# That CRAAAAAAAAZY conspiracy theory: the mass firings of US Attorneys **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 6, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824 "2007-03-06T17:45:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/121 "2007-03-14T13:21:46Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Has Karl Rove **ever,** in all his life, testified under oath? Can he do so without bursting into flames? [/QUOTE] Perhaps, but placing his hand on the Bible might release great billows of sulphrous fumes. [QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Why hold him to a higher standard than the President does everyone else in his administration? Sheesh. [/QUOTE] Because the AG is unique in the cabinet in that his first and foremost responsibility is to the law and not to policy and politics. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/122 "2007-03-14T13:27:05Z")
Of course. I was being ironic. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/123 "2007-03-14T14:03:45Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] I don’t think that Willard Mitt Romney was ever a U.S. attorney. [/QUOTE] No, but Romney was the only other Republican candidate besides Giuliani who pled “no comment” about this, so he was there in the interests of completeness. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/124 "2007-03-14T14:10:34Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Romney was the only other Republican candidate besides Giuliani who pled “no comment” about this [/QUOTE] What’d McCain have to say? The last I heard on him was this [unpromising bit on Monday](http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_5419740) > [@](#): > > “This is not Luke Skywalker here,” said Sen. Lindsey GrahamR-S.C., discussing his friend and Senate colleague John McCain’s second run for the presidency. “This is a totally different campaign.” ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/125 "2007-03-14T14:23:49Z")
The trouble with this scandal is that it has no legs. Joe Six Pack just isn’t going to get outraged about lawyers getting fired improperly like he is about a delapidated military hospital. In about two weeks it will be old news and forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/126 "2007-03-14T14:36:15Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] The trouble with this scandal is that it has no legs. Joe Six Pack just isn’t going to get outraged about lawyers getting fired improperly like he is about a delapidated military hospital. In about two weeks it will be old news and forgotten. [/QUOTE] I couldn’t disagree more. First of all, it is obviously an exceptionally hot story. Secondly, coverage will continue as people start getting hauled before the congress, including “will he/won’t he” coverage of Rove being called. And people aren’t so stupid that they can’t understand the concept of gaming the system to serve the people in power. I think that concept is all too familiar to many people. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/127 "2007-03-14T14:39:03Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] I couldn’t disagree more. First of all, it is obviously an exceptionally hot story. Secondly, coverage will continue as people start getting hauled before the congress, including “will he/won’t he” coverage of Rove being called. And people aren’t so stupid that they can’t understand the concept of gaming the system to serve the people in power. I think that concept is all too familiar to many people. [/QUOTE] I hope and pray that you are right. This is one time I would love to look stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/128 "2007-03-14T14:56:53Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] I hope and pray that you are right. This is one time I would love to look stupid. [/QUOTE] Oh, I don’t see it as stupidity, but a well-earned cynicism, like **Cervaise** described above. I don’t know that this will really nail the people who deserve to be nailed, but it is a story that I don’t believe is just going to go away. On the other hand, it probably won’t do anything to change the minds of the 30% who are still enamored with Bush. Even when true believers are unhappy about a particular Bush administration wrongdoing, they prove themselves rather inept viewers of pointilism, with each thing being its own separate dot and not describing a coherent whole. I think it is telling that you don’t see much from the **Brickers** , **Mr. Motos** , or even **John Maces** of the board on this topic. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/129 "2007-03-14T15:17:51Z")
Aaaaaaaaand it might now get even more complicated. In 2003, U.S. attorney Frederick Black was demoted, and ordered to stop his work, because he was investigating money-laundering activity and other corruption in U.S. holdings in the Pacific. His targets included Jack Abramoff, now famously convicted as a shameless influence peddler. Black’s demotion came _the day after_ he subpeonaed Abramoff. Hmmm. [Listen to this](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8888816). And [more information here](http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001039.php), in an older story written last summer, long before the current scandal broke. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/130 "2007-03-14T15:36:13Z")
Sam Stone’s “did you get this upset when Clinton replaced all of Bush I’s attorneys” is now the official misleading, hopeful-they’ll-completely-miss-the-point talking point. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/131 "2007-03-14T15:45:59Z")
[QUOTE=Apos] Sam Stone’s “did you get this upset when Clinton replaced all of Bush I’s attorneys” is now the official misleading, hopeful-they’ll-completely-miss-the-point talking point. [/QUOTE] That was when he described himself as not knowing all the details, except knowing that “Clinton fired all US attorneys except Chertoff.” That detail surely came off the top of his head, right? You can’t expect him to know both that detail _and_ the fact that every president changes US attorneys when they take office, _and_ that no presidents make wholesale changes thereafter, _particularly by_ using the degree to which they’ve played ball as a criterion, _and_ also without running it by congress, as Bush can do in order to keep us safe from terrorists. He honestly just didn’t recall those details. Dropping the sarcasm for the moment, that is just another example of a process that boggles my mind. If I were to get information from sources that constantly led me to make completely erroneous and misleading statements to others, I’d be embarrassed and would stop going to those sources! ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/132 "2007-03-14T16:35:10Z")
Looks to me like Al is basically begging Bush to cut him loose in all the interviews he’s been giving. He’s got a very obvious “Get me out of this dump!” vibe going. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/133 "2007-03-14T16:57:47Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] The trouble with this scandal is that it has no legs. Joe Six Pack just isn’t going to get outraged about lawyers getting fired improperly like he is about a delapidated military hospital. In about two weeks it will be old news and forgotten. [/QUOTE] Joe Sixpack had no particular reason to be outraged that the Nixon re-election team’s campaign tactics included spying on their opponents and breaking into their offices. Nevertheless . . . ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/134 "2007-03-14T17:06:02Z")
[QUOTE=Apos] Sam Stone’s “did you get this upset when Clinton replaced all of Bush I’s attorneys” is now the official misleading, hopeful-they’ll-completely-miss-the-point talking point. [/QUOTE] By a laughable coincidence, it’s also a talking point I’ve spotted in a couple of recent Freeper threads. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/135 "2007-03-14T17:07:26Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] Dropping the sarcasm for the moment, that is just another example of a process that boggles my mind. If I were to get information from sources that constantly led me to make completely erroneous and misleading statements to others, I’d be embarrassed and would stop going to those sources! [/QUOTE] B-b-but that’d mean no one at all would listen to or watch FOX News again! What would all the insipid, Cool-aid drinking commentators and reporters over there do for jobs? How would they support their children? Won’t anyone think of the children?? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/136 "2007-03-14T17:12:54Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Joe Sixpack had no particular reason to be outraged that the Nixon re-election team’s campaign tactics included spying on their opponents and breaking into their offices. Nevertheless . . . [/QUOTE] Joe Sixpack never did get particularly excercised about the breakin. It was the investigation into the coverup that exposed the lies and corruption in the administration for all to see. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/137 "2007-03-14T17:33:46Z")
The President just said today that he was troubled by the way the firings were handled, but still has confidence in his AG. And the beat goes on… Should we start an Attorney General Departure pool? ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/138 "2007-03-14T19:47:27Z")
[QUOTE=minty green] Looks to me like Al is basically begging Bush to cut him loose in all the interviews he’s been giving. He’s got a very obvious “Get me out of this dump!” vibe going. [/QUOTE] Well, in Dubya’s speech today he said he had total confidence in ol’ Bert. If that’s not the Orange X on his forehead, I don’t know what is. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/139 "2007-03-14T19:52:52Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Joe Sixpack had no particular reason to be outraged that the Nixon re-election team’s campaign tactics included spying on their opponents and breaking into their offices. Nevertheless . . . [/QUOTE] But there is no modern day Howard Baker. Plus there’s a difference between an impeachment resulting in President Ford than one that leads to President Cheney. With only 50 true Democrats in the Senate, no way is there enough votes to convict even if impeached. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824/140 "2007-03-14T19:58:16Z")
Seems that [Bush today referred to the U.S. attorney firings](http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/013043.php) as a “customary practice.” Yeah. An ancient custom dating back to 2006. :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-craaaaaaaazy-conspiracy-theory-the-mass-firings-of-us-attorneys/394824.md?page=8)