AP/Lauren Victoria BurkeMost of you are well aware of what's been happening with the fired US Attorneys story. If you're not, check out the excellent reporting on Talking Points Memo- Josh has owned this story, and I think without the fine work they've done, this would have been swept under the rug. As it is, it's finally blown up into a big deal, with the White House being forced to back down today. White House bows on attorney reforms. It's not the end of the story, because it never is with this crew, but it is a start.
One of the reasons this is such an important story is that it exposes one of the most insidious activities of the Bush administration. And that's their ongoing effort to infiltrate the entire federal bureacracy with Bush and republican loyalists. The damage they are doing will be felt for the next 30 years. Of course US Attorneys are slightly different, since they're political appointees, and they do serve at the "pleasure of the president." But you can be certain that from the State Department right down to the US Mint, the bushies have been installing the party faithful who can be guaranteed to promote their agenda into the distant future. Many of these people will be protected by civil service collective bargaining agreements and will be extremely difficult to dislodge.
We can't say it often enough. The republican party ALWAYS puts party ahead of their country. Eventually the country will catch on and refuse to ever return any of these jackasses to positions of power.
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Many of these people will be protected by civil service collective bargaining agreements and will be extremely difficult to dislodge.
Not really. The people Fredo has been able to replace are all patronage positions, which every president does. The big difference with Dim Son is that he's been replacing qualified experts with political commissars. They can be easily replaced by the next Dem preznit, but we have to live with their damage meanwhile.
he's been replacing qualified experts with political commissars. They can be easily replaced by the next Dem preznit, but we have to live with their damage meanwhile.
(LOL) As usual, Flory beats me to it with a more articulate comment.
Can't we limit this kind of damage? Legislate to limit these types of appointments?
People's lives were lost because of the incompetence of the disaster appointees that mishandled the Katrina crisis.
Thank you 4Legs for finding the right words to express what I've felt so angry about when I read about appointees who are not competent to handle the important departments they're put in charge of.
Flory, yes, the political appointees, but he's also been salting the bureacracy with lower level employees and those people won't be so easy to get rid of.
And don't forget they've done such things as change the foreign service entrance exam.
They are fucking things up big time. And I didn't even address the number of qualified folks who have fled State, FBI, Justice etc. because of the hacks Bush has put in charge. And don't forget the purges Porter Goss presided over at CIA.
This is a really, really big deal.
Ditto above. Great piece at TPM where the author raises the question of what about the OTHER justices who were not fired...those who rolled over. Gonzalez has agreed for Senate clearance on all the nominees, but I suspect something otten here, because he is too agreeable. They continue to hides something, and perhaps it is only because the FBI's misuse of the Patriot Act hit the blogosphere today....I believe there is more to come.
Maddie takes my mind off this crap.
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