Digby: Democrats suffer from a delusion of allowing only Republicans to be special prosecutors

[Just_Vote_Dem]

Joe Biden falls victim to Democrats' special prosecutor delusion;
Special prosecutor is a Republican job, no matter what

Perhaps someday Democrats will learn their lesson but I'm not holding out much hope at this point. They suffer from an inexplicable habit of allowing only Republicans to hold the job of a special prosecutor. This has been going on for decades now and the results have been predictable each time.

~~snip~~

When the Reagan White House came under investigation for the Iran-Contra Affair, a Republican judge named Lawrence Walsh was appointed by a three-judge panel under the new independent counsel statute. Walsh was a pretty zealous prosecutor and uncovered quite a bit of dirt but in the end, he was thwarted by President George H. W. Bush and his Attorney General William Barr, who pardoned all the possible defendants just before Bush left office in 1992. Funny how that worked out for Republicans again.

~~snip~~

Fast forward to 2016 and the Russia Investigation, headed by yet another Republican, former FBI Director Robert Mueller. The GOP Department of Justice knew it wouldn't be right to have a Democrat investigate a Republican president. Why they might be partisan!

Special prosecutor is a Republican job, no matter what. Until the appointment of Jack Smith, who has been assiduously apolitical during his career, there has never been anything but Republicans in the job since Archibald Cox and it's a problem.

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Full article at https://www.salon.com/2024/02/09/joe-biden-falls-victim-to-democrats-special-prosecutor-delusion/

I think it's an interesting article and worthy of discussion.

[doc03]

1. Democrats always go to a gun fight with a pocket knife. Oh we can't have a

Democrat investigating President Biden it would appear to be political. If it is a Republican
only a Republican can be SC, they don't give a fuck how it looks.

[Easterncedar]

2. Right.

And we let the media rule the discussion after, too.

[Lonestarblue]

3. And if I'm not mistaken, every FBI director has been a Republican.

That’s why there is a Republican bias because leaders hire people who believe as they do. The 10-year appointment of directors is a tradition, not a law. Democratic presidents need to stop kowtowing to Republicans and appoint people for all jobs who believe in the law and democratic principles. Few Republicans are left who believe in our democracy.

[GreenWave]

4. And why we NEVER had a Nazi scare while we had a GOP inspired Red Scare to prevent finding the Nazis.

[dsc]

5. Jaworski was a Democrat

but had voted for Nixon twice and later headed Democrats for Reagan. But this has been a major problem.

[PCIntern]

6. I know what you're saying and you're correct but

That’s like me saying that I go to church every day, take communion and attend routine confessionals but I’m Jewish.

[haele]

7. Far more successful prosecutors are Republican vice Democratic...

It may be the nature of those working for "the rule of Law" to be more Republican, or it may be that Republicans looking for a "easy power trip" would rather be Officers of the Court than do hand-on social issues mitigation by being community analysts, organizers, advocates, and policy makers.
It's easier to use the law to get rid of problems than change the system to get rid of the underlying issue.
Authoritarians tend to gravitate to shortcuts.

Haele