I am not sure why the press is not talking about this more, or why no one has pointed it out:
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales apologized to the nation’s 93 U.S. attorneys in a conference call Friday as he tried to hold on to his job amid the scandal over the firings of eight federal prosecutors.
In another move to repair his credibility, Gonzales named a respected U.S. attorney from Virginia, Chuck Rosenberg, as his interim chief of staff to replace Kyle Sampson, who stepped down because of his involvement in the controversy.
But pressure for Gonzales’ resignation continued to build.
In recent days, the Justice Department and the White House have been forced to defend the firings after internal e-mails revealed a coordinated effort to root out U.S. attorneys who’d fallen out of favor with the administration.
Administration critics and allies alike were startled by the degree to which politics appeared to be driving the planned purge of the Republican appointees in the months before the 2006 congressional elections. In one e-mail, one official said the plan was to replace “underperforming” U.S. attorneys and retain the “vast majority” who were “loyal Bushies.”
It isn’t just the ones who were fired- it is the ones who are still in place who have had their integrity smeared. By politicizing this to such an extent, the administration has given the appearance that the retained attorneys are little more than lackeys who will be political hacks for the administration.
*** Update ***
Their hackery has undermined the integrity of every US Attorney and will now throw every prosecutorial decision into question. Well done, guys.