Scooter & Gonzo - Fall Guys For A Corrupt Presidency

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http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/6140

Scooter & Gonzo - Fall Guys For A Corrupt Presidency
by Scott Shuster | Mar 16 2007


In all the years I've been following politics it seems the White House has been enveloped in scandal. It doesn't really matter who's living there at the time - there's scandal. And, it appears that there's so much more scandal in each president's second term. That is, if he was lucky enough to be awarded (able to steal) a second term.

In Nixon's second term we were subjected to Watergate. In Reagan's second term we were subjected to Iran-Contra. In the late 1990's we were subjected to a steady diet of Monica & Whitewater. (Yes, the Republican-controlled Congress made it their mission to attack Clinton in every way possible, until they finally nailed him for lying about a blow-job.)

The Bush Administration's second term is no exception when it comes to scandals. In fact, the Bush Administration is nothing but scandal, because they're completely and utterly corrupt. These latest two scandals, the CIA Leak and the US attorney dismissals, are a clear indication of how the neo-cons at the top manipulated and cajoled to hold on to power and attack their enemies. Their political enemies, that is. I'm not talking about terrorists... I'm talking about Democrats.

The US Attorney Dismissals

As I write this Alberto Gonzales is still the Attorney General of the United States. However, the US attorney firings scandal is unfolding and it's likely that he will not survive the Bush tenure. Even Republicans are starting to call for his resignation.

The right-wingers are espousing the argument that previous administrations (Clinton) fired all of the US attorneys when THEY were elected. Sure, the US attorneys, along with everyone else in the administration, serve "... at the pleasure of the president". It is true that Clinton, and every other president, made sweeping changes in the Justice Department when they took office. That's their prerogative because, as they say, "to the victor go the spoils". The difference is that Clinton replaced the US attorneys through the appropriate mechanisms. Each nominated attorney went through a vetting and approval process to satisfy Congressional oversight. Each nominated attorney was qualified. And none of the attorneys in Clinton's tenure were fired for not being political attack dogs on Republican operatives. Bush/Rove/Gonzales, on the other hand, are now firing US attorneys that THEY hired in the first place, specifically because they didn't kowtow to Republican demands to attack Democrats. And they're appointing new attorneys without going through the formal approval process, by exploiting a loophole in the USA Patriot Act. Yes, the Bushies are real big on recess appointments - they hate to be subjected to Congressional scrutiny.

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