Josh Marshall's crew has been covering the growing story about the unprecedented firing of several United States Attorneys by the Bush administration, so go there, or to any one of several DailyKos posts or diaries for background. Senator Feinstein says she knows of at least seven US Attorneys being forced out; TMP lists seven that it is aware of.
Given the scope of the forced resignations, everyone seems, reasonably, to be focusing either on the structural question, i.e., how it was allowed to happen (looks like Spector is taking responsibility for the change in the law), or questioning whether the USAs in San Diego and San Fransisco are being sacked to undermine their offices' on-going corruption investigations.
But what if 6 of the 7 are just smoke?
The one that caught my eye, but curiously seems to be getting lost in all the noise, is the forced resignation of Bud Cummins, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Hmm... Eastern Arkansas, that's Little Rock... why does that sound familiar? Do I know someone from there?
And who gets appointed to replace Cummins? J. Timothy Griffin, a marginally qualified (for the position of U.S. Attorney, that is) lawyer who has worked for nearly a decade doing opposition research for Republicans. As Josh asked asked early on:
Now, why would Karl Rove want his top oppo researcher being the U.S. Attorney in Arkansas for the next two years?
And isn't it convenient that everyone's attention has been redirected... to San Diego, San Fransisco, and Senator Specter. At this point, I don't put anything past Karl and the boys. Heck, assuming that the Bush administration sacked seven U.S. Attorneys to cover up their plan to go gunning for Hillary seems down-right tame. If I were really a conspiracy theorist, I'd be wondering if they are gunning for Huckabee.