I have a question regarding this cat by the name of Fitzgerald

[Bethany Rockafella]

Now I know he's non partisan and apolitical and all but why is it that Republicans are the ones that picked him up and appointed him on various prosecuting jobs and continued to do so?

[FreedomAngel82]

1. That is a mystery

:shrug: He actually goes by the law so :shrug: .

[Bethany Rockafella]

3. Why did the republicans feel he would be on their side?

I'm feeling suspect.

[tocqueville]

2. Ashcroft knew his days were counted

and asked for redemption. Then he pulled some strings...

[cami715]

4. But it was Ashcroft's replacement who appointed Fitzgerald.

[shraby]

5. It wasn't Ashcroft's replacement, it was his deputy.

Gonzales was Ashcroft's replacement.

[cami715]

7. It was James Comey, right?

When Ashcroft recused himself from the investigation and then later resigned, did Comey head the investigation? And then when Comey left, didn't he appointed Fitzgerald to be the special prosecutor?

[shraby]

17. Comey appointed Fitz before he left, and

made it very difficult to take him off the case.

[tocqueville]

11. I joked, but I said he pulled some strings...

All judges know eachother

[roguevalley]

6. because they didn't do their homework. They picked a republican

and expected knee jerk obesience. Fool me once, uh, fool, um, fool me twice...

[Bunny]

8. Fitz is not a Republican.

He has no political affiliation.

[Catherine Vincent]

14. Fitz is a Democat!

I would have said Republicat but Democat sounds better!:)

[shraby]

18. Fitz is non-affiliated.

[Spurt]

9. I'm thinking...

...that this was one nomination that slipped by the party machine.
He was well known to and respected by the Dep AG who appointed him.
I wonder if he was just delivered without significant scrutiny by the powers that be.
(Otherwise known as a f*** up)

[goodboy]

10. Check this out:>>>>>

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=5159988

When the GOP attacks Fitzgerald, they provide aid and comfort to Al Qaeda!


Edited on Tue Oct-25-05 05:34 AM by goodboy

After all, Fitzgerald has indicted and successfully prosecuted more ACTUAL terrorists than Bush has.

Fitzgerald indicted BinLaden and 22 of his followers and he prosecuted terrorists in the 1993 bombings of the World Trade Center and the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa before taking his current job in 2001 — U.S. attorney in Chicago.

What do the Repukes have to say about Fitzgerald?

NY Daily News 10/24

WASHINGTON - As the White House and Republicans brace for possible indictments in the CIA leak probe, defenders have launched a not-so-subtle campaign against the prosecutor handling the case.

"He's a vile, detestable, moralistic person with no heart and no conscience who believes he's been tapped by God to do very important things," one White House ally said, referring to special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.

Well, I think it's pretty clear. The Republicans hate America.

On edit: The Bushies are SO UTTERLY INCOMPETENT, they can't even bring charges against the suspected 'terrorists' they do catch! They have to hold them as 'enemy combatants' then eventually they let them go!

[RazzleDazzle]

13. Why would you think they're incompetent?

Why wouldn't you by this time begin to suspect that while there may be some incompetence, some of what they do is quite purposeful, and they're happy to let it LOOK like incompetence?

Remember, Team Bush are the ones who worked hard to lower expectations so low that anything Bush did better than falling on his face was a "win" -- shows a pattern of deception in managing perceptions, don't you think? What could they get away with if their actions were chalked up to incompetence. Or red tape. Or lack of money. Or insfficient laws to fight terrorists. Or you name it.

[newyawker99]

19. Hi RazzleDazzle!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[tocqueville]

12. there are two explanations :

1) the system works despite the cabals
2) some very influent, behind the curtains, corporate/republican forces are tired of the charade and want to paralyze Bush as much as possible

[Demoiselle]

15. Career prosecutors at DOJ pressured Ashcroft......

...So went a story I read somewhere (probably here!) a while back. The career guys made it clear Ashcroft would face an insurrection unless he stepped back on the Plame matter. Comey was his (career-civil service...read "non-political" ) deputy and it was Comey who appointed Fitz. We've still got some straight arrow civil servants trying to do a decent job in Washington, I think.

[Princess Turandot]

16. He's a career US Attorney..

there are hundreds of 'assistant US attorneys' & 'US Attorney'. They are federal prosecutors and are thus 'appointed' by the Justice Department when hired, and when promoted to US Attorneys, who head up investigations for a region, they are 'appointed'by the President at the time since DOJ falls under his control. While I imagine that there is sometimes politizing that goes into the appointment of a full US attorney, the day in and day out work is not managed by politicos. I believe Fitzegerald started in the NY Southern District (mostly NYC) when Clinton was president. That doesn't mean that Clinton had anything to do with hiring him much less assigning him to any of his cases, such as the African embassy bombings. Leaving aside the Special Prosecutor gig, I don't think that his day to day work in Chicago is assigned to him by Republican operatives.

[AngryAmish]

20. He is screwing the Repub hard in Illinois

He has the former governor (George Ryan) on trial now. Illinois politics are so dirty Fitz really is a breath of fresh air. AND he was appointed by another disgruntaled Repub. (Home state similar party Senators get to pick the local US Attorneys. Former Sen. Fitzgerald picked him in a sampson moment when he got screwed by every politician in this state.)