Fired for "political reasons" vs. "obstruction of justice"

[garybeck]

Whenever I hear one of these big tanks like my Senator Leahy talking about the attorneys being "fired for political reasons," I start to cringe.

I understand, Fox News can do crap like that, but that's not what I would expect from my Democratic Senator who is supposedly leading the investigation.

I'm just a regular old guy. But I can smell when something's not right. Here's what's not right.

Leahy can jump up and down all he wants about "political firings" and he's never going to get anywhere. The bottom line is, the Repubniks are correct - firing for political reasons is not illegal. they serve at the discretion of the president. we've heard it all before, and that is correct. No judge would bust Bush, Rove, or anyone for firing an attorney because they didn't agree with them politically. It might not make sense but no one is going to jail for that.

ON THE OTHER HAND, that's not what this scandal is about. It's about obstruction of justice, not politcal firings. There's a big difference between firing someone because they have different political views, and firing someone because they were in the middle of an investigation and about to indict someone. THAT is clear obstruction of justice.

So when I hear Leahy go on TV and talk about how it "really looks like some of these attorneys were fired for political reaons" I read into it: this whole thing is going to blow over. Leahy is blowing hot air, trying to look tough but he's never going to take this thing to the next level.

When we start hearing Leahy talk about obstruction, rather than political firings, then maybe we're heading somewhere. Until then, I have to say, Leahy looks good and sounds good on TV and he's doing a good job of appearing to be the tough guy, but it's all a show until he starts talking about Carol Lam and obstruction of justice and stops talking about political firings.

[baldguy]

1. US Attys can be fired for political reasons

They're political appointees, after all. It could as simple as the Admin wants to focus on one type of case over another, or they have another individual in mind for the position.

What the Admin can't do is ask the US Attys to end & initiate prosecutions for political reasons, then fire them when they refuse to cooperate, then slander them, then lie to Congress & the people about the reasons.

[garybeck]

2. right, so the question is....

Why is Leahy repeatedly mentioning "political reasons" and never mentioning obstruction when he goes on TV?