KRUGMAN: The REAL Scandal Is The U.S. Attorneys Who WERE NOT Fired!

[kpete]

Krugman: The real scandal is the US Attys who WEREN'T fired

ED COLUMNIST
Department of Injustice
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: March 9, 2007


The politicization of the Justice Department was a key component of the Bush administration’s attempt to create a permanent Republican lock on power.

The Gonzales Eight were fired because they wouldn’t go along with the Bush administration’s politicization of justice. But statistical evidence suggests that many other prosecutors decided to protect their jobs or further their careers by doing what the administration wanted them to do: harass Democrats while turning a blind eye to Republican malfeasance.

Donald Shields and John Cragan, two professors of communication, have compiled a database of investigations and/or indictments of candidates and elected officials by U.S. attorneys since the Bush administration came to power. Of the 375 cases they identified, 10 involved independents, 67 involved Republicans, and 298 involved Democrats. The main source of this partisan tilt was a huge disparity in investigations of local politicians, in which Democrats were seven times as likely as Republicans to face Justice Department scrutiny.

more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/3/9/040/77543
read the whole thing at:
http://mgpaquin.blogspot.com/search/label/Krugman

[dogday]

1. Harass Democrats while turning a blind eye to Republican malfeasance

Sounds like the Presidential Mantra, does it not?

[JHB]

3. SOP since the Reagan era

That's one of the "unseen" important things in Federal judge confirmation hearings, especially for Chief Justice: the judge's power to permit or limit the scope of investigations. Partisan Republican judges have given investigations of Democratic officials plenty of leeway, while investigations of Republicans have had their focus kept very narrow.

All the more reason to not appease "conservatives" on judgeships.

[Divernan]

6. U.S.Atty. Chris Christie (former Bush Pioneer) should be subpoenaed next.

(More info from the OP link) His unconvincing case against Senator Menendez(Dem-NJ), if it had succeeded in costing Menendez the election, would have also cost the Dems their Senate majority.

************************************************************************************************
For those of us living in the Garden State, the growing scandal over the firing of federal prosecutors immediately brought to mind the subpoenas that Chris Christie, the former Bush “Pioneer” who is now the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, issued two months before the 2006 election — and the way news of the subpoenas was quickly leaked to local news media.

The subpoenas were issued in connection with allegations of corruption on the part of Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat who seemed to be facing a close race at the time. Those allegations appeared, on their face, to be convoluted and unconvincing, and Mr. Menendez claimed that both the investigation and the leaks were politically motivated.

Mr. Christie’s actions might have been all aboveboard. But given what we’ve learned about the pressure placed on federal prosecutors to pursue dubious investigations of Democrats, Mr. Menendez’s claims of persecution now seem quite plausible.

In fact, it’s becoming clear that the politicization of the Justice Department was a key component of the Bush administration’s attempt to create a permanent Republican lock on power. Bear in mind that if Mr. Menendez had lost, the G.O.P. would still control the Senate.

[NJCher]

31. followed that carefully

We on the NJ board discussed it, too. It was a totally outrageous investigation. No need for it whatsoever. Now this is becoming apparent it wasn't an isolated case.

Still steamed about this one.



Cher

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. I love the way Krugman thinks outside the box.

[Divernan]

4. WHOAH ! ! ! Logical and very damning inference ! !

You can just picture every U.S.Atty. who DID cave to the administration and/or GOP congressmen/women - they have been sweating bullets. Not to mention all the GOP officials who illegally contacted them to get information and give orders re who to prosecute and how fast to do it. Slow down the investigations against GOPers; speed them up against Dems. And the GOP Senator and Representative who got exposed for doing this are probably absolutely livid at the injustice of it because they know that this was SOP for their GOP colleagues, but when everyone else called to apply pressure, the U.S. Attorneys caved and did as they were told.

[kenny blankenship]

5. Anyone still think they're not Fascists?

In a way this is one of the more chilling data points to emerge in the last 6 years. If this summary by Krugman is true, this country's fascist dementia is very far progressed. We seem to be in the middle of cascading organ failure. One institution after another goes malignant, compromising and damaging the others connected with it, and gradually it ceases to function. One election can't turn this around.

[Kingshakabobo]

16. They're like Boa Constrictors tightening their grip.....

We wiggle, they squeeze. We win an election or two, they squeeze some more.

[riderinthestorm]

7. Perhaps one of the most important news stories of the day. K & R

[Supersedeas]

28. I agree which guarantees that the GOP/Media Establishment will bury this

[SpiralHawk]

8. k and r - this is so damn important. Complete corrupt mutation of justice

that's what the republicon cronies are all about -- completely corrupting the system.

What would Jesus do in response to such wholesale corruption by the republicon party and their leaders, George AWOL Skull & Bones Bush, and Dick 'Five Military Deferments" Cheney?

Would Jesus stand for an occult cabal of republicon cronies perverting what once was noble and honorable about America?

[kenny blankenship]

13. What's so scary about it to me is that it's not just a few cronies

it's not like a small cabal of evil men hiding their evil in plain sight, and rising by ruthlessness to the top levels of power because ordinary people are in denial about their evil nature.

It's as if vast swathes of the population simply no longer believe in America. I'm not talking about marginalized outsiders, or the disaffected working classes, or oppressed minorities--people for whom America has always been more of a broken promise-- but the socially dominant majority and the economically ascendant. They don't believe. They don't care about the difference that separated the U.S. from authoritarian regimes like the USSR or Nazi Germany. They've slipped their moorings and no longer recognize that government and law should be anything other than a means to monopolize power and maximize their narrow economic gain. They participate in the system and repeat the time worn phrases about freedom and liberty but they do not fundamentally believe in it. (Has there ever been anything less poetic and less inspiring or more cynically hollow than the word FREEDOM in speeches by George W. Bush?) They part their hair carefully and knot their ties precisely and smile for the cameras, but in their actions they have nothing but a rampaging contempt for the idea of orderly & fair application of laws.

They are bourgeois barbarians, and it seems they're millions of them, outnumbering the non-barbarians left in their class. It's not just a few corporate boardroom sociopaths with Dick Cheney's private phone number in their rolodex. It's practically everyone in suburbia too. They need the rural snake handlers to vote Republican, but the people in the upper middle exurban classes make up the Republican Party cadres and provide a very large share of the money it runs on. And despite their pleasant appearances they have no more basic internal connection to civilization than did Genghiz Khan.

[loudsue]

14. You're absolutely right, Kenny...

And I like the way you describe the problem. It's so true, and so obvious here among the masses.

:kick::kick::kick:

[jaybeat]

17. The ultimate manifestation of the "I'm getting mine. You're on your own." world view.

The only people who will say such things openly are the loony-bin think tanks (here on Oregon we have the every-lovely Cascade Policy Institute... :puke: ), but every time you hear their code words, you know that's what they mean:

"People should be able to keep more of their own money."

"We need to make sure people have the incentives needed for investment."

"We should let market forces decide."

"We need to run government more like a business."

"I'm sorry, son, but this company is not a democracy. You're fired."

"Our goal is to shrink government to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."

"People should be able to vote with their dollars without government interference."

It is really no more than the Social Darwinism of the Robber Baron era.

To quote Gang of Four:

They say that life is built with endeavor
That every man is for himself
Wealth is for the one that wants it
Paradise - if you can earn it!

[Morgana LaFey]

30. They have NOT slipped their moorings

they are revealing their true moorings. They ARE fascists, whether they'd call themselves that or not, whether they even realize it or not. They may not fully understand that the type of government they would have is not a democratic one, but OTOH, it also wouldn't bother them if it's all the "others" who are inconvenienced by that fact.

This IS who they are. Don't mistake that for a minute.

[sellitman]

26. Bingo!

I wish I could write half as good as you do. You nailed it.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[xchrom]

9. gasp!! you're kidding?!?! republicks placing increased scrutiny on dems?

:eyes:

[gristy]

10. Great article - one of the best in a long time

Here's the NYT link, though you have to pay good money (the horrors!) to read it there.
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/09/opinion/09krugman.html?hp

[deminks]

11. K and R

Oh, yeah. Gonzo said OK way too fast about letting his goons testify. "look over here at the ones we fired. Don't look at the ones we left in place"

[Gregorian]

12. I don't see how this differs from the criminal justice system at large.

Everyone who is paying attention knows the ratios of those incarcerated. Talk about massive profiling on a national level. Be poor- go to jail. Be liberal- go to jail.

Limbaugh spews over the airwaves. Chong did hard time. Just one example.

[GreenZoneLT]

15. Holy crap! What's the Fox spin gonna be on THAT one?

"Well, you see, Democrats are just that much more corrupt..."

This is a smoking friggin' gun here; Congress ought to go NUTS. Too bad Gonzales hasn't been in office long enough to take ALL the blame (I'm sure that evil shitbird John Ashcroft is behind most of it; him and Rove).

Jesus CHRIST. They just absolutely have no shame, or brains, or splut, splut FUCK.

Most of the stuff that makes people apoplectic around here doesn't do it for me. Scooter Libby, meh. There aren't very many commie assassins out there to kill outed covert agents. Diebold -- it's just statistical anomalies. Corporations -- you got a better way to organize work? But this is riDICulous.

[MessiahRp]

23. "This just proves how Democrats are criminals"

"298 cases to just 67 of the Republicans. This proves that Democrats are the corrupt, lying, criminal party."

Just a stab in the dark.

They could find a way to spin diarrhea into something positive about them.

Rp

[AzDar]

18. Kick...n/t

:kick:

[Mister Ed]

19. K&R n/t

[EVDebs]

20. Begs question, 'were they doing this in the NSA and FBI etc too ?'

Notice the Quakers problems w/ NSA and other domestic harassments, Green party (Ted Kennedy no-fly etc) and now the movement of the CIA's 'domestic operations' division to the site of the Democratic Party Convention city in '08

CIA Plans to Shift Work to Denver
Domestic Division Would Be Moved

By Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 6, 2005; Page A21
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/05/AR2005050501860.html

Can this EVER be reeled in to where these agencies actually use warrants anymore ? Just asking (as if the Constitution isn't in a circular file somewhere in D.C.).

[merh]

21. Read the book "Blocking the Courthouse Door"

How the Republican Party and Its Corporate Allies are Taking Away Your Right to Sue. by Stephanie Mencimer

They not only used the DOJ to control politics, they have used it to protect corporations.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

22. All makes sense. We are being chained and gagged as we sit here.

These traitors must pay for this!

[aein]

24. they did us a favor

they kept out guys in line, while the GOP was allowed to further fester.

[tom_paine]

25. Sadly: Confirmation of something I have known to be true for a long time

Another prediction correct. Fuck. never in MY LIFE have I been so SICK of being right about America's condition since the stolen election of 2000.

I have been saying that this would be going on, tilting not just a little...which probably used to happen naturally like 55-45%, but not this 75-25% semi-totalitarian abomination!

Yet another in the literally hundreds of instances that DEMONSTRATES that the Bush Family ARE NOT AMERICANS AT ALL. They do not behave a THING like most of what has happened in the 224 1/2 years before they stole our nation and began transitioning it to become their Imperial Sandbox.

They are Global Aristocrats. They are frauds and murderers and routine committers of treason which goes far deeper than known and certainly infinitely deeper than has been investigated (which is to say...almost NONE). All the way back to Prescott Bush and his good pals, the Nazis, for whom he laundered millions in blood monies, which no doubt still forms a substantial component of the Bush Family Fortune.

I have been predicting this is how it was happening since 2001. And, yes, the proof resides in the DU Archives. But I wish to God I was wrong.

IMPEACH! IMPEACH! IMPEACH! :grr: :grr: :mad: :patriot: :grr:

Krugman: The real scandal is the US Attys who WEREN'T fired

ED COLUMNIST
Department of Injustice
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: March 9, 2007


The politicization of the Justice Department was a key component of the Bush administration’s attempt to create a permanent Republican lock on power.

The Gonzales Eight were fired because they wouldn’t go along with the Bush administration’s politicization of justice. But statistical evidence suggests that many other prosecutors decided to protect their jobs or further their careers by doing what the administration wanted them to do: harass Democrats while turning a blind eye to Republican malfeasance.

Donald Shields and John Cragan, two professors of communication, have compiled a database of investigations and/or indictments of candidates and elected officials by U.S. attorneys since the Bush administration came to power. Of the 375 cases they identified, 10 involved independents, 67 involved Republicans, and 298 involved Democrats. The main source of this partisan tilt was a huge disparity in investigations of local politicians, in which Democrats were seven times as likely as Republicans to face Justice Department scrutiny.


more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/3/9/040/77543
read the whole thing at:
http://mgpaquin.blogspot.com/search/label/Krugman

[hedgehog]

27. It gets better - where do you think the next crop of Republican

judical appointments is coming from?

[TheLeftyMom]

29. and amazingly enough

Repukes are the ones who always seem to get convicted or go to jail... hmmmm, that should tell us something.

[Cobalt Violet]

32. K & R

:kick:

[stonebone]

33. kick