please, do tell: where the hell does an elected president get off obstructing justice? Or is this one of Alberto Gonzalez' found percs of a "unitary president"?

You're still stuck in old liberal media refrains without learning to actually think for yourself. The so-called "Saturday Night Massacre" was perfectly legal, and I don't see any questionable activity there. Nixon was exercising his Constitutional right as the Executive in his actions surrounding those events. Then as now, however, liberals are all-too willing to tear apart the Constitution in their bloodlust for the destruction of people who want to defend this country against its Enemies. I hesitate to call it treasonous, because correlation doesn't equal causation, but it is something to keep in mind.

"...without learning to actually think for yourself."

Al, you never stop coming up with epitaphs for your own stupidity. Same old shit, day in, day out. You most be even more bored with yourself than we are, and that's really saying something.

Hurry, last month's talking points are waiting for you on the "telefax" machine!

Al, are you really Dick Cheney, hol' up in your undiclosed location? It sure sounds like you. Come out of the cold, Dickie, mommy misses her little prescious.