Elliott Spitzer was one for the nation. People will excoriate me for suggesting maybe he still is. We don’t know *what* his involvement with the prostitution ring was. (I bet you if he’d been more than one of the wealthy customers, that’d be all over the NYT front page already.) Next question: what kind of BS are they gonna fake up on Patrick Fitzgerald?

This won’t surprise anyone here, but I found this telling:

On the February 15 edition of Fox News’ Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News national correspondent Catherine Herridge uncritically reported the assertion by Justice Department officials that “the decision to force out” seven U.S. attorneys recently “was based on, quote, ’performance-related issues.’ ” But contrary to the Justice Department’s assertion, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty has conceded that performance played no role in at least one of those cases: the forced resignation of H.E. “Bud” Cummins III as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Moreover, the Justice Department has provided no evidence publicly backing up the claim of “performance-related issues,” and, according to a February 14 McClatchy Newspapers article, “at least five of [the U.S. attorneys who were fired] received positive job evaluations before they were ordered to step down.”

Cummins was replaced by J. Timothy Griffin, a former research director for the Republican National Committee and White House senior adviser Karl Rove. During a February 6 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on matter, McNulty said that regarding the Cummins replacement, “the fact is that there was a change made there that was not connected to, as was said, the performance of the incumbent, but more related to the opportunity to provide a fresh start with a new person in that position.”

According to a February 16 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article noted by the weblog TPMMuckraker.com, Griffin, currently serving as the interim U.S. attorney, has decided that he “no longer wants the job permanently” and will not submit his name for Senate confirmation. Under a provision in the 2006 renewal of the USA Patriot Act, interim U.S. attorneys can remain in office until the Senate confirms a replacement. Before this provision was enacted, the attorney general could appoint an interim U.S. attorney who could remain in office for up to 120 days, after which the local federal district court could appoint someone to serve until a permanent successor was confirmed. The provision was reportedly added by the office of then-Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA), who said at the February 6 Judiciary Committee hearing that a member of his staff had inserted the provision without his knowledge. On February 15, Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) blocked Democratic efforts to pass legislation that would reverse the provision’s changes.  Read more 

CREW does such great work, from Foleygate to keeping pols honest on both sides, they always have to goods. Save this one for the next time you need a quick and well researched list of Republican cronies. Pass it on to your Republican friends.

CREW found and documented more than more than 160 cases of misconduct over the last six years and then narrowed the list based on type of offense, the official’s level of responsibility and the impact on the public trust. The majority of the officials in the report have been convicted of crimes, are currently under criminal investigation, or are being investigated by the inspector generals of their respective agencies.

The 25 Most Corrupt Members of the Bush Administration are:  Read more 

I am so fucking sick and tired of this. Is there no end? Is there a single Republican apointee in this administration who isn’t in it to make more money illegally for themselves and corporations? What chaps my ass most is that this is also the guy who brought you the delay on the morning after pill. Christ. What I wouldn’t give for one honest Republican who believed in small government and the rule of law. The truly sad part:

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