WaPo:

“As an operational matter, we would like to replace 15-20 percent of the current U.S. Attorneys—the underperforming ones,” [Justice official D. Kyle] Sampson wrote on Jan. 9, 2005. “…The vast majority of U.S. Attorneys, 80-85 percent, I would guess, are doing a great job, are loyal Bushies, etc., etc.”

And it gets better! Friday document dump alert:

The e-mails, which are expected to be among a group of new documents provided to Congress on Friday, provide new details about the early decision-making that led to the controversial firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year.

I can hardly wait. If this is what they released, just imagine what they’re trying to suppress!

Actually, I can almost find a smidgeon of sympathy in my heart for Sampson. Faced with a demented demand from top management—how often that does happen—Sampson heroically tries to contain the insanity and prevent Rove, Meiers, and (presumably) Dear Leader from giving everybody the axe:

[The email includes] correspondence between other officials that concluded with a Justice official, D. Kyle Sampson, offering the White House counsel’s office four reasons why the notion of removing all of the country’s chief federal prosecutors was a bad idea.

Eightgate needs a John Dean. It would be nice it were Kyle Sampson, who, if he’s smart, has a lot of email stashed away that we haven’t seen yet.

As usual, Krugman is right. The real story isn’t about the DAs that got fired. It’s about the DAs who stayed, and what they did, or didn’t do.

To my mind, every action that the Justice Department has taken during Bush’s reign is suspect and needs oversight. The incredibly disproportionate number of Democrats Gonzales prosecuted at the local level would be a good place to start.