Children in my daycare often avoided prosecution for breaking the law, it was no big deal.

There's a big difference between main Justice going after others from main Justice and a U.S. Attorney's office going after a Senator (even if the USA and Senator are most likely members of the same party).

I agree with #3. And I would add that serving as a judge doesn't mean you aren't a hack, it just means you can't get too overtly political while you're a judge.

My real beef with Lat's (and Mukasey's) typical making of excuses for right-wingers in trouble is that violations of the civil service laws can be criminal. The civil service laws are tremendously important and it is no excuse that Goodling and the guy from BYU "only" violated the civil service laws. Indeed, what more could one do to get prosecuted for violating the civil service laws?!

Being a judge for 20 years automatically means you're not a political hack? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Oh my god, that was excellent. Very droll.

where are the vault rankings?

where is monica (no not that one) goodling?

Schumer was a primary supporter for Mukasey as AG.

yes, why no gratuitous picture of goodling? i need something to take my mind off of F&D's stupid Reno 911 pic.

8 - whats your point?

And I, for one, am shocked. Shocked!

There are plenty of judges who are political hacks. That Mukasey isn't an overtly political hack means nothing.

The Bush administration has used every government agency to achieve political ends first, and to fulfill the needs of the American people second (if ever). DOJ? A republican machine, filled with unqualified republican hires, doing the presidents bidding (see, e.g., Monica Gooding asking people why they want to serve the president). The CIA? A republican machine that was instructed to find intelligence that would support an invasion of Iraq. FEMA? George Bush's buddies who new more about Arabian horses than they did about emergency management. The list goes on ad nauseum.

So do I want these republican hacks at the DOJ prosecuted? Yes. Yes I do. Do I want Monica Goodling to be the only idiot to take a fall? No. I want as many of them as possible, as high up as we can go.

Sounds like Iraq. Sure, mistakes were made. Sure, some people lied or broke a few laws (but not real laws...). But what's done is done. Let's move on. Accountability is for suckers.

Honestly, has there been one person in this nest of fools and knaves who has faced ANY degree of accountability for their actions??

And someone made a good point -- Main Justice is not USAO.

Lat and Mukasey, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,
first comes Rove,
then justice's miscarriage,
then some more right-wing hacks he'll never disparage!

IOKIYAAR

It's Ok If You Are A Republican.

Now had this been Democrats breaking the law, why we would bury them UNDER the jail!

These hypocrites make me sick.

Of COURSE Mukasey is a hack protecting his own. Is Lat on drugs?

IOKIYAAR

It's Ok If You Are A Republican.

Now had this been Democrats breaking the law, why we would bury them UNDER the jail!

These hypocrites make me sick.

Of COURSE Mukasey is a hack protecting his own. Is Lat on drugs?

Let me make sure I understand what's up:
1) Congress subpoenas Goodling; 2) Goodling asserts her right against self-incrimination; 3) Congress gives Goodling immunity, so she can't use her right against self-incrimination as an excuse not to testify; and 4) (surprise!) Goodling isn't prosecuted. My understanding of the immunity was that it wasn't just testimonial, it was blanket; so even if independent evidence came up that could convict Goodling, she still couldn't be prosecuted.

I'm not complaining about this story, I just want to make sure this is what happened.

Hopefully the next administration will go after these criminals for criminal violations of the civil service laws. Kyle Sampson, partner at Hunton & Williams, should be doing the perp walk along with Monica Goodling and whoever else was involved in these violations.

People who use "irregardless" in lieu of "irrespective" are hacks.

12 = Phil Telfeyan

My sense is the good judge said "the system failed" when in reality people failed--people he likes.

#1, you mean irrespective, not irregardless.

Mukasey's promise not to prosecute members of this administration for their various crimes was likely a condition of his nomination. You can even see when the phone call must have happened: in between day one and day two of his confirmation hearings. On day one, waterboarding was illegal. On day two, hey presto!

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/10/nobody-for-atto.html

What a fucking douchebag.

12- You're not a political hack at all, right?

So no prosecutions.....but what about going after their law licenses? These people should no longer be allowed to practice law.

Obama goes on vacation and all of his minions are forced to hang out at Above the Law and write Bush Derangement rantings about the DOJ affair.

It's going to be a long day.

12 here. Sure, I'm clearly partisan. But be honest: when, prior to the current administration, were government agencies like the DOJ and CIA so blatantly politicized?

Was there ever a democratic administration that made it official policy at the DOJ to reject applicants who had any republican ties? Not to my knowledge.

ITT:

Liberal Moonbats.

12 - "The Bush administration has used every government agency to achieve political ends first, and to fulfill the needs of the American people second (if ever). "

Please keep your list going until you have listed EVERY federal agency. I want to know how the Bush agenda has used the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration "to achieve political ends".

Wow. I think half of the people that still support the Bush administration are present in this thread.

We all know that if the democrats pulled off the same scandal at the DOJ, republicans would be screaming for blood.

I hear Bush and McCain have jobs lined up for all you guys. Fighting our newest war in Russia....

12- Don't think the CIA was politicized, what are you talking about there? "Slam dunk"- statement by George Tenet, CIA Director under Clinton and W, re: WMD in Iraq. Intelligence was used for political goals, i.e. supporting the war, but it's a bit of revisionist history to say that the Bushies fabricated WMD evidence or that there wasn't consensus on the issue of Saddam possessing WMD.

As for DOJ, clearly Goodling and co screwed up and broke both the civil service laws and DOJ tradition; however, it's not terribly concerning to me as a general matter that an agency of the federal executive is made to bend to the political will of the president-- that's essentially what they're meant to do. Actually having responsive agencies is a far better situation in my view than having agencies bristle against executive policy, as State and other agencies have been known to do for many years. And, although I think we need competent officials who are non-partisan in a lot of gov't jobs, if the line attorneys, say in the civil rights division, don't like the way Bush & friends were running the ship, then maybe they should have waited for the Obama administration. I'm not trying to give Goodling a pass or anything- her means were beyond lame- but there's a flipside to this issue that's been largely ignored, which is that the executive lacks functional control over certain parts of the executive branch. And, this isn't solely the complaint of conservatives who hate liberally inclined gov't workers feeding off of the taxpayers, Clinton complained about it too.

28 -- Actually, the Bush agenda just used NOAA yesterday to achieve political ends (climate change policy) by making changes to the way the Endangered Species Act is implemented in federal agencies.

agree with 31. Not sure if 28 actually wants to fight that battle.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=science-abuse

Mukasey says take a little whiff of his ass, America!

so just because DoJ went after Stevens, they get a pass on Monica Goodling and Mr. BYU? Are you serious? Why would they risk waiting to go after Stevens (when an Obama administration could really rake the Alaska GOP over the coals), when they could do a controlled demolition now?

And besides, have you forgotten what they did to former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman? They nail a Dem who is innocent, and go after a GOPer who is dirty and you say Mickey Mouse Mukasey isn't a hack? HA!

Do you think an appropiate remedy to counter Monica's actions is to open DoJ Honors only to those with liberal credentials? Gotta balance out the damage all those 145-150 lsat scoring (after three tries) idiots who went to regent/liberty law school are going to do to the country at DoJ...

Mukasey says take a huge WHIFF of his ass, America! Go on, do it!

And how exactly might law students who applied for SLIP or the Honors program re-apply, given that they are no longer eligible for those positions?

26/12 - democrats just hid it better. if anyone here actually, even for one second, thinks that this is something other than regular politics played by all parties everywhere, they are just mentally derangedand have no clue abpout how things run in the political world and for that matter the world period.

that includes all the law students here who think that they will change the world, and includes obama (and the following) who never really believed he could change wahsington politicss.

"...not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime."

Under what circumstances is a violation of law not a crime?

37 - All correct. Which is why it isn't a crime.

38 - When the law provides no criminal penalty for the violation. It's what's known as a "civil infraction." Like your parking tickets.

32 - It's not a battle. I want 12 to list EVERY federal agency and show how the Bush agenda was used "to achieve political ends" (or at least promise not to use sweeping generalizations). I've crossed CIA, DOJ, FEMA and the NOAA off my list -- there are still a lot of agencies left to justify that comment.

10 -- Mukasey is being accused of being a "political hack," which I assume means he's putting the GOP's interest before those of the country. Why would Schumer (a Democrat) have so effusively supported such a partisan hack for AG, especially on the heels of the Gonzales fiasco? 8

40- there's a lot of wiggle room in agency enforcement of legal mandates. I think you and me probably agree on this stuff, but a president using agencies for political ends shouldn't concern people. Who cares how many agencies they can list?

39 - exactly my point.

37

So what? Good for Mukasey! Let them eat cake!

Guys, this crap went on in the Clinton Administration--and guess what, you think the careerists are going to let conservatives advance? Come on.

Lat, stick to gossip. This schilling without nuance isn't any fun.
45: I don't think you have any idea about the career track of DOJ line attorneys. And, no, this type of raw political screening of candidates did not happen before.

45, what exactly happened under Clinton? From the report, we know what happened under Bush.

Do you really think the same Republican Congress that investigated Clinton's sex life wouldn't have jumped at the chance to investigate wrongdoing at the DOJ?

Disbarment is the proper remedy here.

Can we at least admit that Sampson who claimed that he thought immigration judgeships were a POLITICAL position should be disbarred for failure to comprehend the very basics of the checks and balances system that makes up our government?

Political screening also hindered persons who were avowed members of the federalist society. I know prominent HLS folks who were frozen out of the Honors program for that reason. The Federalist Society was (and still is) considered a fringe organization. At least one of these guys later joined the OLP after Bush came to power despite a rejecion by the Clinton DOJ.

39 makes a good point. Mechanically, unless there is a criminal punishment section to a law, it is hardly worth prosecuting a case. Under Constitutional law, such violations cannot be punished any higher than misdemeanors. In fact, even a misdemeanor would be a stretch. Likely, you would be left with a parking ticket. 48's suggestion is the likelest remedy for any misconduct. I think that it is unlikely to generate anything more than a censure but that may be the appropriate remedy. The social censure involved here is a big deal. Goodling's entire career will now be defined by this violation. That is fairly devastating (I believe that Mukasey's actual speech mentions this). As to Mukasey's hack status, this will do little to endear him to those in the far left. Of course, as a government prosecutor and Republican appointee, they were already lost to him.

41 makes a good point. After all, Bush was in no condition to dictate terms to Mukasey or Schumer. It seems more likely that Mukasey is no hack but that he had to make a decision that was deeply unsatisfying to many people. Between bringing an unsupportable prosecution or announcing the dead end, he was faced with a tough decision. That conclusion is far less satisfying than yelling "hack," but internet comment boards are not the place to try to be reasonable.

Interestingly, the checkmate here is likely due to good advice that Goodling received from her attorneys. The only criminal sanction came from her testimony to Congress. Negotiating that immunity saved her fine tail. I wonder who worked as her criminal counsel (it likely had to be someone outside of the DOJ who was paid by her malpractice insurance).

If Goodling was smoother about this, she could have stacked the place up with good little conservatives just like the Dems stack the place up with bleeding heart true believers. Goodling's lack of any grace and subtlety is what fucked this situation.

If anyone thought there were no longer any pro-Bush, kool-aid drinking, GOP true believers who are convinced that nothing a Republican can do to save the country from commie pinko liberals is wrong or bad, no matter what, see 51.

Goodling did not do anything bad, says 51, she just did it poorly! If only G. Gordon Liddy had been a better cat burglar! If only Ollie North had been better at covert arms shipping! If only Scooter Libby had done a better job covering his rear while outing a "liberal" CIA agent! If only DOD had been able to stifle media reports on the absence of WMDs!

Remember, to these people, honor, truth, basic human decency, the Constitution, laws, history, tradition, and spirit of the United States and its institutions are mere impediments to their "saving" the country from the "danger" of liberals.

Goodling will simply join their pantheon of heroes for what she did. Probably end up with a radio show.

28 = ill informed douchebag

heckuva job 28

thanks for defending the republicans, lat. none of us expected to see that here...

actually, i am surprised to see lat shilling for the right wing criminals here - what kind of former prosecutor thinks crimes should go unpunished? your former usao colleagues must be ashamed.