Do YOU Think Gov. Don Siegelman got a raw deal?

[Octafish]

34. Rove n Gonzo canned 5 GOP US Attorneys who wouldn't ''play ball.'' Holder said, ''OK. No problem.''

Something snapped...

Justice Ends Bush-Era U.S. Attorney Scandal With a Whimper, Not a Prosecution

Andrew Cohen
PoliticsDaily.com

EXCERPT...

For those of you now tuning back in, don't worry. You didn't miss much. The song remains the same. Harriet Miers, the former White House counsel, and Karl Rove, the former presidential adviser, fudged and fussed and never fully cooperated with the investigation. The president and vice president were spared the inconvenience even of subpoenas. Former Attorney General Gonzales was reprimanded -- but not officially sanctioned -- by government officials. And he and his sub-cronies, who systematically replaced professional attorneys at the Justice Department with partisan hacks, will not face prosecution (or, evidently, further investigation off Capitol Hill).

SNIP...

The Justice Department eased off this past week -- notifying the world of its intentions through a letter to the lawmakers -- despite an acknowledgment by federal lawyers that there is evidence that the conduct of these men and women was improper -- "inappropriately political" was the euphemism employed. For example, few who saw Gonzales' performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 2007 will ever forget it. Yet although the misconduct from high officials damaged the credibility and the reputation of the Justice Department -- it still has not recovered -- there has been no meaningful public accounting from the federal government.

As Harper's magazine contributing editor Scott Horton explained so well: If you are inclined to be dissatisfied with the outcome here, there are plenty of culprits to point at besides the bad actors themselves: It starts with (1) former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who in September 2008 appointed (2) Nora Dannehy, a Republican-appointed federal prosecutor, who immediately limited the scope of the investigation and signed off on last week's coup de grace. Instead of looking into the pattern in the firings -- there were eight in all -- Dannehy narrowed the scope of her work into a focus on the premature firing of David Iglesias, the U.S. attorney for New Mexico. And then there is (3) current Attorney General Eric Holder, who signaled long ago his lack of appetite for re-litigating even the worst legal moments of the Bush era.

SNIP...

Of the scandal itself, Gonzales repeated his long-held story: "I made the decision based upon what I thought was best for the department and for the American people. All these investigations have now confirmed that this was not to influence improperly any ongoing investigation or to punish anyone for political reasons." I guess it all depends upon what your definition of "inappropriately political" is.

SOURCE: http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/07/24/justice-ends-u-s-attorney-scandal-with-a-whimper-not-a-prosecu/

...and too few noticed.