Firing Attorneys General: A Scorecard

Clinton: 93 Bush: 8

I find this whole charade surrounding the Bush Administration's firing of 8 attorneys general back in 2007 ridiculous. The MSM and Congress are raising such a fuss, curiously "forgetting" the 93 attorneys general that were fired back in 1993 during the Clinton Administration. NINETY-THREE!!!! Why such a stink raised over former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez' paltry EIGHT? But, I guess it's all part of the current witch hunt occurring right now, as Liberals continue clamoring for Bush's head.


Karl Rove's name has been pulled again into the spotlight. Here's what the AP reported on Friday (emphasis added):

A federal prosecutor questioned former top presidential aide Karl Rove for several hours on Friday, trying to determine his precise role in the Bush administration's politically tinged firings of U.S. attorneys. It was the first time Rove has faced questioning in the controversy, which erupted in 2007 and has lingered because the Bush White House resisted efforts by Congress and the Justice Department to question Rove and others. In Friday's session, Rove and the prosecutor who interviewed him, acting U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy, declined to comment as they left the offices of Rove's lawyer separately. It is conceivable Rove may have to undergo further questioning.

The controversy continues to linger due to Bush resisting efforts to question his people? How quickly controversies have been forgotten in former administrations, especially those of The Golden Boy Bill Clinton. But, what was the MSM's reaction back in '93 with regards to then U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno when she fired 93 of the attorneys under her? Here's what MediaWatch reported back in April of 1993 (emphasis added):

93 U.S. attorneys, a very unusual practice. Republicans charged the Clintonites
made the move to take U.S. Attorney Jay Stephens off the House Post Office
investigation of Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski. The network response: ABC and CBS never mentioned it. CNN's World News and NBC Nightly News provided brief mentions, with only NBC noting the Rosty angle. Only NBC's Garrick Utley kept the old outrage, declaring in a March 27 "Final
Thoughts" comment: "Every new President likes to say 'Under me, it's not going
to be politics as usual.' At the Justice Department, it looks as if it still
is."

Ah, the days of Janet Reno. She did have some feathers in her cap, such as the captures and convictions of such criminals as Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols (Oklahoma City bombers), Ted Kaczynski (the Unabomber), and those who committed the first attack on The World Trade Center. But, let's not forget some of her "less than stellar performances": David Koresh and The Branch Davidians, Ruby Ridge, Elian Gonzalez, and poor Richard Jewell being publicsly and falsely accused of bombing the Atlanta Olympics. Those calamities could have been grounds for dismissal right there, let alone the 93 fired attorneys. Gonzalez' firing of 8 attorneys pales in comparison.


[By the way, you can go here to see a brief sketch on the fired fired attorneys.]