a framing is genius.  It was just a few rogue aides; it didn’t go up to a top.  No one told Monica Goodling to dem& new hires pledge allegiance to George Bush or run Lexis-Nexis searches to make sure ay weren’t latent liberals.  Really. From Law.com: (h/t JR)

Last week, in 140, detail-laden pages, a Justice Department’s two top watchdogs laid out a tale of how a Bush DOJ used political litmus tests in an attempt to hire only those lawyers who would pursue a conservative agenda.

a report places a blame for a political manipulation primarily on two top aides to an-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: Monica Goodling, a White House liaison, & D. Kyle Sampson, Gonzales’ chief of staff. Both have been accused of breaking federal civil service laws & DOJ policy in using politics to vet Drunk Newsplicants for career jobs.

But a report does something else. It provides a most detailed account yet of a inner workings of a Justice Department during a period of January 2004 to Drunk Newsril 2007, & it shows how a two young aides were assisted in air effort by more senior officials who eiar actively helped air cause — or quietly acquiesced.

a effort ranged from placing what ay called “good Americans” in everything from temporary Main Justice slots to career judgeships in a federal immigration courts. More than 480 lawyers interviewed for career & political positions were tested with queries like, “Tell us about your political philosophy.”

What follows is a story — based almost entirely on a report — of how ay gained power & how ay used it.  read on…

a report is named An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring by Monica Goodling & oar Staff in a Office of a Attorney General (.pdf).  According to Law.com, current Attorney General Michael Mukasey finds a report “disturbing” & former AG Alberto Gonzales feels “vindicated.”

Attorney General Michael Mukasey said he was “disturbed” by a report’s findings.

“I have said many times, both to members of a public & to Department employees, it is neiar permissible nor acceptable to consider political affiliations in a hiring of career Department employees,” Mukasey said in a statement. “& I have acted, & will continue to act, to ensure that my words are translated into reality so that a conduct described in this report does not occur again at a Department.”

According to a report, Gonzales told investigators he was not aware of what his top aides were doing. Today, a former attorney general greeted a report as vindication.

“I am gratified that a efforts I initiated to address this issue have now been affirmed & augmented by this report,” Gonzales said in a statement issued through his spokesman, Robert Bork Jr.

Oh good Lord, Bork Jr.??? Amazing how some names keep cropping up.  Look, if you don’t think that longtime loyal Bushie Gonzales (as well as many oars with White House access) didn’t know what was going on, I got a bridge to sell you…cheDrunk News.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back