Gonzo and the Lawyers

The press and the Democrats (and a few grandstanding Republicans) are all up in arms that the Boosh administration was underhanded in firing 8 US Attorneys. What's the deal?

First, it appears that Congress was misled as to the real reason for the firings. So Gonzo hemmed and hawed as to the "official" reason and stonewalled as Democrats tried to label this as a political firing. Congress feels that they were misled, if not actually lied to -- which would constitute (in their eyes) obstruction of justice (Congress) etc. So now everyone with a beef with the Justice Department has their knives out and is trying to get a Boosh because of Gonzo's missteps. Sort of a Scooter Libby thing: the underlying "crime" was not a crime at all, but the cover-up for political reasons was/is a crime.

The reason was pretty simple: they were not doing as their bosses would have them do. So is that a political reason or performance based? That depends on your viewpoint: if you are not doing as your bosses would have you do for political reasons, you are not performing your job as requested. In short if Democrat, it is political, if Republican, performance. But it the end, this does not matter at all -- they are employees of the Executive Branch ... Boosh's employees.

A basic principle of American law is that you have the freedom of association ... the ability to hire or fire for no reason at all (unless, the target is a protected class and can claim the action was illegally motivated). But as a white male, basically, you can be fired at whim and will.

Clinton, coming into office fired ALL the US Attorneys. Boosh could have, but chose to hold over some of Clinton's appointees. Mistake. But coming into his second term, Clinton held on to most of the incumbents .. why not, they were his appointees. But Boosh, still had some Democrat appointees in place and they were not doing or following the creed of the Boss. So he wanted them out (or Gonzo did). So it adds up to a big "SO WHAT?" Boosh for all his idiots in place has the right to throw out whomever he wants. For ANY reason (apart from protect persons). But as far as the Democrats see it, any lefty US Attorney is or should be protected.

So instead of just firing them and saying Boosh or Gonzo had lost faith in them, they tried to hide the reasons. had they just fired them, then there would be nothing to say about it. Yes, some politically motivated BS in the NY Times, etc., but a limited action nevertheless. But Congress is excised that they were cut out of the loop (again, it is NONE of their business) and were/are afraid that Boosh was trying to do an end-run around their advice and consent to future appointments. Actually, little, if any in the way of consent would be needed, just "advice" which can be readily ignored. US Attorneys are not like Federal Judges who belong to the third branch of government; again they are Boosh's employees.

So when Sununu (R) comes out claiming that Gonzo should go because the firing was poltically motivated ... it really only exposes his need to grandstand and ignorance of US law. Rather abysmal when considering he is a US Senator. I can forgive the Democrats as ideologues, but not an "esteemed" very senior Senator -- of course, Sununu is a long-time Boosh enemy. Sad to see a "smart" Republican go after the President in the same way Democrats do -- unthinking and merely full of spite.

Pick your times and battles, enemies of Boosh, goodness knows, he gives plenty of opportunityfor you to so, the moron.

Remember: (1) these are employees that can be hired or fired for ANY or NO reason at all -- just don't lie about it or try and get clever; and (2) fire the sneaky bastards up front before you start, don't expect the leopard to change it's spots.