I'm sure many of you are already following this:
Quote:
March 9, 2007, 8:43AM
White House bows on attorney reforms
By LAURIE KELLMAN Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Slapped even by GOP allies, the Bush administration is beating an abrupt retreat on eight federal prosecutors it fired and then publicly pilloried.
Just hours after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales dismissed the hubbub as an "overblown personnel matter," a Republican senator Thursday mused into a microphone that Gonzales might soon suffer the same fate as the canned U.S. attorneys.
"One day there will be a new attorney general, maybe sooner rather than later," Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said during a Judiciary Committee meeting.
A short time later, Gonzales and his security detail shuttled to the Capitol for a private meeting on Democratic turf, bearing two offerings:
_President Bush would not stand in the way of a Democratic-sponsored bill that would cancel the attorney general's power to appoint federal prosecutors without Senate confirmation. Gonzales' Justice Department had previously dismissed the legislation as unreasonable.
_There would be no need for subpoenas to compel testimony by five of Gonzales' aides involved in the firings, as the Democrats had threatened. Cloistered in the stately hideaway of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vt., the attorney general assured those present that he would permit the aides to tell their stories.
The Justice Department is shifting from offense to accommodation.
...snip...
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Specter gets my toast for best line.
So what happened between Tuesday and today? Will this go further, or is it another fighting retreat? I haven't kept up with daily releases but the dismissals don't sound justified. One i might understand, but dismissing eight and doing it poorly? Sounds like careless house cleaning followed by butt-covering.
Not a great deal of value here. I'm hoping some of you veterans return with more information and your thoughts.