Firing of Prosecuters…

I have a confession to make…when the whole thing with the firing of the Federal Prosecuters started hitting the news, I thought that it was somehow related to the Army Military Hospital in Virginia.  I have read about the problems in this and other Military Hospitals for the last couple of years, I believe at Salon.com, so I wasn’t shocked, and thought I knew what was going on.  Then, as people talked more about it, I realized I was just confused, so I went looking around a bit for a decent summary.  Here’s what I found, which I cribbed directly from Echidne of the Snakes, in case any of you were similarly confused, or are for some deluded reason looking to me for your political news:

Here are some of the falsehoods we’ve been told that are now unraveling.First, we were told that the seven of the eight U.S. attorneys were fired for performance reasons.

It now turns out this was a falsehood, as the glowing performance evaluations attest.

Second, we were told by the attorney general that he would, quote, “never, ever make a change for political reasons.”

It now turns out that this was a falsehood, as all the evidence makes clear that this purge was based purely on politics, to punish prosecutors who were perceived to be too light on Democrats or too tough on Republicans.

Third, we were told by the attorney general that this was just an overblown personnel matter.

It now turns out that far from being a low-level personnel matter, this was a longstanding plan to exact political vendettas or to make political pay-offs.

Fourth, we were told that the White House was not really involved in the plan to fire U.S. attorneys. This, too, turns out to be false.

Harriet Miers was one of the masterminds of this plan, as demonstrated by numerous e-mails made public today. She communicated extensively with Kyle Sampson about the firings of the U.S. attorneys. In fact, she originally wanted to fire and replace the top prosecutors in all 93 districts across the country.

Fifth, we were told that Karl Rove had no involvement in getting his protege appointed U.S. attorney in Arkansas.

In fact, here is a letter from the Department of Justice. Quote: “The department is not aware of Karl Rove playing any role in the decision to appoint Mr. Griffin.”

It now turns out that this was a falsehood, as demonstrated by Mr. Sampson’s own e-mail. Quote: “Getting him, Griffin, appointed was important to Harriet, Karl, et cetera.

Sixth, we were told to change the Patriot Act was an innocent attempt to fix a legal loophole, not a cynical strategy to bypass the Senate’s role in serving as a check and balance.

As Angry Black Bitch would say, “Smells like bullshit” (Coincidentally, I went to link to ABB, and she’s posting on this same topic…her blog is the first place I saw the picture, above).   This shit matters folks, it matters that the courts are being forced to lean right-wing, that to follow the law is no longer good enough.  When you hear them talking about “activist judges” and their “liberal agendas”, remember this, remember that they’re pushing our judicial system the way they want it to be, which is in direct violation of the intent of our Constitution, which is supposed to have three SEPERATE branches of government, to form as checks and balances for each other.  This shit matters, to you, and to me, so please…remember that come the next election.  I know, it’s SO long away, none of us are ready to get fired up.  I know I’m not.  But that doesn’t mean I’m going to forget this crap, either.   

13 Comments

  • Ml

    Yeah, the election is a long way off, but thanks posting this. It will at least keep the seed planted in the back of my mind until the next election.

  • Heidi

    Excellet post. It really does matter. In your honor I bought a huge bag of Cheetos after work. Thanks for bringing up the bullshit from the murky depths.

  • V-Grrrl

    Ooh Jules, I’d seen the headlines on this but because I’m frequently out of touch with U.S. news, I hadn’t pursued reading the stories.

    I should have.

    My sister-in-law is a federal prosecutor….

  • Py Korry

    I was listening to the Newshour the other day and they had a guy who was shill for the Bush administration (but he no longer works for them) saying that this whole thing is just a “PR problem” that will go away. Um, did someone say “Smell like bullshit?”

  • Susan in Italy

    Jon Stewart recently commented on Albero Gonzales’ “apology” in which he claimed responsability and then proceeded to explain how he could not have known about any of this since there are sooo many people working for him. Some responsability!

  • ann adams

    So many wheels have begun to fall off the wagon just in the last couple of weeks, I get confused too.

    The hospitals, the Attorney General, Peter Pace and his bigoted comments about gays, Valerie Plame Wilson and the hearings.

    It’s not perfect but it’s a start.

  • ann adams

    Oops. I forgot the FBI and their misuse of power. Also forgot to thank you for your two comments today. Now you know all about me and we’re still speaking.

  • Flo

    Let’s get this straight…
    Federal prosecutors serve AT THE PLEASURE of the president. He does not have to provide any reason for dismissing them (as Clinton did not provide when he fired over 90 prosecutors)
    You are obviously still misinformed by reading media trash.
    This IS A NON-ISSUE that is being blown up by the liberal press…once again.
    Now, go research some more and put up a better blog!