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03-13-2007, 11:31 AM
|  | Mom of the Four Men | | Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Canada, sort of
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
Wrong link - that's to an older story. BRB. |
03-14-2007, 11:05 AM
|  | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: in the palm of your hand
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
Quote: realtraveller said
 When the U. S. attorney was fired in San Diego... | That would be Carol Lam.
Oh my, what a small world. Jack Abramhoff, the gift that keeps on giving
How long until Gonzales is made to fall on his sword in a (very possibly doomed) attempt to limit the damage?
Last edited by erik_kosberg; 03-14-2007 at 11:55 AM.
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03-14-2007, 11:55 AM
|  | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Northeast Malibu
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
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03-14-2007, 11:59 AM
| | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: in the palm of your hand
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
Heh. If that is the best that the right can come up with, there's BIG trouble coming down the pike for them.
Last edited by erik_kosberg; 03-14-2007 at 01:05 PM.
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03-14-2007, 02:24 PM
| | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: in the palm of your hand
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
Uh oh. More cracks emerging: "Bush Upset Over Flawed Attorney Firings"
Maybe we need to start a Throw Alberto Under The Bus betting pool. |
03-14-2007, 03:02 PM
|  | Usagi Yojimbo | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: The Birthplace of American Democracy
Posts: 16,714
| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
You know, terrorists kill people. So, like, that's even worse. |
03-14-2007, 04:41 PM
| | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: in the palm of your hand
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
According to Bush, it's a simple case of confusion. Alright then, I guess we can just move on and put this sordid mess behind us. |
03-14-2007, 06:05 PM
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
Quote: |
Maybe we need to start a Throw Alberto Under The Bus betting pool.
| And another for the date on which they'll circle the wagons and start hiding behind the phrase executive privilege. |
03-15-2007, 11:24 AM
| | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: in the palm of your hand
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
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03-15-2007, 12:07 PM
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
Quote: realtraveller said
| The WSJ piece is flat-out wrong. Surprise, surprise. Quote: |
I realize it’s reflexive to respond to every possible Bush-related controversy with either “Clinton” and/or “9/11,” but can conservatives please come up with something half-way legitimate?
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03-15-2007, 12:54 PM
| | Usagi Yojimbo | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: The Birthplace of American Democracy
Posts: 16,714
| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
Actually, I found this quote from your link, Erik, to be news to me, and interesting: Quote: |
The WSJ’s editorial board (and the activists who parrot the editorial the Journal published) actually have it backwards — this isn’t an example of Clinton politicizing a U.S. Attorney’s office, this is actually an example of H.W. Bush pressuring a prosecutor to file politically-motivated charges.
| The probe of the Clintons did happen, and it was closed after concluding that there was no evidence of wrongdoing. And it appears that the motivation for the probe came prior to the election, and was politically motivated.
The more things change... |
03-15-2007, 02:14 PM
| | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: in the palm of your hand
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
My, my, my. Somewhat tangential, but this might be an even bigger problem for Gonzales and Bush. Quote:
Both the White House and Gonzales declined comment on two issues -- whether Gonzales informed Bush that his own conduct was about to be scrutinized, and whether he urged the president to close down the investigation, which had been requested by Democratic members of Congress.
Current and former Justice Department officials, as well as experts in legal ethics, question the propriety of Gonzales's continuing to advise Bush about the investigation after learning that it might examine his own actions. The attorney general, they say, was remiss if he did not disclose that information to the president. But if Gonzales did inform Bush about the possibility and the president responded by stymieing the probe, that would raise even more-serious questions as to whether Bush acted to protect Gonzales, they said.
| "When one talks about obstructing justice, isn’t this a rather literal example?"
Last edited by erik_kosberg; 03-15-2007 at 03:30 PM.
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03-15-2007, 03:27 PM
| | Usagi Yojimbo | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: The Birthplace of American Democracy
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
That's OK, we didn't need an attorney general anyway. We just needed Bush's personal lawyer promoted. |
03-15-2007, 06:24 PM
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
"We've only had subpoena power for the last six weeks and every tree that we've barked up so far has had a cat in it."
Here, kitty, kitty... The next shoe drops. Quote:
New unreleased e-mails from top administration officials show the idea of firing all 93 U.S. attorneys was raised by White House adviser Karl Rove in early January 2005, indicating Rove was more involved in the plan than previously acknowledged by the White House.
The e-mails also show Attorney General Alberto Gonzales discussed the idea of firing the attorneys en masse while he was still White House counsel — weeks before he was confirmed as attorney general.
The e-mails directly contradict White House assertions that the notion originated with recently departed White House counsel Harriet Miers and was her idea alone.
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Last edited by erik_kosberg; 03-15-2007 at 06:29 PM.
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03-15-2007, 08:25 PM
|  | Junior Member | | Join Date: Jul 2000
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
Quote: |
The e-mails directly contradict White House assertions that the notion originated with recently departed White House counsel Harriet Miers and was her idea alone.
| They're so skeevy. Always trying to find someone to blame. |
03-15-2007, 11:23 PM
| | Usagi Yojimbo | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: The Birthplace of American Democracy
Posts: 16,714
| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
Wow... all 93 for performance issues. That was the first story, right?
I think it's almost impossible, even for us Bushwatchers, to remember all the versions of a story the administration goes through over a week or so just with one issue. |
03-16-2007, 10:42 AM
| | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: in the palm of your hand
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
Quote: erik_kosberg said
And another for the date on which they'll circle the wagons and start hiding behind the phrase executive privilege. | We have a winner. Quote: |
Bush counselor Dan Bartlett said Tuesday that the White House might claim executive privilege and deny the request.
| US Attorney Purge timeline
Last edited by erik_kosberg; 03-16-2007 at 10:54 AM.
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03-16-2007, 11:38 AM
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
White House Press Briefing Quote:
Q The President said, “I’ve heard those allegations about political decision-making; it’s just not true.” How can he say that when he hasn’t seen all the emails, emails continue to come out, and of those that have already come out, some of them clearly seem to show that at some level, at least, there was political decision-making?
MR. SNOW: I’m not — how would you define “political decision-making”?
Q Well, decision-making that involves politics.
Q How would you define it, Tony?
MR. SNOW: Well, it’s a loaded term. I mean, I think what the President — what the President is saying is that there is no — that in evaluating U.S. attorneys, this is based on performance. And the important thing to do — and furthermore, the Department of Justice made recommendations that the President has accepted. Also keep in mind, the President has the authority to remove people and put other folks in the job. That is at his discretion. That’s presidential power.
Q But is he saying that he was so in the loop, then, that he definitely knew there was nothing political, or was he, in fact, removed, as you indicated this morning?
MR. SNOW: No, I think — again, what the President has — the Department of Justice has made recommendations, they’ve been approved. And it’s pretty clear that these things are based on performance and not on sort of attempts to do political retaliation, if you will.
| Well, the betting for the executive privilege pool is closed, but if you want to pick a date for when Gonzales has the door bang into his butt on the way out, you might want to choose sooner rather than later. |
03-16-2007, 02:09 PM
| | Usagi Yojimbo | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: The Birthplace of American Democracy
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
I before April, I'd say. But I'm not good at these things. |
03-16-2007, 02:15 PM
| | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: in the palm of your hand
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| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
A Friday is too obvious; I'll go with a Wednesday. Next Wednesday is the 21st, but they'll probably still be busy running the shredders and deleting emails at that point, so I'll go with March 28th.
That said, Andrew Sullivan raises an interesting point.
Last edited by erik_kosberg; 03-16-2007 at 02:20 PM.
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03-16-2007, 03:39 PM
| | Usagi Yojimbo | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: The Birthplace of American Democracy
Posts: 16,714
| | Re The U.S. Attorneys Purge | |
And you think they're concerned about obvious... why?  | |
When Poe ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
