US Attorneys replaced to control 2008 election?

There are a lot of people who believe that the last presidential election was rigged by Shrub and Company. Ohio gets mentioned a lot — generally in strained screams, or, depending on the company present, in hushed tones.

But although some of these folks may give off the kind of vibe that indicates they prefer the feel of aluminum foil wallpaper, I haven't been convinced they're on the wrong track.

And it's becoming painfully obvious that Alberto Gonzales — most likely with the blessing or even direction of the White House — orchestrated the firings of all those U.S. Attorneys for political reasons.

Then along comes this, from an article by Greg Gordon, Margaret Talev and Marisa Taylor of McClatchy Newspapers:

... Last April, while the Justice Department and the White House were planning the firings, Rove gave a speech in Washington to the Republican National Lawyers Association. He ticked off 11 states that he said could be pivotal in the 2008 elections. Bush has appointed new U.S. attorneys in nine of them since 2005: Florida, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Arkansas, Michigan, Nevada and New Mexico. U.S. attorneys in the latter four were among those fired.

Rove thanked the audience for "all that you are doing in those hot spots around the country to ensure that the integrity of the ballot is protected." He added, "A lot in American politics is up for grabs."

The department's civil rights division, for example, supported a Georgia voter identification law that a court later said discriminated against poor, minority voters. It also declined to oppose an unusual Texas redistricting plan that helped expand the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. That plan was partially reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Frank DiMarino, a former federal prosecutor who served six U.S. attorneys in Florida and Georgia during an 18-year Justice Department career, said that too much emphasis on voter fraud investigations "smacks of trying to use prosecutorial power to investigate and potentially indict political enemies."

Several former voting rights lawyers, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of antagonizing the administration, said the division's political appointees reversed the recommendations of career lawyers in key cases and transferred or drove out most of the unit's veteran attorneys. ...

The full article: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16962753.htm

Karl Rove isn't just a lightning rod for the administration. He's an amateur scientist, constantly firing little rockets with wires on them into the clouds, trying his best to generate bolts of retribution aimed at anyone who would oppose the reign of the Neocons. Unfortunately, it's the Constitution of the United States that keeps getting singed.

If Alberto Gonzales needs to go, Rove needs to go just as badly.

And if Rove needs to go, why would we want to keep the president who trusts and encourages him — if not directly ordering him to rig these elections?

It's said that Bush is just a puppet of the Neocon operators within the administration. He's supposedly some kind of kidnap victim. If that's the case, I'd say the kidnap victim has full-blown Stockholm Syndrome.

Or is The Shrub so oblivious to reality that he can't see the massive machine that surrounds him?