The dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy of 2007 has been largely forgotten, but it was a very big deal at the time. It resulted in the resignations of the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, the Acting Associate Attorney General, the
chief of staff for the Attorney General, the chief of staff for the Deputy Attorney General, the Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, the former acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, and the Department of Justice’s White House Liaison. It was a total disaster for the Bush administration that was the natural result of a conspiracy to deliberately politicize the Justice Department. The U.S. Attorneys who were fired were fired for insufficient partisan zeal. In some cases, they refused to open meritless voter fraud cases. In other cases, they wouldn’t open meritless investigations on Democratic politicians. In still other cases, they were actually investigating lawbreaking by Republicans.
So, one of the takeaways from the scandal was that the U.S. Attorneys who weren’t dismissed were incredibly suspect. The attorneys who were found acceptable to the Bush administration were the ones who would launch phony investigations against innocent people and who would cover up criminal activity if is was carried out by Bush’s allies. Chris Christie was a U.S. Attorney who passed that test. He was considered sufficiently corrupt (or corruptible) to remain a U.S. Attorney in Alberto Gonzales’s (and Karl Rove’s) Justice Department.
How did he pass that test? Let’s go into the Wayback Machine:
The enmity between Mr. Christie and Mr. [Bob] Menendez dates at least to 2006, when Mr. Menendez was running for Senate and Mr. Christie was the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey. Mr. Christie’s office started an investigation that touched on Mr. Menendez’s dealings with a community group. Mr. Menendez charged that the inquiry was politically motivated — nothing came of it — and people close to the senator say he still resents it.
Why wasn’t Christie dismissed in the great purge of 2006? Because he did what he was told, and harassed Bob Menendez during election season.
After Christie became the governor of New Jersey he had the power to make dozens of appointments to the Port Authority, and it is now clear that he continued his practice of using his office to politicize non-political organizations.
This should surprise exactly no one.
I remember just how gobsmacked I was that the whole Attorney controversy played out with nary a single repercussion for those who perpetuated the whole affair. And how disinterested the media seemed to be in even looking into, or telling, the whole story behind the events. I guess maybe it was naivete on my part, but I still expected that there would be some accountability for such an obviously political move.
It was the perfect synopsis of the criminality of the Bush Administration and it’s whole “legal team”.
Hey, those torture-justifying memos aren’t going to write themselves, you know!
In more normal times, the whole DOJ shakeup would have led to an impeachment investigation.
All those Democratic mayors who did endorse CC (for whatever reason) ought to be ashamed of themselves about now. Same goes for NJ Democrats who voted for him. It’s a shame that the Democratic party couldn’t field a competitive candidate against him. All CC’s good work after Sandy (was there any?) seems like a pretty awful idea to vote for a bully. To think those politicians and voters decisions elevated his stature to the point where he was considered electable as president. What were they thinking?
Buono could have been competitive if she wasn’t frozen out of media coverage and money. Mostly it’s NJ “Democrats” to blame– Norcross, Sweeney and DiVincenzo come to mind. But National democrats were to blame also. They could have made it competitive if they ponied up (even a close loss would have been preferable).
Sweeney and DiVincenzo should have Christie tied around their necks as long as they live. Norcross, unfortunately can only be hurt by a massive campaign to let people know who he is, boycotting his hospital and bank, or by (preferably) some courageous prosecutor who will expose his dirty dealings.
Makes those with a suspicious mind wonder what AG Christie got on those Democratic pols that have since publicly stood by him. Mustn’t forget that the smarter among the GOP play a long-game.
The Grifter 1/3 of the GOP is by relatively intelligent.
I’m sure, being Oligarchs or Oligarchs-in-waiting, Christie and other NJ Dems were able to work things out in the long run. Off the books, of course.
One thing to remember about Oligarchs is that while they might fight amongst themselves, they’ll stick together against the rabble every time.
What n1cholas said.
AG
Goes without saying that in the world of our DOJ, this Bush/Gonzalez/Rove fiasco ranked right up there with Iraq.
Christie’s big play now will be next Tuesday when he’s hoping to get his insider NJ AG appointed. In his presser he asked for swift confirmation. The good news came when the Legislature replied on Friday, “mmm not so fast”
It may well be that those that can save him here will come from the broad ranks of those he’s targeted over the years. Karma is on the march in NJ methinks.
Rachel Maddow’s new theory is that the traffic event was against Loretta Weinberg, state senator representing Fort Lee and a key figure refusing to let Christie pack the NJ Supreme court. blaming the traffic “study” on the mayor would divert attention for the public at large, but I’m sure those involved know against whom it is directed. I linked the Rachel Maddow before, will link again
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/an-alternate-theory-of-the-bridgegate-scandal-11161197
1764
link, Rachel presents her theory [I believe there was more last night; btw Loretta W doesn’t agree with Rachel’s theory – or some such phrasing]
Rachel focused on the timing and her theory answers why the early morning e-mails were sent in August. But Rachel could have just identified the last straw triggering a preset plan targeting Fort Lee (some big RE developers weren’t toeing the Christie line), the mayor who didn’t endorse, and Weinstein’s constituents. Christie may have been killing 3 birds w/ 1 boulder.
Well, let’s hope that boulder he used makes him into Sisyphus.
Any and all perceived threats against Christie power were the reason for this most recent abuse of power. Hubris is the cause and it needs no rational last straw or any straws at all. Christie, and the people loyal to him in the course of illegal activities, are dangerous and should be removed from positions of public trust. May they be followed by the cohorts of Scott Walker, Rick Synder and Rick Scott.
Oh, I agree wholeheartedly.
But are they as dangerous as say the Obama-supported NSA surveillance state? The rapid and ongoing militarization of domestic police forces? Did you read recently that the FBI has changed its mission statement from “The primary function of the FBI is law enforcement.” to “The primary function of the FBI is national security?”
Next to these sorts of inroads on our freedom, on our “innocent until proven guilty” status, this little Christie political stunt becomes almost laughable. But NOOOOOoooooo…since it’s DemRats doing the “securing,” it must be alright.
Wake the fuck up.
AG
Your point is well taken. I never would have imagined that Obama would facilitate the further creation of the police state. I assumed, naively it turns out, that we would begin to disengage from this war on terror/islam at some point. Obviously, I was wrong.
About the only thing I take away from this laughable episode is that CC is not qualified for public service. We probably elect people equally petty and vindictive every time we go to the polls. I just hope that CC won’t be one of them ever again.
I struggle with how to respond to this creeping police state. There are just way too many cowards in America who live in fear of foreign “terrorism” and the state seems content to exploit this fear for their own ends. But America is terrorized every time some nut goes on a rampage with a gun in a mall, school, theater, etc. Somehow we’re strong enough to survive that onslaught while resisting “police state tactics” as trivial as gun regulation. It’s curious.
You write:
Those are all different faces of the same evil, Neildsmith, and I for one do not believe that we are “strong enough” to survive the constant media-driven amplification of violence, stupidity and fear that is currently in place in this country. Are you familiar with the sonic event called a feedback system? You have heard it happen, for sure…it’s the howling that comes out of speakers in a badly managed amplification system when microphones pick up the sound that they are routing to the loudspeakers through the amplifier/speaker system and feed that ever-louder sound back into the system over and over and over again. If the amplifiers are not turned down or the microphones are not adjusted so that they are not picking up the sound from the speakers, a feedback loop of that sort will break the sound system in short order. It will also damage the people in the room. Serious hearing loss is quite common in extreme situations of this sort.
Well…as above, so below. The mainstream news cycle is a feedback system. It picks up every event…with particular emphasis on negative events, because it is human nature to stare at the negative (thus pumping up ratings) …and feeds it back into the system over and over and over again. Eventually the entire system is going to go into a howling breakage and the people in the audience will be damaged in unimaginable ways. To be truthful, I think that this has already happened to some degree, although it has not yet completely broken the media system and the audience has thus far only received non-life threatening wounds. However, the howling continues to grow louder and louder. Bet on it. Eventually…just as in a school auditorium amplification system run by ignorant children…the whole system will break down. Bet on that as well. Noise begets noise begets more noise and eventually the noise itself will damage or kill you.
What to do?
Damned if I know. I personally have stepped away from the auditorium. I poke my nose in and sample the damage but I do not myself watch the whole show with the correlate suspension of disbelief that is always necessary to be a good audience member. I have recommended this course to others for at least 14 years now, but to little or no avail. The media addiction that begins now for almost all Americans at pre-verbal levels of development has sunk its claws too deeply into the minds of the masses.
So it goes.
Hunker down, friend. And bring mental earplugs. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. If it ever gets better.
Watch.
From a safe distance, if at all possible.
Later…
AG
Thanks for that thoughtful reply. I think my own cynicism acts as a set of mental ear plugs.
It does appear to be a Michigan type thing that Christie is up to
Isn’t it amazing how quickly those partisan US Attorneys were fired when Eric Holder took over as Attorney General. And how soon they were replaced with competent people who understood the Constitution and the law.
Too many people have been hurt to thoroughly enjoy the schadenfreude of Chris Christie’s embarrassment.
Keep in mind that if Holder had fired any US attorneys we just wouldn’t have any–the Senate wouldn’t have confirmed any new nominees–and federal law would be even less enforced than it has been over the last few years. Just saying.
Yep. Holy Joe would have seen to that.
Sad and fucked up, tis true.
But at least more scrutiny came their way and without the cover at the top they probably read the tea leaves and started doing an OK job.
I am by no means a Chris Christie supporter, but I am most certainly a supporter of fair reporting.
After all of the hoopla both here and on the major media about Bob Menendez’s various swoops into ethical no-man’s lands, is it not possible that Christie was investigating him on solid grounds? I mean…really, Booman. You cannot have your cake and be eaten by it too. Sure, given a choice between investigating a crooked DemRat and an equally crooked RatPublican Christie would lean towards the DemRat, but even a cursory glance at the headlines regarding Obama’s so-called Justice Dept…and his IRS, too…shows the same tendency on both sides of the leaky PermaGov fence.
It’s a Rat-eat-Rat world out there.
Bet on it.
AG
no, it’s not possible. Menendez has his issues, as we’ve discussed here. he’s very ambitious, singleminded and evidently holds his grudges. But he’s also very smart, he knows/ knew what he faced as a Cuban candidate (and he did receive less of the dem vote than expected, presumably due to racism, at least on previous elections, don’t know about last time). According to all assessments, he’s not going to jeopardize his political career with stupidities. The other thing ppl forget, is that Menendez is divorced; if he’s dating a woman, even having casual affairs, he’s not cheating on anyone (the media seemed to forget this when “investigating” the most recent cooked-up lies about him0 [what happened to your media strike?]
Menendez is both smart and dirty as far as I am concerned. One way or another he is on the Israeli take, the Caribbean take, the military/industrial/corporate take, the more specific anti-Cuba/anti-Castro take and God only knows what others. You disagree? Investigate your sense of smell, media version. The stench of “ethical lapses” is on him like white on rice. You can’t smell it? Hmmmm…
AG
P.S. What happened to my media strike?
It has been defeated by mass media hypnosis. Ethical hypnotists always include a code word to break the spell. The media? Not a chance. Only a truly major disaster will wake up a lumpenproletariat that is sleepling along behind the media hypnotists like sheep behind judas goats. Right into the slaughterhouse they go. Watch. They’ll wake up just before the hammer hits them upside the head.
Bet on it.
Watch.
That really is all we can do at the present moment. The 2016 fix progresses as we speak. One tomato can goes down? They’ve got backups. Bet on that as well.
Watch and try to survive.
well it’s a free country, everyone’s entitled to his/ her own opinion. yours seems to be that everyone who disagrees with you is wrong, even if that person may happen to know more facts about a given situation.
Anyone who has been alive and at least semi-sentient in the U.S. over the past 50+ years or so, uses the phrase “well it’s a free country” with no trace of sarcasm and then follows that stupidity up by claiming to know “…facts about a given situation” should be automatically disqualified from knowing anything about anything, Errol.
The U.S. in nat a free country. It is a media-controlled kleptoocracy run for the benefit of the 1% at the expense of the 99%. Say or do anything that truly threatens that balance of power…as have Julian Assange and Edward Snowden most recently…and see where that “freedom” really lays.
Bet on it.
Bet on it.
AG
go ahead, call me a sheeple, call me a whole flock of sheeple (my bad, you already did). that’s your response to everyone who disagrees with you.
without resorting to local lore, re: Menendez, take a look at the forces deployed to “find something” on him; if there were a there there, they would have found it years ago.
Bullshit. Menendez survives because he is as firmly and safely ensconced in the Permanent Government as are the many other on-the-take, smart crooks who populate it.
Look at the forces deployed to find something on him?
Please!!!
Wake the fuck up.
Look at the forces that have been trying to “find something” on people like Henry Kissinger, Dick Cheney and the whole Bush family. Look at the survival and prosperity of the ongoing criminal financial enterprises that we laughingly call “Wall Street.” Look at the massive boondoggle called the federal government. Look at the state security agencies, the military and those companies that profit from the whole Permanent War system. We don’t really know who killed JFK, RFK and MLK Jr. despite the efforts of thousands and thousands of investigators over 50 years. In comparison, Menendez is small potatoes.
WTFU.
AG
You’ve clearly articulated your gripes with the Justice Department, AG. I agree with many of them. But what on earth is your gripe about Obama’s administration of the IRS?
The Obama administration has been fighting a rear-guard delaying action for quite some time to try to defuse allegations that the IRS was used to exert pressure on various right wing groups. I personally do not believe for an instant that any administration of any U.S. president w/in living memory did not use whatever backdoor power it may have had w/any federal agency to weaken its most dangerous enemies. Some get caught at this and some don’t. It’s politics as usual in almost all countries where the rule of law is in effect…as opposed to dictatorships and other absolute power systems that just do what they want w/out the necessity for a great deal of subterfuge…and has been so for aeons. Bet on it.
Obama is no cleaner than say Richard Nixon. Just much smarter.
If he was, he wouldn’t have been allowed to win or even get nominated.
Bet on that as well.
Realnational politics?
LBJ.
Business as usual. Ruthless and single minded.
Hogtie your enemies and go for the jugular.
Every time.
Later…
AG
I was hoping against hope that your claim that Obama is misusing the IRS was not this one.
This one, which comes from the deepest fever swamps of the TEA Party.
This one, which has been shown to be such a massive pile of offal that even Chairman Issa’s House investigative committee couldn’t blow the invented embers into a flame.
You have no idea what you’re talking about. Or, you do, and your desire to hate on the President for other policies I agree are troublesome has become so overwhelming to you that you are willing to pick up whatever false argument is lying around. Both are offensive, so I don’t care which of these is behind your claims.
If anything, the Obama Administration’s political retreat on this issue has caused the IRS to provide LESS scrutiny than it should have to organizations with clear political ideologies who are inappropriately filing for 501 (c)(3) status.
The link below provides some facts. See if you can refute any of them with responses that depend on something more substantial than “MEDIA BAD!”:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/06/20/193868881/4-Facts-You-Might-Not-Have-Known-About-
The-IRS-Scandal
I do not believe the Tea Party.
I do not believe the Republican party.
I do not believe the Democratic Party
And I do not believe the media.
I do believe my own common sense plus 50+ years of political observation. Not getting caught is not the same as not doing something. Any and every successful politician uses whatever power he or she can muster to defeat opposing political forces and help allies. I grew up at dinner tables where successful politicians discussed strategies and tactics, and I do not remember ever hearing anything said about morality or the law other than finding a way around those concepts without getting caught. Everything ZI heard was about winning by whatever means necessary and…by extension…doing so by whatever means that would not get the politicians in trouble. Legal? Illegal? They have different definitions of those terms than do we civilians, just as do soldiers in battle regarding “right” and “wrong,” if they survive and are not…for whatever reasons…brought up on charges, they were “right.” End of story.
“I saw my opportunities and I took ’em,” said the 19th century NYC ward heeler George Washington Plunkitt when asked if he felt in any way guilty about his life in the legal graft business. Ditto here. You want to believe the whitewash? Great. I’ve got a Mark Twain/Tom Sawyer fence for you to paint.
WTFU.
“Honest” politicians? Law-abiding politicians? Easy to identify. They’re the ones who never win big. Bet on it.
AG
This whole rant is ENTIRELY disconnected from any relevant information about the baloney IRS “scandal”.
Admit it: you don’t know the basic facts of the case, do you, AG?
I do admit it. The problem here lies in the “fact” that neither do you. You only know what you have been told to know. “Facts?” They are as malleable as the PermaGov can make them. Is it a “fact” that the NSA hasn’t been building a massively intrusive domestic surveillance system for more than a decade? Apparently not, although that was the common belief…propounded right on up to and even past the edge of the Wikileaks/Snowden cliff by PermaGov functionaries like James Clapper… for almost the entire time that it was happening. Was it a “fact” that the entire buildup to the Iraq invasion was based on a quite conscious set of lies? Not until the Yellowcake/Valerie Plame affair broke open the conspiracy. However, not only did the media not break that story until forced to do so by the outing of Valerie Plame, major parts of said media were complicit in the propagation of the lies that drove U.S. citizens into a war frenzy in the first place. (Remember The NY Times and Judith Miller? Do you think her assignment on the WMD.yellowcake/Iraq beat story was some kind of coincidence? Do you remember the network coverage of that buildup? Interviews with one after another military/intelligence operatives for weeks, all of whom were spinning the same story? Please.
Spare me your left wing of the PermaGov “facts.” I do not believe them, anymore than I believe the right wing or centrist “facts.” Do you know how to tell when the mass governmental/corporate media complex is lying? When it is saying something. End of story. Bet on it.
WTFU.
AG
In AG’s world, facts are his opinions. All disagreeable information can be dispensed with, because. Zero doubt or reconsideration.
How omnipotent of him.
Loretta Weinberg was the woman Christie wanted voters to “take the bat” to.
I don’t see how this was a disaster for the Bush administration. Because it outraged Democrats?
Exactly. The only bad outcome (for Republicans) of any of Bush’s policies was the possibly-permanent tarnishing of the Republican “brand” amongst voters.
Beyond that, it was great! Everybody got everything they wanted. The oil companies got their destabalized Middle East and their pipelines (and their permanent Iraqi bases); the rich got their tax cuts; the corporations got their deregulation; the telecoms got their surveillance immunity and the Executive got its expanded powers. “Mission accomplished.”