March 26, 2007

The Big Lie Surfaces

I normally don't comment on Letters to the Editor, but when one comes from the Vice Chairman of the Republican Committee of Allegheny County, attention, as they say, must be paid.

In a somewhat overheated defense of USAttorney Mary Beth Buchanan, Dave Majernik (the above named Vice Chairman) offered up this:
The PG conveniently omitted that when Bill Clinton took office in 1993, he, in an unprecedented move, fired all 93 U.S. attorneys at once to appoint his own. And, I bet, at that time, the PG was not concerned about any political motives in the Clinton Justice Department.
Ah, the all-purpose defense of from the Right:
But When Clinton did it, the press was silent.
Turns out, of course, that Mr Majernik is straight up, 180 degrees wrong. From the McClatchy from 3/13/07) two weeks ago:
Mass firings of U.S. attorneys are fairly common when a new president takes office, but not in a second-term administration.
And from the Wall Street Journal a day later (3/14/07), it looks like what's "unprecendented" is the firing of so many US Attorneys midterm:
Although Bush and President Bill Clinton each dismissed nearly all U.S. attorneys upon taking office, legal experts and former prosecutors say the firing of a large number of prosecutors in the middle of a term appears to be unprecedented and threatens the independence of prosecutors.
And would you look at the opening of that paragraph?
"Although Bush and President Clinton each dismissed nearly all U.S. Attorneys..."
Mr Majernik seems to have made a convenient ommision of his own. I checked out the blurb on him at the RCAC. Seems to be out of date:
For the past six years, Dave has served as the Chair of the Plum Borough Republican Committee which has consistently delivered winning votes for Republican candidates despite almost a two to one Democrat (sic) registration advantage.
Isn't Plum Borough a part of the Pennsylvania 4th Congressional District? Wasn't that Melissa Hart's district? Didn't the Republicans lose that district in Novemner 2007?

Good work, Dave.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

ANd Plum's elected officials are notoriously inept

Anonymous said...

Hmm..just the person to quench the view that Ms. Mary Beth Buchanan is a political hack. Glad to see her only defender is the local Republican Party Boss.

Anonymous said...

Although Bush and President Clinton each dismissed nearly all U.S. Attorneys...

Not only did Dubya dismiss all 93 US Attorneys when he came into office in 2001, he did much faster than Clinton. Dubya had replaced all of Clinton's appointees by April 2001. Even though Janet Reno requested resignations from all of Bush 41's appointees, many stayed on for months afterwards until replacements were confirmed by the Senate.

BTW, when he came into office in 1981, the wingnuts' patron saint Ronald Reagan replaced all 93 US Attorneys appointed by Jimmy Carter.

Anonymous said...

Majernik's letter of indignant bluster should have been put in the funny pages section of the Sunday paper. It is really pathetic, is it not? I guess he was compelled to send it because he has to justify his position within the Republican party. I do not believe for one minute that he crafted that bit of tripe himself, rather an outline directing what to write was sent from the RNC.
EMBA30

Anonymous said...

What would you expect? The Republicans of the area are investing heavily in Ms. Buchanan. I speculate that Ms. Buchanan will attempt to run for Melissa Hart's old seat or even Spector's seat. Can't wait to have a say in Ms. Buchanan's career future and vote NO THANK YOU!!!