Who Says History Doesn't Repeat Itself?

Just when the phony-baloney, plastic banana, good-time-rock & roll non-"scandal" that was the routine, if poorly handled, dismissal of eight (out of ninety-three) US attorneys last fall was settling into the rear-view mirror, THIS had to happen:

Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty said Monday he will resign, the highest-ranking Bush Administration casualty in the furor over the firing of U.S. attorneys, The Associated Press has learned.

McNulty, who has served eighteen months as the Justice Department's second-in-command, announced his plans at a closed-door meeting of U.S. attorneys in San Antonio, according to two senior department aides. He said he will remain at the department until this fall or until the Senate approves a successor, the aides said.

McNulty could not be immediately reached for comment Monday. Justice aides said he has been considering leaving for months and never intended to serve more than two years as deputy attorney general.

But his ultimate decision to step down, the aides said, was hastened by anger at being linked to the prosecutors' purge that Congress is investigating to determine if eight U.S. attorneys were fired for political reasons. The aides spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly about McNulty's decision.

In other words, it was leaked, and helpfully early for the Dems and the Enemy Media. Nice. I remember when the Bushies were famous for how tight a PR ship they ran; boy, but that seems a long time ago.

So, is it McNulty who has the public relations tin-ear or is it Speedy or even the President himself? You wouldn't think the latter two since Gonzales is still the A-G.

On the other hand, if McNulty is P-O'd over being tied to the "prosecutors' purge" (eyeroll), his ire must not be directed at the Dems, or presumably he would dig in and stand his ground alongside his boss. And since, as Admiral Ed points out, he’s going to be dragged before the Donk Judiciary Committee star chamber regardless, McNulty’s opting to quit now does not bode well for how further hearings – to say nothing of the confirmation hearings for his replacement as Deputy A-G – are likely to go.

It’s as I’ve said, into the teeth of a large portion of the center-right blogosphere, from the beginning of this trivial contrivance: the point of this kerfuffle is not an incompetent attorney-general, but a triumphalist, vengeful Democrat majority looking for any hook, any loose end, that they can snag and use to unravel and bring down the entire Bush Administration. Heaving Speedy overboard wouldn’t “eliminate this dead end story altogether” – it would be but “the beginning of sorrows,” not just for Gonzales, not just for Bush, but for the entire Right.

Before McNulty bailed that end was not a serious possibility. Now? At the very least, a long, hot, miserable summer awaits.