It seems that Ms Lam had a bit of an ethics problem, in that she wouldn't put party loyalty above the law. She also actually got convictions. In those respects, she may have been a bit to good at her job.

See, it was job performance after all. Man, am I relieved!

is there any chance at all that THIS is the scandal that will finally prompt impeachment hearings? Surely, with the White House directly involved, this is the perfect chisel to start prying loose the facts needed to impeach.

I'm beginning to think that if both Bush and Cheney were found to be serial child-molesters, Congress would STILL do nothing. What do you have to do in this country to get busted? If you're Bush and Cheney, I'm having trouble figuring out what that something might be...

Of course Carol Lam was sacked because of the Cunningham investigation. More to the point, all the remaining attorneys now know what the price of "success" in prosecuting Republicans is. The DoJ isn't even hiding it: their very accusation is that she didn't put her priorities where they wanted them! It's just an indirect way of saying the exact same thing. They don't want to hide what they're doing, because part of what they're doing is sending a message - intimidation.

... until another truth-challenged Republican tells us there's no crime here.

You know -- just like with all the other crimes of the Republicans?

Confidential to Republicans: extra points if you can make up a lie that doesn't involve Clinton or the routine purges that take place at the beginning of a new administration's term (as opposed to these uniquely corrupt, selective mid-term firings).

Lehrer's show covered the story tonight. He had an ex-Bush Justice Dept. hack on against some ambivalent and equivocating 'liberal'. The Bush hack claimed the purge was nothing unusual and compared it to Clinton's replacement of attorneys at the start of his term, something that *is* standard procedure. Lehrer's "reporter" ( Margaret Warner ? ) didn't challenge that obvious distortion, and the whole piece only muddied the issue.

Jim Lehrer's news hour: a pseudo-intellectual version of standard MSM deception, with a quieter tone.

Don't give to public television; it's already owned by the likes of Archer Daniel Midland and other huge corporations.

If the firings were indeed business as usual, then why are Al and George taking the issue so seriously? When Al says "mistakes were made," that seems to indicate he doesn't event think it was business as usual. Why do the trolls keep insisting otherwise? Actually, I'm still confused as to exactly what mistakes Al is referring to. Was firing the mistake? Was putting forth incorrect reasons for the firing the mistake? Was getting caught in a lie the mistake?

Great post. Just don't expect the Bush supporters to be falling all over themselves to answer any of your questions.

This "scandal" gets more troubling to me every day. The firing of Carol Lam in particular makes me very worried. If Lam was indeed fired because she was investigating corruption charges against Republican lawmakers (and I do remember reading about the Cunningham case), then it seems to me that the administration was directly interfering with a federal investigation. No matter what happens Congress definately needs to send a message that directing the course of federal investigations, either through direct orders or intimidation from the White House will not be tolerated. Our US Attorneys need to have the ability to chase down corruption where ever they find it

The fact that a Republican appointed prosecutor would get a corruption conviction against a Republican politician should say something about how seriously that party treats the betrayl of the public trust - but instead the message we are getting is that she was actually acting against her parties desires! How messed up is that?

Over the past six years can someone give me one instance where something these bozos did did not turn-out to be a scandal? One? Heavens. The pure preponderance of currupt incompetence sends a mind reeling. How can any thinking person from the congressional GOP,or thier brain-washed base, still support these nihilists?

Nahh, this isn't much of a scandal. Now the Clinton administration replacing it's travel planning staff, now that's a scandal worthy of an Independent Council!

I hear rumors that he's still at Justice, just not Gonzales Chief of Staff. That would be an interesting twist, were it true.

They've released a "confession" of a guy who's been in custody in a secret prison for five years, and been subject to various forms of torture (being held incommunicado is itself a form a torture). Predictable, he's confessed to various plots and bombings. Given more time, he will probably also confess to the Brinks robbery, sinking the Edmund Fitzgerald and to bombing Pearl Harbor.

And the Washington press corps is lapping it up. I didn't much about the U.S. Attorney scandal this morning on NPR.

Oh well, "joe" will be along any minute now to put this al in context by saying "Oh yeah? Well, Harry Truman was lousy at playing the piano!"

The "Confessions of Sheik Mohammad" about to be a runaway best seller. It had been sitting in a desk draw somewhere for the past two weeks to a month, was released yesterday by the Pentagon and Homeland Security.

Timing? Nah, it couldn't be that! Just because the sins of the Bush Administration are whizzing by faster than mile markers on an interstate, with a new scandal appearing ahead just as yesterday's scandal is fading in the rear view mirror, the White House would never pull this old document out of the file and wave it around like a bloody rag just to get Gonzales and Pace and Libby and the other scandals du jour off the headlines, would they?

Sheik Mo hit the WTC and the Pentagon,

Sheik Mo hit the USS Cole,

Sheik Mo hit the embassy in Mombassa,

Sheik Mo killed Danny Pearl.

Sheik Mo abducted the Lindburg baby

Sheik Mo sunk the Titanic

Sheik Mo caused Hurricane Katrina

Sheik Mo Robbed 178 7-11s in New Jersey in one day

Sheik Mo is the real father, of Anna Nicole's little girl

Sheik Mo porked Madonna (hasn't everybody?)

Sheik Mo skipped his body wax (obviously)

Sheik Mo has been water-boarded so many times, he has grown gills.

He has been singing so much lately, he's going on American Idol.

Prediction: If the Senate calls Rove to testify under oath, expect to see Sheik Mo on Oprah.