Paul Krugman's op-ed in yesterday's NY Times is a must read. Even if you don't usually read Krugman, read this one.
In his column, Krugman summarizes the Bush Administration's latest trick for heading off anticipated investigations: firing U.S. Attorneys viewed as potentially hostile, and replacing them from an apparently limitless stock of toadies.
Krugman also calls attention to an unnoticed clause, slipped into the Patriot Act during the last Congressional session by Arlen Spector. This clause does away with the erstwhile requirement that Congress approve interim appointees to these positions.
Krugman refers to TPMmuckraker: "… which has done yeoman investigative reporting on this story." For your convenience, here are some links:
As Krugman says:
The broader context is this: defeat in the midterm elections hasn't led the Bush administration to scale back its imperial view of presidential power.
On the contrary, now that President Bush can no longer count on Congress to do his bidding, he's more determined than ever to claim essentially unlimited authority -- whether it's the authority to send more troops into Iraq or the authority to stonewall investigations into his own administration's conduct.
The next two years, in other words, are going to be a rolling constitutional crisis.
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