The former US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and other members of Bush’s administration conspired to fire US attorneys for political reasons, hire lawyers for the Justice Department based mainly on partisan loyalty rather than skill or experience, and (worst of all) decided which prosecutions to take to trial based on helping Republicans win elections and defeating Democrats. In other words, they made a partisan farce of the Justice department.
But now, the new Attorney General, Michael Mukasey has decided to not prosecute anyone for any of this. His explanation? “Not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime.” If that weren’t bad enough, he said that the guilty parties have already been punished by “substantial negative publicity.”
The next time a politician talks about the need for personal responsibility, just remember that they are talking about other people — such things don’t apply to them.
