AttorneyGate: Bush Knew
Yes, Bush knew about the firings, according to the Washington Post and the New York Times. And he had Harriet Miers and then Albert Gonzales act to fire the prosecutors because of complaints that they weren’t working fast enough in investigations of Democrats. Forget that these prosecutors were doing a good job, as [...]
Yes, Bush knew about the firings, according to the Washington Post and the New York Times. And he had Harriet Miers and then Albert Gonzales act to fire the prosecutors because of complaints that they weren’t working fast enough in investigations of Democrats. Forget that these prosecutors were doing a good job, as evidenced by strong job performance reviews. They simply hadn’t drunk enough of the Bush koolaid.
The dismissals took place after President Bush told Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales in October that he had received complaints that some prosecutors had not energetically pursued voter-fraud investigations, according to a White House spokeswoman.
Gonzales approved the idea of firing a smaller group of U.S. attorneys shortly after taking office in February 2005. The aide in charge of the dismissals — his chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson — resigned yesterday, officials said, after acknowledging that he did not tell key Justice officials about the extent of his communications with the White House, leading them to provide incomplete information to Congress.
Lawmakers requested the documents as part of an investigation into whether the firings were politically motivated. While it is unclear whether the documents, which were reviewed yesterday by The Washington Post, will answer Congress’s questions, they show that the White House and other administration officials were more closely involved in the dismissals, and at a much earlier date, than they have previously acknowledged.
Seven U.S. attorneys were fired on Dec. 7 and another was fired months earlier, with little explanation from the Justice Department. Several former prosecutors have since alleged intimidation, including improper telephone calls from GOP lawmakers or their aides, and have alleged threats of retaliation by a Justice Department official.
No, this is not a routine personnel matter. There is no evidence put forth that there is anything in the record of these prosecutors that they were doing a poor job. Believe me, if such evidence were available you’d at least see a leak of it to the right wing press. Nothing. Zilch. Nada.
Is this mere Bush Administration arrogance, an example of them politicizing virtually every function of government? Yeah, sure. Is it also a measure of their incompetence, a certain cluelessness at work, that they had no clue how the American people would react to such blatant politicization. Oh, yeah it is.
It is our duty to impeach.
Are you just playing dumb. Or are you for real? Maybe you’re just a mendacious lib***l.
Clinton fired ALL 93 U.S. Attorneys on the same day. And guess what — he had a perfect right to do so.
And also guess what, the Senate has NO say in who serves in the President’s Justice Department. It’s called the Seperation of Powers. Try looking it up.
All U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President. He can hire and fire.
Let’s look ahead to the disastrous possibility that the country has a mental breakdown and elects social**st liar Mrs Bill Clinton in 2008.
Are we to assume that she would have no right to fire any U.S. Attorneys for any reason she deems fit. Is that the loony Democrat party standard?
You need to provide a link for the Clinton assertations, Jack.
That’s not the point, anyway. No one is disagreeing that they serve at the President’s leisure. But replacing them has always required congressional confirmation. Now, they’re allowed to just parachute in their own ideological hacks.
Doesn’t this whole thing bother you in the least, anyway?
As Josh Marshall notes:
But thanks for repeating Karl Rove’s Fox News blastfax from this morning.
Richard, you took the words out of my mouth, and shoved “Jackoff Bauer”’s foot right down his.
HAH!
Wow, Jack Bauer drank the koolaid.
Jack, the Bush Administration snuck in a provision that allows it to rehire US attorneys without Congressional oversight. They said it was part of the fight against terrorism. Turns out they have only used the provision as a part of their partisan political games.
All along the Bush Administration has used the war on Terror for political gain, it is not surprising that they now use the Patriot Act explicitly for that purpose.