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US Attorneys being fired?

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Buried in this San Diego Union-Tribune story about the US Attorney there being pushed out the door after prosecuting Duke Cunningham was this interesting little quote.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., criticized the Bush administration yesterday for â€œpushing out U.S. Attorneys from across the country under the cloak of secrecy.â€

â€œWe don’t know how many U.S. Attorneys have been asked to resign â€“ it could be two, it could be ten, it could be more. No one knows,â€ she said in a statement.

I’ve been saying for months it might be a possibility in a post-’06 environment, but could Fitzmas really ever come to an end? [Hat tip: TPM]

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 11:27 am

Comments

This administration will do just about anything, won’t it?

Comment by Squideshi Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 11:44 am
Fitz could quite concievably take down a lot of Illinios Democrats this year with National impact.

There are no Republicans in Illinois left to take down.

Plamegate’s a bust and Scooter Libby will come out fine.

Why would Bush ask him to leave? He can only cause havoc among Illinois Dems.

Comment by Bill Baar Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 11:56 am
One word, Bill: Daley.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 12:01 pm
Barr is right. Fitzgerald has to worry about a Democratic Congress working with Obama to keep fewer Chicagoans out of the news.

The Plame “scandal” was exposed as the fraud it is, so Bush has no reason to remove Fitzgerald.

Comment by VanillaMan Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 12:06 pm
Nevermind. Daley. One call to George. Buh-bye!
So, who would be the “bad guy” then?

Comment by VanillaMan Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 12:08 pm
Rich, I know what you mean.

People think I have a tin foil hat on with Alsammarae but I think he’s another guy potentially on the make where there is a bi partisan interest to see him go away.

It’s a catastrophe for the publics interest when things line up that way. Fitz is the only hope.

Comment by Bill Baar Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 12:20 pm
Bill Baar has once again demonstrated he cares less about justice and more about partisan politics. The Plame-Libby case was/is a fiasco and Fitz deserves to be admonished for it.

Comment by thomas paine Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 12:26 pm
Here is how they do it….

http://www.abledangerblog.com/2006/11/how-patrick-fitzgerald-failed-to-stop.html

Comment by Anon Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 12:52 pm
No more republicans? Jim Edgar, Bill Cellinie, Bob Kjellander….oops, I forgot, the last two were not Republicans, merely Equal Opportunists.

Comment by Truthful James Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 12:53 pm
Scroll through Illinoiz or my blog and see if you find me singing Fitz’s praises over his handling of Plamegate.

The injustice of it was guys like Rove and Libby couldn’t plead the 5th like a normal person. As public officials the politics of it forced them to talk to the Grand Jury.

Libby and Rove’s lawyers took distinctly different strategies given that reality. Libby stonewalled while Rove repeatedly sought chances to go back to the Grand Jury to clarify and repeat answers.

Most Lawyers will tell you Rove’s strategy was the bad one; since you’re before the Jury alone, without counsel, and bound to get tangled up.

But in truth in backfired on Libby. That and Libby talked way too much with Judith Miller.

It was a fiasco and I’m disappointed with Fitz over it, but on the other hand he exhaustively went over a case everyone was crying conspiracy over…

…now, I sure want him talking to Mr. Alsammare when he comes back home about contracts, and Tony Rezko, and all sorts of stuff….. like did anyone from Illinois recommend Alsammarae for work in Iraq? Lots to find out here.

So I hope no one from Illinois is making phone calls to the White House about him.

Comment by Bill Baar Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 12:57 pm
Two points:

(1) Democrats want us to inspect every crate and container that enters the country from now on….but they have a problem with the firing of a US Attorney who thinks that smuggling on the Southern Border is not a high priority? Lam “has been criticized by members of the Border Patrol agents union and by members of Congress, including Vista Republican Darrell Issa, who accused her office of ‘an appalling record of refusal to prosecute even the worst criminal alien offenders.’”

Sounds to me like there was a pretty good reason to get rid of her.

(2) Does anyone else think Feinstein is going a little over the edge here. ONE attorney is asked to step down for admittely ignorning a major issue in her jurisdiction, and she’s making hysterical accusations about unknown numbers of secret firings?

Comment by grand old partisan Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 1:21 pm
The may want to take a closer look at US Marshalls.

Comment by Bill Baar Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 1:34 pm
My apologies, I commend you for admonishing him Mr. Baar!

Comment by thomas paine Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 2:09 pm
If Patrick Fitzgerald left as the U.S Attorney here, would that be good or bad for the Northern District of Illinois?

Comment by One_Mcmad Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 3:44 pm
An interesting note came from a blogger yesterday who questioned where was Patrick Fitzgerald in the announcing of charges this week:

Alderwoman Troutman
The U.S Marshall case

Comment by One_Mcmad Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 3:46 pm
I don’t see how the Whitehouse can get rid of Fitz without looking like it is getting even for Plamegate.

Speaking of Plamegate, I must live in an alternative universe from the other commentators. My memory of the case is top officials of this administration (Armitage, Rove, Libby) leaked or confirmed the identity of a CIA operative who was a WMD expert. Not only can she never work undercover again, it endangers everyone she worked with historically. Their reason for identifying her was purely vindictive and in retribution for her husband pointing the fact that they mislead the American public in order to get us into this senseless war. It appears now, with the exception of Libby’s perjury, that their activities were technically legal. That doesn’t change the fact that what they did was very unethical, unpatriotic, and bordering on treason.

Fitz is correct to go after Libby for perjury. It is a crime. And it is a serious crime when it concerns matters as serious as national security, not nonsense like Pres. Clinton’s sex life.

Comment by Objective Dem Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 4:01 pm
What’s the deal with the relationship between Bush and Daley anyway?

Comment by Squideshi Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 4:08 pm
Squid - Bush and Daley are buddies. They enjoy each other’s company during visits and get along fairly well, politically and otherwise.

–

Perhaps this is part of that opening salvo in the forthcoming “supboena” and “document request” battles that are likely to begin this spring in Washington. (h/t Kagro X)

Distract-and-confuse is a common Rove political tactic.

Comment by NW burbs Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 6:33 pm
It wouldn’t surprise me at all that the Democrats would now want to get rid of Patrick Fitzgerald at this time. There are no Republican scandals left to investigate in Illinois. I’m sure there’ll be more to come as far as Chicago Democrats are concerned. Everyone knows those stories. It would be a huge mistake for any party or person not to recommend Patrick Fitzgerald for reappointment as U.S. Attorney.

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Jan 12, 07 @ 10:41 pm