Serving at the pleasure of the president

kc — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:33:15 -0700

The right wing machine keeps echoing the same lame excuse over and over, that the U.S. Attorney purge is much ado about nothing, that no laws were broken, that the president has the power to fire political appointees at any time for any reason.

And in the narrow legal sense, they are right. These attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president. He CAN fire them, anytime and for any reason.

In the same vein, I have the power to shred every document in my desk if I want. They are my papers, and I can can do with them what I please. But if I knowingly shred a document that impacts a criminal investigation, I can be charged with obstruction of justice. For shredding my own papers. Because it's not the shredding, or the firings, that are the crimes, it's the RESULTS of those actions that could be illegal, depending on what the intent was. If Bush or his people made the decision to fire any of these attorneys in order to hinder any investigation, even if it was only one part of the rational for the firings, that is obstruction.

Just because you have the power to do something, doesn't mean there will not be consequences for that action. Now, it would seem the smart people over at the Wall Street Journal and New York Post could grasp this simple concept.

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Serving at the pleasure of the president