Why is THIS scandal (fired attorneys) resonating more than any other?

[npincus]

Your opinion why this particular scandal has struck such a chord with Congress and the MSM, when so many other egregious, treasonous, and deadly scandals, such as bogus Iraq-WMD intelligence, have not? Is it because Congress feels they have been "lied to"? Is this a tipping point of sorts?

Your thoughts on why this particular scandal seems to be THE ONE that's garnering the bipartisan outrage that's been curiously absent for so long.

[NewJeffCT]

1. the other scandals at least started with the Republican Congress

Gonzo has been lying his ass off to Democrats and they (the White House) is constantly changing its story and the Dems are calling them on it. In the past, we had little voice in the media and little power in Congress. Now, at least, we have some power in Congress and the media given our side a bit of air time.

[Raven]

2. I think it is the famous "tipping point"

coupled with the realization that Americans have lost some very basic rights in furtherance of the demented goals of a corrupt administration. I also think that the Repubs who are now calling for Al's resignation are hoping that this will stop the bleeding and will keep this issue, and maybe others, away from the President's doorstep.

[NNN0LHI]

3. I think it is the "lawyer" factor

Lawyers don't like seeing their fellow lawyers screwed over. Sets a bad precedent. Most Senators are lawyers.

Don

[marions ghost]

27. yes

I think you are right. Hitting too close to home.

When you're floating in a huge cesspool, everyone reverts to reacting primarily to what impacts them directly.

ALSO, there seems to be very good evidence to substantiate the claims of injustice.

[Dora]

28. I agree. It's an inside thing. Lawyers, politicians...

The lie was blatant and public, and they were gamed by their own teammates.

Some people don't cotton to being exposed as fools.

Some people would change course and do the right thing, rather than stick to their corrupt guns if the obvious outcome is public humiliation, social exile, and the loss of power.

[Hamlette]

31. Fred Fielding

without the emails the white house could stonewall this to death like everything else. They could keep lying that it was just Battle and Sampson who mess this up and "gum it to death". Fielding told the WH to release the email under the theory they should get out ahead of this thing.

Coupled with the fact that Dems are in control and pushing this and the legal community always saw Gonzo as a lightweight toady.

It's also impossible to dis on the whistle blowers for a couple of reasons: they are republicans, they are prosecutors (heros to law and order types) and they are in state level political positions which means they have connections to local republican leaders.

USAs are local patronage jobs. The presidents party within each state gets to put their person in the job, a job that will lead to being made federal judge. Bush tried to put one of his own in as USA in Utah and Hatch cried foul because Hatch wanted HIS guy in. Hatch won that battle probably because Bush saw him as a powerful senator and at that point Bush didn't want a fight in Congress. With the patriot act Bush found a way to bypass the Senators. Pissed 'em off.

[TwilightGardener]

4. I puzzle over this too. This scandal didn't get anyone killed.

And it didn't steal billions of taxpayer dollars. And it didn't out an undercover agent for revenge, ruining a career and ending valuable work. I really don't know--maybe because now Republicans are finally pissed for once, and can't make excuses?

[A Simple Game]

30. And it appears that there were no laws broken in firing the Attorneys.

They had no need to lie, it seems the law was on their side. The president can fire US Attorneys at his pleasure and hire more without Senate approval due to the provision Spector had hidden in the (un)patriot act.

So maybe people are wondering what their reason was for lying when there was no need to lie?

[Deep13]

5. Scandals at home are seen as more compelling than those in...

...Iraq or where ever. Everyone understands subversion of justion and corruption. On the other hand a lot of people are sufficiently unsure of their on foreign policy knowledge to defer to the corporate media for answers.

[Atman]

6. Two things: They've pissed off LAWYERS, and they have a "smoking gun."

Most of the "scandals" are stuff that may be obvious to anyone with common sense, but not necessarily provable from a legal standpoint. They've always had the cover of obfuscation and confusion on their side. Now they're nailed dead-to-rights, they've been caught red-handed lying to the Congress, and they fired a bunch of good attorneys who have lots of friends.

Plus, finally, the Bush ship is on the rocks anyway...it's easier to kick 'em while they're down.

.

[Tesha]

7. People still believe in the fantasy of "Equal Justice before the Law"

People still believe in the fantasy of "Equal
Justice before the Law". This, the idea that
prosecutors could be manipulated for political
ends, drives a stake into the heart of that
fantasy.

(It should, of course, have happened when
Ken Starr was first hunting his witches...)

Tesha

[WiseButAngrySara]

23. Or when SCOTUS began the erosion of our democracy

by sullying themselves and becoming politically involved.

[marions ghost]

29. very astute comment

"people still believe in the fantasy of 'equal justice before the law.'

Right, although we have so many examples of the injustice and corruption in the legal system, people want to believe it's fair and basically functional. So they can still be scandalized by a situation that has been Bidness as Usual for a long time. They think that rooting out Gonzales will fix things.
:rofl:

[Lindsay]

8. In addition to all the other good reasons listed above,

it came right on the heels of the Walter Reed business. The outrage was pretty high for that...and then something else awful came to light.

[rodeodance]

20. and on the heels of Gonzo flipping on the NSA stuff. --or so he says.

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. Because people understand unfair terminations from personal experience

I think that's what's going on. People look at this and remember the popular manager they had at a job who was fired by careerist higher-ups because she was too good. This happens all the time in offices and other kinds of workplaces, and people understand it at a deeply personal, almost visceral level.

Everybody hates the careerists who play politics (which is to say, office politics) with other people's livelihoods. Most people, by the time they reach adulthood, have experienced (or at least imagined in a concrete case) some unfair termination, whether they were fired themselves, or had someone they6 knew fired. And NOBODY believes that they are terminated for a good reason (apart from the rare thief or bungler). Everybody thinks that there were some ulterior motives involved, and everybody hates the people with ulterior motives.

The reason this scandal is sticking so well is that it fits into these clearly demarcated categories. The admin looks like the careerist douchebags who fire good employees to get their own pet into the position, or are otherwise concerned about somebody's "rise" within a workplace. Their biggest mistake thus far was to claim that these people were fired for reasons of performance. Everybody thinks that "performance" issues is bullshit code, primarily because it often is bullshit code for unfair terminations. And when that started to crumble, they looked more and more like those asshole middle managers we all know, who scheme and plot to maintain power in organizations. And everybody HATES those people, in theory.

[gatorboy]

10. First chance for the Dem Congress to really use their subpeona power?

Republicans have little choice but to play along since the Dems now have the power to really dig into this stuff.

I remember hearing about this when it happened but at the time, it was throw away news for the media. And still would be if the Democrats hadn't taken back the house.

[Mist]

11. A majority Dem congress can give time and energy to investigating. nt

[goodhue]

12. Because it offends the sensibilities of inside the beltway media

And because of the new found congressional oversight, without which scandal would not have come to light so clearly.

[HereSince1628]

17. Yes, DC sensibilities were offended on a number of points...

They were blind-sided on the provision of the Patriot Act that did away with the senates role in confirming US atty appointments.

Gonzales lied to them when he told them not to worry it was his intention to always bring US att'y nominees before the senate.

The firings appear to be an attempt to use the US att'ys to manipulate the political environment of elections by reducing probes into Republican wrongdoing and trying to get more shadows caste over Democratic candidates.

[WiseButAngrySara]

26. Bingo! ....n/t

[Richard Steele]

13. Because most of Congress are LAWYERS, maybe? nm

[BlueManDude]

14. because the Dems were able to get them to lie under oath

plus the WH was subverting the entire Senate not just the Dems which has caused GOP senators to abandon ship.

[BOSSHOG]

15. In the bush era its the Scandal Du Jour

Its new and fresh and exciting and soon will be replaced by other criminal activities perpetrated by these bastards that we haven't surfaced yet but are occurring as we hunt and peck. Just overwhelming and massive fraud and crime to the point where none are considered significant by many. Almost as if it was planned that way. All liberals do is bash our brave christian president with some new baseless charge day after day after day. The lemmings are doing their part.

[TayTay]

16. Because it makes obvious sense

and doesn't require a great deal of work to write about. The press is lazy, like most human beings. The less work they have to do to get a story, the happier they are. The Plame case was difficult and it required people to stop and do some research to figure out what was going on. The fired US AGs is pretty easy to grasp in one sitting, no heavy lifting required.

[rodeodance]

18. cause even Repugs are getting sick of being lied to!!

[Cass]

19. I think that it has to do with the dems having control of the Congress.

If this had happened early last year I'm thinking this would have been swept under a rug by a repub-controlled Congress. Maybe they would have held a show hearing or two but nothing of substance would have come of it.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

21. Because it doesn't have to do with 9/11 or national security...

...so Bush can't wave his special national security wand to make it go away.

[Venus Dog]

22. Because if you change the judiciary to your benefit

in key areas, you'll never be held responsible or found guilty for any crime committed. It's very simple. The BFEE has been systematically trying to change the judicial branch of this country inch by inch. It would give them absolute power!

US Attorney positions are extremely powerful and can shut down any possible prosecution. I believe after Dems won in '06, the Libby case, Lam pursuing indictments (which IMHO would lead to much bigger fish, i.e. connections with the Sibel and Plame stories), etc, etc, etc,), they had to move quickly which was not in their plans.

[ToeBot]

24. Because it's a completely safe issue for Dem's to pursue, No backlash...

Why the media jumped on-board? I guess they can smell blood.

[The Gunslinger]

25. I think it's how the right is responding to it thats raising eyebrows

The President and Atty. General have reacted in a guilty fashion over this. They seem nervous when they respond, and their response sounds like a second grader getting busted in school............. "Bill Clinton did it" "They serve at the pleasure of the President", and can fired anytime. They repeat the exact talking points to the word, and never even try to explain why they were fired.

[Ino]

32. Repugs are looking for an excuse to distance themselves

and this is the first scandal they themselves haven't supported with previous speeches or votes

[The Count]

33. The golden rule: Never antagonize a bunch of lawyers