The Purge, Phase II

Fire 8 US Attorneys for political reasons and what do you get? One bad day after another, it seems.

Yesterday, the worst day was probably had by Gonzales' Chief of Staff, D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned after it was revealed that he had been talking to White House Counsel Harriet Miers for approximately two years about which US Attorneys to fire (Miers, it seems, originally wanted to replace all 93).

Gonzales himself probably had a pretty bad day, since he's the obvious next person to decide to spend more time with his family. Not helpful to Gonzales in this respect was the statement by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Leahy that "the Attorney General was less than forthcoming with the Senate while under oath." In less formal settings, we call that called perjury.

Today's Washington Post has the best story on the growing scandal, full of timeline-y goodness. The inescapable conclusion is that most (if not all) of the eight Attorneys were fired for political reasons. The specific reason that keeps coming up: refusing to file charges against Democrats for voter fraud.

The Post also names names, and it seems that the only person in the administration not directly involved in getting those US Attorneys fired was Scooter Libby. Bush and Rove were, however, as was Sen. Pete Domenici. Something tells me that Sampson won't be the only person to lose his job over this. Miers, of course, resigned back in January, but you have to wonder now if she saw this particular dust-up coming.

And let's not forget that amendment to the Patriot Act that allowed the DOJ to appoint the replacement US Attorneys without the need for a pesky Senate confirmation process. As it turns out, that was passed right in the middle of the planning for this purge. It wouldn't be the first time Bush played politics with national security, but the specificity of this example is particularly stunning.