Bush's Corruption Exploding

Among the many betrayals of democracy committed by the Bush administration is the transformation of the U.S. Department of Justice into an appalling political hit-man operation using an agency of the government, the DoJ, to attack, libel and imprison political enemies in programs so audacious that Richard Nixon's dirty tricks operations, government corruption and two criminal attorneys general are comparatively trivial in comparison.

The extent of the Bush/Rove political prosecutions operating under the guise of the government entity responsible for upholding the rule of law is becoming apparent as the House Committee on the Judiciary continues its oversight hearings and its demands for DoJ documents [Much of the Committee's document demands of the DoJ have come from Representatives Conyers, Sánchez, Baldwin, and Davis. See members' follow-up letter.]

And the cooperate press, after a considerable lapse, appears to be somewhat back on the job, though the political prosecutions ought to be screaming from newspaper headlines and becoming the object of saturation coverage that would echo that of the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Taking up the slack with arguably the most incisive analysis and investigative journalism on the DoJ corruption is Scott Horton, contributing writer at Harper's.

Today's column is typical.

A Primer in Political Persecution

A United States Attorney, an embittered Republican who has been defeated in a series of election contests, had a meeting with attorneys for a criminal defendant, a prominent Democrat, at the outset of the case. “I know your client thinks he’s innocent. He’s offered to take a lie detector test. I’m not interested in that. In fact, I’m sure he’d pass the lie detector test. And in fact, I don’t have the evidence to make out my case. No matter. I just plan to throw shit at the wall and sit back and watch as some of it drips down on him. We’ll get him.”

This egregious breach of responsibility by a law enforcement officer, who is essentially admitting that he’s using his office for political persecution, is not drawn from a gothic novel. It happened just a few years ago. And the victim was actually convicted and is now sitting in prison–thanks in significant part to the extremely dubious conduct of the federal judge who oversaw the case. A federal judge who, moreover, was openly tantalized with the prospect of a judicial promotion by the Bush Justice Department as the case was running. We’ll hear more details on this story in a later post. But it furnishes a good glimpse into the total depravity of political prosecutions which stains the Bush Justice Department. And it relates to a case which wasn’t discussed in yesterday’s hearings in the House Judiciary Committee… one of many. ...

Look back here for coverage on the Bush administration's political prosecutions (in particular Roberts v. U.S., the story of the swiftboating and criminal conviction of an innocent Wisconsin Navy veteran whose criminal appeal is being argued tomorrow morning), and bookmark as a favorite Horton's No Comment column.

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