Saturday, October 11, 2008

Abuse of Power: The Bush-Palin Connection

There is a notable link between the Governor of Alaska and the Bush Administration - a core belief that if you hold the power, anything you do is justified and legal. Here are two elected officials who will strip someone of their job based on a personal vendetta.

As the national news is over-loaded on financial chaos, the illegal acts and scandals of Bush/Palin are likely to be lost. A scathing indictment of the unethical if not illegal acts of the Department of Justice over firing staffers for political cause arrived but was trumped by the Bailout Scandal.

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Investigators from both the department's Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility found that political pressure did indeed drive the dismissal action against at least three of the nine federal prosecutors abruptly fired. At the time, then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales insisted the individuals were all dismissed for inadequate performance, or failure to implement the President's law enforcement agenda.

But it appears the longtime pal and adviser to President Bush was lying through his teeth. Turns out the real reason some of the top federal lawyers were removed from the job, according to the Justice Department report, was that either the U.S. attorneys had the audacity to prosecute Republicans or because they failed to aggressively prosecute Democrats.

The impartial administration of justice in this nation, its very credibility, was nearly destroyed by the tyrannical ambitions of a few. (more here)

Now let's take a look at the just-issued report on Gov. Palin's similar 'abuse of power':

"This is, at bottom, a story about the rule of law, and the rules governing the exercise of political power. If you accept those rules, then you think that people should be hired or fired based on their job performance, not on whether or not you personally have it in for them. If they do something that actually merits firing, then they should be fired; if not, not.

If you don't accept the rule of law, you might think that taking political power allows you to take any kind of vengeance you want on anyone who crosses you. This includes not just your ex-brother-in-law, but perfectly good Public Safety Commissioners who do not do your bidding.

Not accepting those rules is wrong in its own right. The state has enormous power, and one of the things that keeps it in check is that public officials are expected not to use it to advance personal vendettas. Sarah and Todd Palin obviously disagree. This fact alone should disqualify them from high office.

Twins of this mindset share a contempt for the law and a dangerous lust for using power to pursue petty desires. Truth for these twins is whatever they decide at the moment and woe to any who challenge their delusions.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you, Joe, for this coalescence. The overarching abuse of power by the Bush administration will, I believe, merit a paragraph or two in future high school history books, and that's a good thing. Linking that with Governor Palin's style is notable.

    On Michael Feldman's "Whaddya Know" npr radio show a couple weeks ago, the question was, "How many phone calls did she make to get her former brother-in-law fired?" Notice: no nouns. And the answerers knew exactly what the question was about. The answer, unverified by me, was 36. Perhaps there is enough information out there, and concern, for citizens to get the connection.

    Lee Barker
    http://barkerbassblog.blogspot.com/

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