Let's cut right to the meat here--the document dump by the DOJ concerning the US Attorney scandal is pure gold.
I picked out a random PDF from the recent dump on the House Judiciary Committee website and reviewed the comments on TPM Muckracker to see what had been covered in the document I was reviewing. I only found a couple of references to one page--which I'll get to in a bit--but the other stuff I found in this one particular document is fascinating.
I'm referring to document section 1-9, release date 3-19-07--which contains talking points!
Seriously--follow me below the fold for more. Or, if you want to read it yourself, go to the link above and start on page 9.
TALKING POINTS: U.S. ATTORNEY NOMINATIONS AND INTERIM APPOINTMENTS BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
[snip]
U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president:
United States Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President. Thus, like other high-ranking executive branch officials, they may be removed for any reason or no reason. That on occasion in an organization as large as the Justice Department some United States Attorneys are removed, or are asked or encouraged to resign, should come as no surprise. United States Attorneys are never removed, or asked or encouraged to resign, in an effort to retaliate against them or inappropriately influence a particular investigation, criminal prosecution or civil case.
Well, see--they serve at the pleasure of the President. So, see, we can hire them and fire them when we want, for whatever reason we want, and you don't have a right to care! Well, not that we could ever do that of course. Heh heh. I mean, we wouldn't do in inappropriately. Of course, it all depends on how you define "appropriate." Heh heh. The fact that we seemed to fire all the USA's who were investigating Republicans or refused our demands to pursue partisan witchhunts against Democrats to help our election chances? Pure coincidence. Of course, you couldn't do anything about it even if we did, because they serve at the pleasure of the President!
Now, I have to tell you, I'm not going to sit down and type the whole thing out for you, because I don't have character recognition software that would do it for me! So instead, I'll give you an interesting synopsis of some of the finer points:
--A defense of the necessity of inserting the clause that expanded the AG's appointment power (after all, the fact that it was so necessary is why it had to be done so stealthily!)
--The talking points memo is followed by a "fact sheet" about the new nominees to the US Attorney positions. Included in the "fact sheet" is a statistic--I kid you not--about how Bush's nominees have more experience as prosecutors than Clinton's nominees! You can find that on page 18 of 50 of the document. Because we all know that this is really about the incompetence of the Clenis! (I mean, seriously--I'm looking forward to the day when some right-wing hack doesn't respond with "well, Clinton..."
Now, it seems clear that this section of the document dump is pure talking point defense--so it's no surprise what comes next! At page 21, there is a bio of Tom Griffin--who was appointed for the district of Eastern Arkansas the same day that Bud Cummins, the previous attorney, submitted the resignation that was "requested" of him. Now, Griffin is the only one mentioned in this section of the "talking points" document dump, and it's no surprise that they did--all you need to do is take a look at the TPM link just above to see just how bad this guy is.
They knew they were in trouble on him, so they had to create a talking point just for him.
Now, here's what I'd really like to know: First of all, who wrote the aforementioned talking points--and on top of that, to whom were they sent? Fox News, perhaps?
But the real kicker is the email on page 26. It's from Margaret Chiara, the ousted U.S. Attorney from Western Michigan, who was let go supposedly for "poor performance." Here's her email to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty about her firing:
Paul: I respectfully request that you reconsider the rationale of poor performance as the basis for my dismissal. It is in our mutal interest to retract this erroneous explanation while there is still time. Please simply state that a presidentially appointed position is not an entitlement. No other explanation is needed.
As you know, I have assiduously avoided public comment by pursuing an informal version of the "witness protection program" in order to elude reporters! However, the legal community in Grand Rapids and organizations throughout Michigan are outraged that I am being labeled as a "poor performer." Politics may not be a pleasnt reason, but the truth is compelling...
But they'd never fire anyone for political reasons. Of course not.
Read the docs for yourself. Have a blast. I am.
[also on my blog and MLW]