Fired US attorneys explained quite simply

[TOVisitor]

I think this issue deserves its own thread.

And I will explain the issue quite simply to the uninformed or the willfully stupid among us.

It's perfectly normal to replace political appointees, including US Attorneys, with your own people when you come into office.

What's not okay is to fire US Attorneys because they are investigating members of your own party, or because they aren't investigating enough people of the other party.

In other words, you cannot and should not fire them to obstruct or distort justice, especially with regard to public corruption cases.

The sh*t will start hitting the fan this week when Congress continues its hearings.

 

[TOVisitor]

A little trip in the Wayback machine to help our ethically-challenged Rethuglicans:

Washington Times, March 26, 1993

Senate and House Republicans yesterday blasted the White House and the Justice Department for giving pink slips to virtually all 93 U.S. attorneys, a move Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole called the "March massacre" . . . .

"Nearly 20 years ago, when Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox and Attorney General Eliot Richardson were fired from their posts, the press railed about the so-called 'Saturday-night massacre,' " said Mr. Dole.

Texas Rep. Dick Armey, chairman of the House Republican Conference, and about a dozen freshmen colleagues accused Attorney General Janet Reno of bowing to White House political pressure.

"During her confirmation, Miss Reno assured senators that she would 'keep politics out of what I do,' " Mr. Armey said.

"Less than a month later, she fired all the U.S. attorneys in a very political fashion . . . one that reeks of politics, undermining the public's confidence in the Department of Justice."

 

[jayman]

I think we have greater problems of a more domestic variety to concern ourselves with - the price of gas, declining population, crime, taxes, etc.

I empathize with the US concerns over justice and we can learn lot from from their growing pains but at the end of the day it's my backyard that I worry about.

Jayman