There was great sound and fury back in 2007 and 2008 over whether the Bush administration may have illegally fired a handful of the scores of U.S. attorneys around the country. Many in the news media considered it a huge “controversy,” worthy of a great deal of reporting.
So doesn’t it strike you as odd that there was barely a peep recently when Justice Department prosecutors looking into the situation declared that there was nothing illegal about the firings? The two-year investigation was quietly closed, and no charges were filed.
The fact is, U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president, and he may fire them with cause or for no reason at all if he wishes. Former President Bill Clinton fired most of the U.S. attorneys during his time in office, but his actions were not attended by the scathing, heavy scrutiny that President Bush faced.
It appears that the great “controversy” over President Bush’s supposedly “scandalous” firing of a few U.S. attorneys was based on Democrats’ desire for political gain, not on any evidence that laws had actually been broken.