Which US Attorneys Did Rove's Bidding? (by John Nichols for The Nation)

[marmar]

BLOG | Posted 04/10/2007 @ 10:24am
Which US Attorneys Did Rove's Bidding?


The real story of the U.S. Attorneys scandal that has so endangered the tenure of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is not that of the eight fired prosecutors. It is that of the 85 U.S. Attorneys around the country who were not let go.

There is mounting evidence that the Bush administration was pressuring U.S. attorneys to politicize their prosecutions prior to the 2006 elections, on the apparent theory that stirring up trouble for Democrats in battleground states might ease concerns about abuses by White House aides, former House Majority Leader Tom Delay, former California Congressman Duke Cunningham and the various and sundry GOP solons who had been linked to no-longer-so-super lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

And it certainly looks as if some of the U.S. Attorneys who refused to bow to the pressure to mount prosecutions that might embarrass Democrats were removed from their positions because of their regard for the rule of law.

But what about the U.S. Attorneys who were not fired?

Did they agree to mount political prosecutions in order to keep their jobs? Were they reliably partisan enough to secure White House political czar Karl Rove approval?

Did they act on that partisanship in their official duties?
...(snip)...

The bottom line should be clear: The investigation into the politicization of prosecutions by the Bush administration needs to expand dramatically. As this happens, there is good reason to believe that the firings of the eight U.S. Attorneys that have to now been so much in the news may turn out to be the lesser scandals brought to light by an inquiry that could yet be the most damning of Bush's presidency. .......

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=184248

[aquart]

1. Do 85 lawyers need to be disbarred?

[indepat]

8. Only those of the 85 who succumbed to pressure and subverted the rule of law should be disbarred

And the proof is in the pudding.

Edited to add last sentence

[Bitwit1234]

2. I think congress should go after rove

If every there was an evil, dirty, dispicible person in this country he is it. He makes Attila the Hun look good. Why can't they find something on that sneaky snake.

[marmar]

5. Yup...He's pure slime.

He leaves his foul stench wherever he goes.

[necso]

3. r/k

[antonialee839]

4. A Pennsylvania senator had this to say in the

Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday:

(The part about that snake Santorum piqued my interest.)

One Reader's View
Does Inquirer have its head in sand?


In Philadelphia, U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan bugged the office of the Democratic mayor who was running for reelection. Meehan carried out a lengthy investigation of Fumo, marked by repeated leaks to the media that violated grand-jury secrecy, followed by a sensationalized indictment.

Meehan's investigation of Fumo provided fodder for two of Rick Santorum's negative attack ads against Bob Casey during their U.S. Senate campaign last fall. This is the same Santorum for whom Meehan once worked as campaign manager.

In western Pennsylvania, U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan has pursued high-profile investigations of prominent Democrats, but not Republicans. She conducted a long investigation of former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy that crippled him in his final term of office.

[EVDebs]

6. ...Or, the real scandal The Nation is missing is the GOP/CIA $

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3207556&mesg_id=3207604

Who are the "others" in the CIA and Congress ?????

[EC]

7. I hope they look into the justices in Ohio

Blackwell seemed to avoid many court cases on disinfranchisement and all the cases that the Greens lawyers kept filling on voting fraud that were kicked out of court should be looked at...

[Kurovski]

9. K&R. (nt)