The pretense is over. We cannot continue to be led by a man who's disdain for the law and complete politicization of absolutely every single decision he makes.
White House Said to Prompt Firing of Prosecutors - New York Times: "Last October, President Bush spoke with Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to pass along concerns by Republicans that some prosecutors were not aggressively addressing voter fraud, the White House said Monday. Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, was among the politicians who complained directly to the president, according to an administration official."
I want my country back, a country I loved and was worthy of the respect of the entire planet.
We used to set the example for respecting human dignity and civil liberties, our prosperity proving what could happen when no one, not even the President, could put themselves above the law.
In our system, there is no single law enforcement officer with more discretion than a prosecutor except for the cop on the beat. When you interfere with that discretion, you unravel the very fabric of our system.
When you pressure a U.S. Attorney to bring down more of your political rivals, you are engaging in a conspiracy more fitting of a tyrant, a move reminiscent of the worst dictators.
Gonzales, Domenici, Rove, and now, President Bush himself, are unworthy to walk the halls of government -- a government of all the people, not just Republicans. This is no better, indeed worse than the charge of obstruction of justice, because when individual U.S. Attorneys are fired for pure partisan spite, it not only interferes with that specific office, but sends a message to all the other U.S. Attorneys that they better get in line.
Yes, they are indeed political appointees serving at the pleasure of the President -- and wholesale changes in their ranks are standard operating procedure when an administration changes.
This is different.
Clearly there was an attempt to influence elections through the abuse of prosecutorial power. Clearly there was an interference with the judicial system by the executive at the request of a friendly member of the legislative branch. This is a slap at all three branches of government plus the people who they represent -- all at once. Voting, the courts, Congress and the President -- all have been cheapened by this horrible episode.
If this precedent is allowed to stand, our system will become a joke. To sweep this under the rug, to minimize its import will codify a corrupt and diseased power structure into the foreseeable future -- where no citizen is safe from retaliation for politically unapproved acts.
We cannot defend the liberties inscribed in the Constitution knowing that those who are not members of the party in power are subject to politically motivated abuse of prosecutorial power. When those who would shout the loudest against Constitutional abominations like the Patriot Act and Military Commissions Act live under a cloud of "legal" retaliation, there is no limit to the subjugation of our rights as citizens of this country by unscrupulous, power-mad despots.
Bush might as well just go through the voter rolls of the last election and jail everyone who didn't vote for him. Only then will he be able to create the nation his dementia wants to create.
A politically motivated prosecution is a text book case of abuse of process, a crime in and of itself. That is what Domenici was requesting and Bush, by all apparent evidence, was willing to grant. This undermines every court in the land. Every defense attorney in America with a client who was the least bit political, now has a built-in argument that he or she is merely a victim of a corrupt system.
Heckuvajob Chimpy.
Exposing the lack of compassion by conservatives and
debunking right wing hypocrisy at every opportunity.
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