Every time I think this talking point has finally suffered its long-deserved death, it continues to make the rounds. So, here:
Three weeks ago, Justice Department officials settled on a “talking point” to rebut the chorus of Democratic accusations that the Bush administration had wrongly injected politics into law enforcement when it dismissed eight U.S. attorneys.Why not focus on the Clinton administration’s having “fired all 93 U.S. attorneys” when Janet Reno became attorney general in March 1993? The idea was introduced in a memo from a Justice Department spokeswoman.
The message has been effective. What’s followed has been a surge of complaints on blogs and talk radio that it was the Clinton administration that first politicized the Justice Department.
The facts, it turns out, are more complicated.
The central “complicated” fact is this: the talking point is completely bogus. Read the rest of The Los Angeles Times piece for the rundown.
And by the way, here is a report from the Congressional Research Service showing that Alberto Gonzales’ dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys in the middle of the term for no outstanding reason is unprecedented.