Hypocrites & Homos in The War of Terror

Below: Monica Goodling, the archetypal blond right wing Xtian lackey. How long until she's a "consultant" for Fox News? Photo: Pete Souza/Chicago Tribune. The Incredible Shrinking Newspaper©™ (Sports: 6 pp.; Business: 6 pp. No more horse racing info, & no more of the cursory stock coverage they had been providing.) today covers the most recent Justice Dep't. report on hiring & firing of U. S. Attys., & brings S-E-X into it.

In the second of a series of reports on the politically charged tenure of former Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales, the department's inspector general found that two former Justice aides used sexual orientation as a litmus test in deciding whom they would hire or fire.

The report describes an alleged "sexual relationship" between a career prosecutor and a U.S. attorney, who were not named. Margaret M. Chiara, the former U.S. attorney in Grand Rapids, Mich., said in an interview with The Times that she now believed she was fired because of the erroneous belief that she was having a relationship with career prosecutor Leslie Hagen.

The NYT mentions this as well, but not at the length the ISN does, & the WaPo gives it only one line.

Good contrasts from the ISN:

Goodling also sought out the advice of the White House and other Republicans in filling vacant immigration judge positions. Goodling -- who declined to be interviewed by the authors of the report -- previously testified that, based on advice from Sampson, she incorrectly had believed that it was legal to consider political factors in selecting judges.

Emphasis ours. Goodling wouldn't talk to the DoJ people investigating this, yet:

Lawyers for Goodling released a statement saying that her testimony before Congress had brought to light many of the abuses included in Monday's report. They described the testimony as "among the most candid and meticulous that has
been seen on Capitol Hill in decades."

Please. Just stop it, lawyer boy.

The WaPo reports:

John M. Dowd, an attorney for Goodling, said yesterday that she deserved praise, not scorn, for her "exceptional candor" with Congress last year. "Each and every one of the core conclusions of the OIG/OPR report . . . is consistent with and indeed derived from Ms. Goodling's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee," he said.

It should be noted that Ms. Goodling testified before Congrefs under a grant of immunity. Odd that she was so forthcoming then (about her own activities) yet wouldn't speak to the Justice Dep't. investigators when there was no immunity involved.

There's more fun though. From the NYT:

In Ms. Goodling’s notes from the interviews, she would give a shorthand assessment of how well they fared on threshold political issues, as in the notation for one candidate who she wrote was aptly conservative on “god, guns + gays.”

Would that be the same "god, guns + gays" that Sen. Obama was given such a hard time about, when he claimed that certain bitter groups clung to those same Gs, even as the economy fell down around them? Where would he get an idea like that?

And where would the Bush admin. get an idea like this?

According to the report, officials at the White House first developed a method of searching the Internet to glean the political leanings of a candidate and introduced it at a White House seminar called The Thorough Process of Investigation. Justice Department officials then began using the technique to search for key phrases or words in an applicant’s background, like “abortion,” “homosexual,” “Florida recount,” or “guns.”

The WaPo gives us some numbers:

Thirty-four candidates told investigators that Goodling or one of her deputies raised the topic of abortion in job interviews and 21 said they discussed same-sex marriage, the report said. Another job applicant said he admired Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, only to watch Goodling "frown" and respond, "But she's pro-choice."

She and her aides regularly gave candidates for career civil service jobs a form designed for political appointees that sought information on party affiliation and financial contributions. When job seekers sometimes raised objections, Goodling replied that the form was a mistake, showing that she was "aware that it was improper," the report said.

Not to forget the S-E-X part, again from the ISN:

One official told investigators about a conversation in which he told Goodling that he had heard the rumors that the women were lesbians. He said Goodling responded to that news "by putting her head in her hands and asking why no one had told her about this information before."

And:

A former public affairs officer who became the Justice Department's liaison with the White House, Goodling testified under a grant of immunity before the House Judiciary Committee that she had "crossed a line" and allowed political and other impermissible factors to affect her hiring decisions.

Public affairs officer. What more need one say. Just think "Dana Perino."

The latest disclosures include a finding that Goodling rejected the application of a career terrorism prosecutor for a job at Justice Department headquarters because his wife was active in local Democratic politics. The report said a less-qualified candidate was hired.

The War of Terror. As long as the current administration doesn't have to hire experienced people w/ Democratic wives, or gay people who speak Arabic, they'll be taking it to the enemy!!