llotter
08-01-2010, 03:16 PM
I know there wasn't much of a stink raised when the awful Bush DOJ fired those nine lawyers years ago but just to conclude the issue:
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">If a Washington "scandal" ends long after it can be milked for political gain, and it turns out there was nothing to it, does anyone notice? Consider the whimpering end to the once ferocious controversy over the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys, which brought down former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
The Justice Department informed Congress on Wednesday that a special investigator in the case found no evidence of wrongdoing. The Washington Post ran a wire story about the report on page five.
After their dismissals in 2006, Democrats pounced on the Bush Administration for "politicizing justice," and Mr. Gonzales became their favorite piņata. Democrats alleged that Karl Rove, then the deputy White House chief of staff, meddled in those decisions. He was also exonerated this week.
The findings of investigator Nora Dannehy confirm that this fiasco was always a political dispute, not a criminal one. U.S. Attorneys serve at a President's discretion and can be removed for any reason. Mr. Gonzales and his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, who carried out an internal review of prosecutors, didn't help their cause with confusing answers and political false steps. But the Dannehy investigation's final word is that no Administration official gave "false statements" to Congress or to the DOJ Inspector General, which carried out their own investigations.
The removal of the U.S. Attorney in New Mexico, David Iglesias, sucked up a lot of the political oxygen at the time and received a close look from Ms. Dannehy.
</div></div>
http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB1000142405274870346730457538319273889 3092.html
The lie has been repeated enough already that it trumps these facts so it will be interesting to hear it repeated again and again in the future.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">If a Washington "scandal" ends long after it can be milked for political gain, and it turns out there was nothing to it, does anyone notice? Consider the whimpering end to the once ferocious controversy over the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys, which brought down former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
The Justice Department informed Congress on Wednesday that a special investigator in the case found no evidence of wrongdoing. The Washington Post ran a wire story about the report on page five.
After their dismissals in 2006, Democrats pounced on the Bush Administration for "politicizing justice," and Mr. Gonzales became their favorite piņata. Democrats alleged that Karl Rove, then the deputy White House chief of staff, meddled in those decisions. He was also exonerated this week.
The findings of investigator Nora Dannehy confirm that this fiasco was always a political dispute, not a criminal one. U.S. Attorneys serve at a President's discretion and can be removed for any reason. Mr. Gonzales and his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, who carried out an internal review of prosecutors, didn't help their cause with confusing answers and political false steps. But the Dannehy investigation's final word is that no Administration official gave "false statements" to Congress or to the DOJ Inspector General, which carried out their own investigations.
The removal of the U.S. Attorney in New Mexico, David Iglesias, sucked up a lot of the political oxygen at the time and received a close look from Ms. Dannehy.
</div></div>
http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB1000142405274870346730457538319273889 3092.html
The lie has been repeated enough already that it trumps these facts so it will be interesting to hear it repeated again and again in the future.