51 Bush US Attorneys still left at DOJ: How many moles?

[seafan]

Hat tip to digby for fleshing this out from Swamp Politics:

Of the 93 U.S. attorneys who served under the previous administration, Gibbs said aboard Air Force One en route to Phoenix with President Barack Obama, 51 remain.

The White House also says that, at the start of the administration, all 93 were allowed to serve temporarily. Thirty resigned before Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20, and 12 more have left since then. And the 51 still serving are technically there on a temporary basis -- Obama hasn't decided that all will remain.

Digby muses:

.....

They understand that if they ask any of these prosecutors to resign, the right wing will immediately go into a full-on hypocritical fugue state and start keening about how Obama is "politicizing" the Justice department. It's hissy fit 101. They have no shame. But unfortunately, if they subsequently find out that they have some burrowed, hardcore wingnuts in their midst (which wouldn't be surprising, considering that Rove tended to have the honest ones fired) it will be nearly impossible to fire them individually because the hissy fit will be even more overwhelming.

.....

Unless, they know somehow that all the bad apples are those who've already resigned, it seems to me that with all the flurry of activity going on and the recent memories of the Bush administration abuses, that they would have been better off just asking for resignations across the board, keeping those who are career Justice Department types like Patrick Fitzgerald --- and taking the heat from the wingnuts. It's never going to get any easier and the stakes for the future are pretty high. The last thing they need are a bunch of political operatives in the Justice Department undermining everything they want to do.

It seems to me that to restore the rule of law in this country, the majority of US Attorneys appointed by George W. Bush who are still working at DOJ should be summarily dismissed forthwith. It is more or less expected at the beginning of a new administration. If Obama waits, and any remaining moles Bush installed at DOJ become active, it will wreak havoc on Obama's administration.

If Obama pulls the plug on these people during this early window of his administration, sure, the wingnuts will scream "politicization". But if Obama allows this remaining 51 to stay on at DOJ, even "temporarily", as a hedge, they represent 51 potential moles in Obama's DOJ, and they will surely do everything in their Monica Goodling playbooks to destroy the reemergence of the rule of law. And when that ugly realization hits, it will be next to impossible to get rid of them in the middle of Obama's term without the accusation of political firings sticking like a reeking reminder of the George W. Bush years.

We've already seen how that turned out.


Which also leads me to wonder... how many Bush ticks have burrowed into career positions at DOJ, just waiting to poison the system further?


Sweep them out, Mr. President.

[HillbillyBob]

1. As Great Gramma said, " A new broom sweeps cleanest"

Fire them all, it would be nice to see some Rs in the unemployment line.

[babylonsister]

2. The arrangement is temporary...

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016945.php

[stillcool]

3. Give them something..

to scream about. Bush loads up the Justice Department with no-laws-for-us right wingers, and we're stuck with them? I don't think so.

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. That's easy - 51

.
.
.

[JDPriestly]

5. If they ask all of the attorneys to resign -- and reappoint only the career attorneys,

the entire matter is taken care of.

[bdamomma]

6. get those bushies out!!!!

[JDPriestly]

7. The controversy in the Bush Justice Dept.

was not just that they fired attorneys but that they fired them for flimsy reasons. Attorneys will be fired from time to time. The problem was that the Bush administration made up reasons for firing competent attorneys -- such as being out of town too often due to military duty.

[seafan]

8. Now it's down to 50: Bush hack John Wood resigns from western district of Missouri.

Wood resigning as U.S. attorney in western Missouri, February 18, 2009

KANSAS CITY | The top federal prosecutor in western Missouri is stepping down at the end of the month.

U.S. Attorney John F. Wood issued a statement Wednesday saying he submitted his resignation to President Barack Obama, effective Feb. 28.

Wood was appointed U.S. attorney for the western district of Missouri by then-President George W. Bush. He was sworn into office in April 2007.

A spokesman says Wood has accepted a position as a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Hughes Hubbard & Reed.

As U.S. attorney, Wood reorganized the office to create new units in such areas as terrorism and national security, violent crime, and fraud and corruption.

A hat tip to DU'er Robbien for a reminder of the sordid background on John Wood. He was the former chief of staff to Michael Chertoff at DHS, and is married to Julie Myers, niece of Richard B. Myers, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under George W. Bush. Julie Myers was director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and was widely suspected of leaking the information about Obama's aunt's immigration status before the election.

And, John Wood replaced Bradley J. Schlozman, another Bush hack. Yes, THAT Bradley J. "DC Civil Rights Lawyers are Commies" Schlozman.