The North Carolina Bar Disciplinary Committee ruled on Dist. Atty Nifong today, and, of course, disbarred him. Why? Part of their rationale was that the justice system must be trusted to be honest. When the charges were announced, he was in the middle of an election, and he sensationalized the case to give him a political advantage. The whole country understands that this is wrong. If they don't understand the DOJ controversy as well, maybe we're not explaining it as well as we could.
Many people understand the Nifong case on a gut level, but not the Gonzales/Rove/Bush DOJ case, even though they have similar elements.
The bar committee in the Nifong case said it was a distortion of the justice system to use a prosecution to further a political career. The system goes off-track, and that is an abuse of power which much be punished.
How many times worse is what is happening in the federal justice system? Immigration judges hired based on political party. Civil rights section attorneys pushed out if they are Democrats, to be replaced by Christian white men. A plan sent down from the top political levels, to use the Justice Department along with 18 or 19 other agencies, the power of criminal justice and the full executive branch, on behalf of a political party.
When your wingnut friends ask you, why can't we use the government for political purposes, isn't that why we were elected.... point to Nifong. I promise you, they wanted him disbarred. They just don't understand the principles, and that's where you come in.