Nice work, Tim. Thanks for burning the midnight oil to bring to (early) light these bits of gold you've found in the garbage heap.

What concerns me most about this increasing flow of information about the firings of the US Attorneys is the 800 pound gorilla in the room: were these people fired because they were either a) not being aggressive enough in pursuing Republican political agendas (Sen. Domenici's abusive and perhaps illegal pressuring of David Iglesias); or b) that they were getting uncomfortably close to exposing a ring of corruption that would shed even more ominous light on important Republican operatives (i.e., the Randall "Duke" Cunningham conviction).

Like the unfolding of the Watergate scandal, with each passing day new revelations lend weight and heft to the sense that some terrible wrong has occurred and is being hurriedly and clumsily swept under the rug. Let it see the light of day, for all of our sakes.

Keeping pressure on this swirl of events remains crucial not only because the Republican spin machine works relentlessly to cast aspersions on any questioning of this Administration's misdeeds (of which there are legion), but also because this all-out assault on the Constitution requires eternal vigilance.

Bush's end of term exit in January 2009 is no longer enough for me. If pursuing criminal charges against the most powerful and influential members of this Administration does not commence soon (please don't pull punches Senator Leahy and Representative Waxman) we all face the fate of Rome after Mark Antony and Octavius covered up Caesar's shameless grab for political and personal immortality: the slow strangulation of republican government.

I just wonder if this whole thing didn't start with Rove-not Bush. After all, he's the only person in the White House who decides anything. Bush just obeys him.

Either that, or Cheney did this; anyway you look at it, it stinks to high heaven.

Keep up the pressure and the reporting-I've read now that the Senate is poised to revoke the infamous inclusion paragraph of the Patriot Act that allowed this to happen.

The whole facade is crumbling quickly. I love it!

remind you of that Nazi in Raiders of the Lost Arc? You know that Gestapo creep who, by grabbing the artifact, burned the image of the medallion into his hand? I wonder if that was his dad...

Why is it that such an evil person like Rove be held in such high esteem to the general public? Politics is "dirty" but so are rape, larceny, and murder. This man has ruined the lives of so many humans and yet he is rarely vilified by the press. Even labeling him the "Master of Dirty Politics" sheds a positive vent to his vile deeds. Scoundrel is closer to the truth, a value, which by the way, has never been in the same room with him.

If you connect the dots in this case, some frightening implications emerge - implications which to this point have not been brought up in the mainstream media.

The language allowing the DOJ to appoint US attorneys for indefinite periods without Senate approval was inserted into the Patriot Act on December 14, 2006.

Emails show that members of the DOJ and White House staff were discussing the replacement of US attorneys in early 2005, and possibly 2004.

The implication is clear that the modification of the Patriot Act renewal - a modification which usurped the authority of the legislative branch - was part of a long-standing plan by the executive branch. The language was inserted apparently without the knowledge of any Senator, and was accomplished by Brett Tolman, a conservative political operative who was made a staff member by Senator Arlen Specter to help appease right-wing politicos who were angry at Specter's "moderate" image. Tolman had prior connections to the DOJ, and was later made a US attorney himself.

This has every appearance of being a deliberate conspiracy by the executive branch to subvert the authority of the legislative branch and therefore the Constitution itself. If Bush himself was aware of this action (as is now clearly implied by newly-revealed emails), it is a violation of his oath of office.

If ever a case called for the appointment of a special prosecutor, this is it.

More information:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/usa-timeline.php

... no crime has been committed. US attorneys are political appointees and serve at the pleasure of the president.

So what if the firings were boneheaded? You people are, as usual, salivating over nothing.

I guess that's the gold standard for this administration (and anyway it remains to be sen whether or not that is even a true statement, my guess is not). These trolls are really pathetic. They got nothing left. Nothing. Pelosi 07!

Amazing how Republican trolls seem to think that no one will ever dare call them on their BS.

The USA scandal includes at least four possible crimes:

1. Lying to Congress

2. Obstruction of justice (Domenici and Wilson's pre-election calls to Iglesias about prosecuting Democratic candidates)

3. Witness tampering (threats to the fired USAs to prevent them from testifying before Congress)

4. Attempting to "corruptly obstruct, influence, or impede an official proceeding".

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/opinion/19mon4.html

I suspect that there may also be grounds for civil action against the DOJ and White House staff for defamation of character, since the recent emails and released job reviews make it clear that despite the official claims of poor job performance, most if not all of the fired USAs were actually doing an excellent job.

Sleazy, sleazy Republicans. If Bill Clinton had done something one TENTH as sleazy as this, people like Bob the Tomato would have been shrieking for their impeachment and public execution. And the funny thing is that in this case, the fired attorneys were all REPUBLICANS, appointed by George W. Bush himself! No honor among thieves, I guess.

Now, I suppose you'll try that "But Clinton fired all the USAs when he took office." I'll save you the effort by noting that replacing all US attorneys is standard practice when a President takes office. Reagan, Bush the 1st, Clinton, and your own so-precious Bush the #2 did it as well. The difference is that this mid-term firing, combined with a deliberate undermining of the Senate's authority to approve USA appointments, amounts to a direct attempt to subvert the American system of justice by the Republican party for political advantage - a crime that should outrage any real American.

But of course, right-wingers like Bob the Tomato have amply demonstrated that they're not real Americans at all. They'll happily sacrifice our troops on the altar of their own personal political fortunes, or rather those of their party. A party which, ironically, is itself happy to screw over those of their idiotic supporters who don't happen to be among the richest 1% of the population, who are the Republicans true constituency.