Some Republicans have now been using the talking point that it's no big deal that Bush fired the eight prosecutors at the Justice Department -- because Bill Clinton fired 93 prosecutors when he came into office. This point is completely disingenuous. And the people making it are smart enough to know that it is.
For policy reasons every president replaces all of the prosecutors at the Justice Department in the beginning of their term. George H. W. Bush did, Bill Clinton did and so did George W. Bush. And when George Bush did this in 2001 it was not a scandal or a problem. It was completely normal.
This case is different because he fired the prosecutors for political rather than policy reasons. He was punishing some of them for going after Republican legislators and not going after Democrats before the elections, right or wrong. While this might be legal because the prosecutors serve at the discretion of the president, is it really what you want your president to do?
If Hillary Clinton wins, do you want her firing any prosecutor who goes after corrupt Democrats in the middle of her term? Or coercing her Justice Department to pursue cases against Republicans, whether it's justified or not?
This is a terrible precedent of allowing politics to corrupt the Justice Department. That's why so many Republicans as well as Democrats are furious. Remember almost all of the prosecutors fired were Republicans and originally appointed by the Bush administration. But they had principles and believed in doing their job rather than being hatchet man for Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales.
In a perverse kind of way, it actually gives me faith that we haven't lost all the Republicans in the country. There are still some that have not been tainted by this administration and that still have strong principles left. Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales are certainly not among them.
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A Dishonest Republican Talking Point on the Prosecutor Scandal
Posted Mar 15th 2007 3:27PM by Cenk Uygur
Filed under: Scandal, George Bush, Young Turks, Republicans, GOP, Hillary Clinton, U.S. Attorneys
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Reader Comments ( Page 4 of 5)
46. By the way, how is Ted Kennedy ? This porker should be booted and convicted of a crime that occured many years ago. I guess you can just chalk that up to having money and political leverage.
Dennis at 1:01PM on Mar 17th 2007
47. This is exactly the kind of BS I come to expect from this administration. The Prosecutors that Bush fired were fired because this administration is in an ongoing and contant CYA or damage control mode. Ironically Bush is the captain of a sinking ship and throwing the loose cannons off will not save him.
Carl Rody at 1:44PM on Mar 17th 2007
48. Again, it becomes a issue with the left leaning liberal press..it was OK for Clinton..but not for Bush..the press pushes and pushes these issue..separating us more and more...creating a biger and biger divide...and more and more stories. It all started back at "watergate Days"..after that schools of Journalism( at all Universities) were packed..when they graduated they all started to look for (or create) a new Watergate case...and look for there fame and hopefully fortunte...This is the same reason why we have nobody worth while seeking public office anymore...The B>S> press corp has to stop, before theydestroy this country complely.
Ed Pollocki at 2:25PM on Mar 17th 2007
49. The US attorney for Michigan said she was not pressured to go after anyone, but she doesn't know why they wanted her to resign and she doesn't want to testify to Congress. But that story was only on the local news here. You won't hear any of the big networks carry that story.
chucko615 at 4:48PM on Mar 17th 2007
50. Absolute crap.
Merlin Watts at 9:14PM on Mar 17th 2007
51. Obviously Cenk is a devotee of Soros' Moron.org as his quaint and all to common practice of leftists is to ignore the truth.
What Moron. org Cenk blightly calls the normal practice of firing all 93 Attorneys, by Perjurer clinton, is IN FACT, UNPRECEDENT.
No President, before or after Perjurer clinton, has ever fired all the Federal Attorneys. However, Perjurer clinton was trying to hide the fact that he was firing the Attorney responsible for persuing the CRIMINAL activities of the Perjurer's cuckhold wife, and replacing that Attorney with his former law professor and subsequent lap dog.
The unseemly aspect of the current witch hunt is that this administration is frantically trying to "correct" something that is already RIGHT, instead of taking on the leftist media and telling them that the President has the right to fire appointees at anytime in his Presidency and for any cause, or no cause at all. They serve at his pleasure.
Bob Guijarro at 11:27PM on Mar 18th 2007
52. It's more about these attorneys are being fired and replaced by attorney that will not have Senate Confirmation because the the cute little trick Gonzales and Co pulled with the Patriot Act.
lynne at 6:30PM on Mar 17th 2007
53. For policy reasons every president replaces all of the prosecutors at the Justice Department in the beginning of their term. George H. W. Bush did, Bill Clinton did and so did George W. Bush. And when George Bush did this in 2001 it was not a scandal or a problem. It was completely normal.
So, the question is; WHY is he doing it now!!!!!!!!!
Andrew at 1:37AM on Mar 18th 2007
54. some heve forgotten the u.s. attys. serve at the pleasure of the president. no explanations are required for their dissmissal.
lee brown at 8:23AM on Mar 18th 2007
55. I don't know about why eight of the attorneys were
fired, but Mckay from Washington State refused to
investigate widespread voter fraud which all the citizens were watching on TV in horror. Because he refused to investigate this corruption, he dis-enfranchised many voters who lost faith in our Democracy. McKay deserved to be fired if he refused to investigate and follow up on corruption charges
in the last Governor's election. The corruption was and is real. We all saw it on TV news from ballot tampering, more votes than voters, mysterious bundles appearing, uncontrolled provisional votes
being counted, Democrats soliciting felons voters registrations and obstructing investigations, illegals voting, etc ad infinitum. I was disgusted.
But this chaos does work to get more Democrats elected. It is no wonder that the Democrats block every move to reforming voter integrity. Yes, McKay should have been fired. 150 years ago, they would
have taken him out back and shot him.
Harry at 11:03PM on Mar 18th 2007
56. I think it's crime the way Democrats are wasting our good tax dollars and valuable time on petty stuff to make President Bush and our country look bad. If they concentrated half as much time on real issues ...like terrorism, our border security, poverty, education etc..What a much more wonderful country we could have. Shame on them all! People in glass houses should never throw stones. They are all a bunch of hypocrites. God Bless America and the brave and honest people that really care about our great country. You can rewrite history all you want to..you can lie and cheat and reinventent yourselves but a real Patriot can always recognize another true Patriot.
pfa at 5:45PM on Mar 18th 2007
57. The corruptness of this adminstration makes Nixons thugs look like ameteurs.
From Duke Cunningham to Bob Ney. From Mark Foley to Jack Abramhoff. From Scooter Libby to Weapons of Mass Destruction this administration has shown total lack of respect for our laws. They are, at the very least, incompetent.
My Republican friends have fallen into a rut. When confronted with the shortcomings/lies of this administration they immediately start their sentences with "Well,,,Bill Clinton did.....so and so.
Many people forget that Bill was "investigated" for hundreds of things. We gave Ken Starr over $100 million of our money and unparrelleled freedome to go on his witch hunt. What did he find? He found the same thing Scooter was guilty of, lying to a grand jury. That's it.
Most Federal Prosecuters get the ax when a new President takes office.
This most recent debacle with Mr. Gonzales was purely political. Mr. Gonzales is now throwing Harriet Meyers to the wolves.
Step back and just think for a second. This President wanted Harriet Meyers as a Supreme Court Justice and when that fell through he was thinking seriously of Mr. Gonzales.
Can this guy make bright decisions or what?
D B Correct at 5:45PM on Mar 18th 2007
58. The reason the republicans are taking heat for firing those 8 US Attorneys is not that they fired them, but that they LIED about why they were fired. Now, when Bill Clinton lied about his ill-advised affair, he was impeached for his lie; not for his indiscretion. This is just one more lie on top of many others - beginning at least with the reason for going to war in Iraq. People are fed up. As many others have said, at least when Clinton lied, no one died. Think about that. The Write your Senators and Representatives in Washington and Demand that Bush & Cheney be impeached & removed from office.
GaryWriter at 11:20PM on Mar 18th 2007
59. Who cares? Republican or Democrat! All Poleticians are equal in good and bad political matters. This sounds like another attorney money maker to me and nothing more! Like the Polybutilane Piping and many other issue argued in both Washington and with in the court systems as a whole it's all about Money! Money for the Attorneys handling the cases as they truly are the only ones to benefit, win or loose! Money Is Poletics when it comes to such issues!As Dan Akroid said in Nothing But Trouble "never trust an Attorney, a Banker or a Realestate Broker"! There all crooks!
Ricky at 12:14AM on Mar 19th 2007
60. Karl Rove is still in the White House,because Sandy Burglar(Berger)is still running around free!!!
Chaz at 12:42AM on Mar 19th 2007