There is news out this afternoon in the form of an internal report from the Inspector General of the Justice Department that could be particularly politically potent heading into the fall election season.
The Inspector General reviewed the personnel processes in the Department of Justice under Alberto Gonzales and found that politics was inappropriately injected into the process time and again, such as in the infamous dismissals of the nine U.S. Attorneys who were replaced by Rove and Bush minions.
That is not exactly breaking news here at this Web site, but it does hold some wider potential, IMO.
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The story hasn't necessarily changed, but with today's release of the report, the facts are more firmly established from an independent voice -- a voice that is saying that the sacred traditional obligations to keep the law free of the forces of politics were blatantly violated by this administration.
The misdeeds of this administration have often been clouded in obfuscation to the average American, thanks to the magic tricks of Karl Rove and the willing accomplices at Fox News. They have shaded coverage and steered national conversation to "giving both sides their say," so that what ought to be clearly obvious as wrong (war policy) or corrupt (Valerie Plame affair) or incompetent (Katrina response) can begin to be excused away, if the listener or reader chooses to remain gullible enough to be sucked into these excuses and head fakes.
But not today.
This report draws clear connections that even a "low information" voter can understand and appreciate. This is just a plain, old-fashioned bald-faced scandal: The President of the United States appointed his close friend and personal attorney as the Attorney General. That Attorney General put in place operatives, such as the very green Monica Goodling, who had no other qualifications for their jobs than political loyalty to the president. Then, rather than ensure the fair and unbiased application of the administration of law in our country, they chose to ravage the system in ways that had never before been seen for their own political gain.
It's an easy-to-understand, straight-line arrangement that runs right from the president to an obvious scandal. While it is not "new news," it comes right at a time when it can be a fresh dose of reminder of just what we have been subjected to as a nation the last eight years. And, finally, in this case, it is coming from people who are currently working within this administration, so you can't shoot the messenger this time.
I don't know if this will get the traction it should in the short-attention span world we live in these days, but I think there's potential there for this report to be a very effective political weapon.