The American Mind

How can any reasonable person conclude that this is all just some kind of good-faith mistake?

“Looks like a real scandal”? You’re unbelievable, Sean. If Bush ate a baby on live TV you’d find a way to blame the baby.

All the White House had to say was, “The U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President. No laws were broken. Gonzalez was involved. So what?” Story dies from lack of oxygen.

Instead, Gonzalez misleads Congress and hurts his boss.

Chet, I can turn it around. It could be a good-faith mistake and you would still want Karl Rove to do a perp walk.

It’s odd I’m calling for for Gonzalez’s ousting yet I’ll let the Bush administration get away with anything.

“The U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President. No laws were broken. Gonzalez was involved. So what?” Story dies from lack of oxygen.

Actually, it is against the law to dismiss US attorneys in order to obstruct justice and manipulate elections.

But, largely, I agree – if they hadn’t lied about it, and slandered the reputations of these guys, I doubt we would have known anything about it. Although Josh Marshall was plugging along on this story for weeks before the false justification. Dismissing 8 attorneys in the middle of a term is unprecedented, regardless of the reason.

It could be a good-faith mistake and you would still want Karl Rove to do a perp walk.

I want him to do the perp walk for a legitimate reason. I don’t want to railroad the guy into the clink on false charges.

False charges are hardly needed, though. These guys have been breaking laws left and right. Five million violations of the requirement to archive White House correspondance? That’s a bid deal on it’s own, and it just makes it obvious that these attorneys were dismissed because they didn’t play along in a scheme to manipulate the 2006 elections. Which makes you wonder – who did play along?

It’s odd I’m calling for for Gonzalez’s ousting yet I’ll let the Bush administration get away with anything.

Why is that odd? As long as your Golden Boy stays at the top, why should you care how many lackeys fall on their swords?

Which makes you wonder – who did play along?

Milwaukee US Attorney Steven Biskupic, apparently.

[...] Gonzalez and Sampson decided to mislead Congress and pour gasoline on this story instead of saying what they did and let it be at that. No wonder these guys couldn’t plainly state, “U.S. Attorneys serve at the discression of the President. We fired them. No laws were broken. So what?” They’re not that smart no matter how many fancy degrees they have or how much work they’ve done in the Federalist Society. Thankfully President Bush never nominated Gonzalez to the Supreme Court. We’re not stuck with a buffoon with a lifetime appointment. [...]