Gonzales: "What I care about is -- are we trading up? "

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/22/navarrette/index.html

<snip>

I've interviewed Gonzales twice since he became attorney general. During the last interview, which took place three weeks ago in San Diego -- that is, before the controversy erupted -- I asked about the firings of the U.S. attorneys. He told me what he has told others: It was about performance.

"I have an obligation...to ensure that we have the best people we can have in here," he said. "All I will say is that the decisions that were made...were based upon performance, and there are many factors that go into that."

An avid baseball fan, Gonzales even pitched an analogy. "What I care about is -- are we trading up? "

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-21-court-record-analysis_N.htm

Some ousted attorneys were in upper tier

WASHINGTON — Three of the eight federal prosecutors ousted by the Justice Department as poor performers ranked in the top 10 for prosecutions and convictions by the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys, an analysis of court records shows.

Court records covering the last five years show large volumes of immigration cases helped U.S. attorneys Paul Charlton of Phoenix, Carol Lam of San Diego and David Iglesias of New Mexico consistently place in the upper tier among their peers. The analysis includes each U.S. attorney's per capita record of prosecutions, convictions and prison sentences.

A fourth former prosecutor, Daniel Bogden of Nevada, ranked among the top third of all U.S. attorneys during four of the past five years, according to federal data maintained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse disputed the rankings. He said more than half of prosecutions involve immigration or drug offenses, so it is "no surprise" that numbers are higher along the Southwest border.

[Solly Mack]

1. is the avid baseball fan gonna take one for the team?

[louis-t]

2. Reading the last paragraph, I have to ask.

"Then what was the problem?" What is this "underperforming" crap? It's so obvious. They don't even try to hide it anymore. "Birthright", and all that....

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Wonder what his definition of 'best' is?

[sharp_stick]

4. Navarrette is pissed because Gonzo is Hispanic

I mean who really cares that Gonzalez the guy that likes to torture detainees, spy on his fellow citizens without a warrant, fires US Attorneys to get more loyal political attorneys in and then lies his ass off following every one of these little revelations, he's Hispanic so leave him alone.

As far as I can tell Ruben Navarrette is nothing but the opposite of the Hispanic hating Dobbs and so is there to offer a counterpoint.