The title says it all, really:
Former Justice Department counselor Monica M. Goodling and former chief of staff D. Kyle Sampson routinely broke the law by conducting political litmus tests on candidates for jobs as immigration judges and line prosecutors, according to an inspector general’s report released today.
Goodling passed over hundreds of qualified applicants and squashed the promotions of others after deeming candidates insufficiently loyal to the Republican party, said investigators, who interviewed 85 people and received information from 300 other job seekers at Justice. Sampson developed a system to screen immigration judge candidates based on improper political considerations and routinely took recommendations from the White House Office of Political Affairs and Presidential Personnel, the report said.
Goodling regularly asked candidates for career jobs: “What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?” the report said. One former Justice Department official told investigators she had complained that Goodling was asking interviewees for their views on abortion, according to the report.
The only question that matters is- will anyone be charged with anything? Will anyone suffer one bit for their malfeasance? Will anyone have their career arc impacted at all for willful criminal behavior?
The answer is- “Of course not.”
What a country. This is the kind of crap you need to keep in mind when you hear the braying jackasses accusing Democrats and other of not being patriotic. These scumbags, these perfect examples of the modern GOP, have routinely put party over country. The fact that they have the nerve to even show their faces in public, let alone accuse others of treason or treachery or question their patriotism is enough to make your blood boil.
Pdf of the report here.
rob!
i can only hope Monica “Yes, My Fuhrer” Goodling lives a life of sadness and unrealized hopes, and when she’s older, looks back on her life and figures out that a promising law career was forever thrown into the shitter she decided to worship at the altar of George W. Bush.
every time she applies for a job, someone should go “Oh, wow–you’re THAT Monica Goodling?!?” and start to laugh and point and call others in the office over to gawk, so much so she has to run away, crying and screaming at the sheer level of gut-wrenching embarrassment.
Elvis Elvisberg
“What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?”
That is the antithesis of conservatism as a political philosophy, and the Platonic form of conservatism as a political movement in the US today.
Incertus
The issue of personal loyalty was always the most important for Dubya. The more I read of Nixonland, the more similarities I see in their personalities.
Whatever. You’ll soon be able to see Dubya and family in their ultimate glory on the big screen.
SpotWeld
I suspect it’ll be the oposite. At some point in the future (approx. 5 years hence) there will be a fully mundane series of job and performance review. A good number of the folks hire and promoted under Goodling’s politically skewed criteria will be found to be less than satisfactory (not all of them, certainly neo-conservitism isn’t direclty linked to in competitience, but it certainl fails to filter it out.)
So there will be much gnashing of the teeth from the far right as a group of thier own are called out on not really being up to snuff. Cries of “poltical witch hunts” will go up and mutch talking of heads will occur without any notice of the fact that maybe, just maybe, there should have been better oversight of the highering in the first place.
In short: The system will out the twits. And the offices that have been well stocked with Bushies will suffer for it. Somehow it’ll be the Dems fault.
DannyNoonan
At this point, to say that the Bush administration systematically weakened DOJ in order to put like-minded assholes in positions above their ability is to report that an old man is yelling at clouds. But at the very least this might get the DOJ closer toward pressing criminal charges, though it’s a long shot. Let the frog marching begin.
Loviatar
Hey John,
A little OT, but I thought this would go along great with your “Monica Goodling” story, seeing how its all about “Liberal Hate.”
.
Police: Man Shot Churchgoers Over Liberal Views
.
Once again, why did you vote for Bush twice?
jake
I really hope all of the schmucks involved (not just No Goodling) are cast out by the Bar. There will always be some dirt-bags willing to bury them in the offices of their legal counsel. Some universities might be proud to have them teach at their law school.
Let them all scrap with the Regent’s U grads and other dead-enders for a gig on the Neo-Con talk circuit.
RSA
Typo fixed.
Ella in NM
Now, now, lets not generalize this as something the Bush Administration practices regularly!!
At least Condi Rice put a stop to all this politicizing of the Federal workplace by ordering all foreign State Dept. employees NOT to attend any of Obama’s events overseas.
And don’t forget the extreme concern the DOD had in terms of political campaigning being “forced” on the troops by his visit.
I’m sure these same employees have never experienced a day of political or religious pressure in the course of their duties.
Thank God this DOJ thing is just a few bad apples…
scarshapedstar
Yeah, well, at least they didn’t shoot Vince Foster!!eleventybillion
Svensker
You miss the point. For them, party=country. Those of us outside the party=traitors. Simple, really.
DougJ
Clinton did it too. Remember Socksgate?
Delia
Ya know, Stephen Colbert ought to sue these clowns for stealing his material (“George Bush, great President or the greatest President?”) Or maybe they ought to sue him. I guess we need a timeline to decide who was doing what first.
Scott H
Until people stop accepting that nothing will be done – nothing will be done. Democrats need to consider how “strategically” they’re thinking. Next time they hit you up for more donations, try saying, “When I hear you start talking about impeachment and indictments.”
Dennis - SGMM
Anyone else remember when the phrase “law and order conservative” was a media staple? Apparently, that now means “the law is what we order.”
SowellFan
It’s not surprising to me and many many others that the same people who chirp about change and support all sorts of not even true whistleblowing are the same people who don’t want to talk about Obama’s record at his church. What do you and he have to hide, liberals? But back to this issue- just like you’re keenly unaware of economics, you’re also unaware of democratic theory and principles that state that the President, by virtue of being the President, should be able to form the bureaucracy in his image. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this, and I suspect and expect you to ignore Obama, if he is elected, when he appoints his cronies and radical leftists.
Ted
If I interviewed her, I’d ask, “So, like, did your college have a ban on making eye-babies or anything like that? Cuz I heard about such a thing at Jesus camp colleges like your alma mater.”
PaulW
If I were one of the hundreds of people who were denied employment by Goodling, I’d be suing. Aren’t there employment laws against discriminatory hiring practices? What, is there a statue of limitation that would prevent it now, years after the crime took place?
The only other option we have as Americans is simply DON’T vote Republican. If the GOP thinks they can benefit from discriminatory hiring, keep them from hiring anyone ever again.
Frank
For a few seconds your post gave me hope. That there might be a whole generation of people who are now waking up to the truth about Republicanism. But then I realized, depressingly that you are more well informed and more intellectually honest than most. So since we can’t learn from history we will just have to repeat it.
Apsaras
Ah, lest you forget John. It’s the filthy liberals of the world, and dirty hippies like you, who are showing their true facist allegiances by being just a little too excited about Barack Obama. Now I’ve met more than a few Obama supporters, online and in person. I remember two cute girls who showed up at my new apartment in Arlington to make certain I was registered to vote the day I moved in. (They were canvassing the building, so I’m afraid I can’t allow myself to believe they were keeping an eye on me)
They asked me a few questions about the election, about the primary, and if I’d be interested in volunteering. They seemed pretty excited about Barack Obama’s candidacy, but remained focused on the issues — Health Care, Iraq, and the Economy. At no point was I asked if I’d like to “serve” Barack Obama. At least now I’ll know what to listen for should the Obamabots turn into a real cult of personality.
GSD
What is it about Joseph Stalin that makes you want to serve him.
Jeebus, the Russians did win the Cold War.
-GSD
Delia
Condi’s bravely sticking her finger in the dike. I have it on good authority from a close relative who is in the Foreign Service that one of Obama’s lesser known campaign promises is to greatly expand the diplomatic corps. Needless to say, he is very popular on that front especially among younger officers, and Condi’s orders are not going to change any hearts or minds.
JoyceH
Better question – “What is it about Republicans that turn them into such gut-wrenching syncophants?” I remember when Goodling was testifying to Congress, and the dizzy ditz said that she’d sworn an oath to uphold the president – the chairman of the committee had to correct her and point out that she’d actually sworn to uphold the Constitution.
It’s not just Goodling, either. I remember seeing a clip from one of Bush’s Potemkin town halls, and some woman got up and the first thing she said, in this really sickening gush, was “Mister President, my heroes have always been cowboys.” I thought – and that applies to this dim little golf-cart wrangler HOW, exactly?
Dave in ME
It is a sad state of affairs to see our democracy reduced to this. Christofascists making hiring decisions at the DOJ based on how much Bush cock you are willing to swallow.
It will take decades to clean up all the asstarded dumbfuckery this administration has foisted on the public. And no one, not one single member of the administration, will ever face a courtroom of their peers to answer for their crimes.
Brad
Anyone know what wingnut welfare that this idiot will now be sucking the teat of? I figured she would have already landed at a nice Republican law firm or some “think-tank” by now. It would be nice if she were unable to find any job above law firm janitor at this point (and be disbarred), but I know we don’t live in that country anymore.
RSA
Does anyone know the implications of Goodling’s having been given immunity for her testimony before Congress? Does that insulate her from prosecution? (Not for perjury, a topic that’s been brought up, but for her actions.)
The Other Steve
How do we correct this? Do we fire everybody hired for these positions during the Bush administrations time in office?
Incertus
Wasn’t the civil service formed precisely to keep the President and other executives from doing precisely this? Man, it must be nice to live in a reality-free zone the way you do.
Apsaras
Also, stories like this remind me why I’ll take the Democrats’ circular firing squad over the Republicans’ dog pack mentality any day.
Ken J
Anyone remember all the accounts of Soviet government, with political commissars always meddling?
That’s us! Goes well with our Gulag in Guantanamo, don’t you think?
Remind me again, which ideology won the cold war?
JoyceH
Exactly. That’s why what Goodling was doing was against the law. Because the CAREER staff is supposed to be non-partisan and hired strictly on merit. Instead, Goodling rejected the best candidate for a counter-terrorism position because his wife was a Democrat.
In case anyone was wondering why the Bush DOJ has so ineptly botched so many terrorism prosecutions…
PeterJ
OT, but things are getting worse for Novak.
Columnist Robert Novak has brain tumor
Not going to joke about that one.
The Moar You Know
Name one “principle” or “theory” that allows this.
jenniebee
My fave part of that report is the follow-up question: aside from George W. Bush, what member of his administration do you admire most and why? Apparently, one applicant answered: Condi, which was, as it turned out, a mistake in Monica-land, Condi being pro-choice and all. Good thing for Ms. Goodling that Ms. Rice is confined to such piffling portfolios as NSA and the State Dept, where such deviant thought-crime can be safely contained.
TenguPhule
Karma can be a bitch.
libarbarian
OFF TOPIC:
Robert Novak has brain tumor.
I’m wondering if it might not have had something to do with his recent accident.
Jon H
Hell, I’d say “Are you making eye-babies with me? I’m sorry, we don’t stand for that here. We’re not that kind of workplace. Please leave, now.”
Jon H
Re: Novak
“I have been admitted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where doctors will soon begin appropriate treatment.”
Hey, that’s right behind the building I work in.
Maybe I’ll drop by for a visit. Heh. Heh.
More seriously, I bet this is a fakeout to justify his hit & run. “It wasn’t me, it was the tumor.”
Rick Taylor
Is this even slightly surprising by now?
Jon H
Oh, and isn’t that Mrs. Krempasky?
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
So I guess that means starting in January of next year we can have a bureaucracy which is tall, skinny and has big ears? And is 50% black.
That sounds kinda cool.
jake
Said without any snark at all:
That’s too bad about Novak and may explain why he didn’t see the guy he hit. He may well have had some sort of seizure.
Punchy
You delete my post, John?
Jimmm
Yeah, that’s just horrible news about Novak.
/insincerity
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Ceaseless vigilance is required to keep all cadres from backsliding into petite-bourgeois and cosmopolitan deviationist tendencies, even in a vanguardist party like the GOP. That is why frequent self-criticism sessions and ruthless purges are required, to deal with the threat of wreckers and spies in our midst.
/note to self: Next Christmas, ask Santa to bring me a GOP which isn’t infested with fncking Stalinists, Maoists and Trotskyites. The former Soviet Union is laughing at us, and I don’t find the joke to be very funny.
Delia
Well, actually, that’s more like Stalinist theory and principles. Or Maoist. Both of which encourage a cult of personality and purge the bureaucracy and the press every time there’s a change in leadership, much like your dear leader, Bush, and unlike actual, functional democracies.
And btw, how is your loonytoons guru, Tom Sowell? I know a little about him because my ex is an economist and liked him way back in the day about thirty-five years ago when he was an actual economist and not another winger crackpot. But, hey, today my ex is supporting Obama and watching KO every night. Some day if I feel like annoying him I’ll email him and ask him if he knows how nutty Sowell has gotten.
Cain
I heard the Simpsons did it too.
cain
The Moar You Know
There are not a lot of people that I think would lie about having cancer to get out of an embarassing traffic accident.
Sadly, Novak is one of those few people who would.
Tsulagi
If I was being sworn in January, that would be the second use of my all-universe wide unitary executive powers. First use would be activating the smirking retard sitting nearby and send his ass that afternoon to Iraq as a one-man EOD team.
PeterJ
More OT
He really can’t hide things like this anymore, like he did back in February.
Mike
The fact that I’m holding a tennis racket. If I had a golf club, I’d want to drive him. And if I got out my baseball bat…
Dennis - SGMM
Mother of Love! The fools removed his brain!
4tehlulz
He had to have Karl Rove removed from his head. Maybe his campaign will stop sucking so much ass.
Dennis - SGMM
Actually, I think that a rectal Rove-ectomy is needed.
mellowjohn
delia says:
“Condi’s bravely sticking her finger in the dike.”
nope. can’t do it. must… stop… snark… now…
btw, a brain tumor may explain novakula’s recent behavior, but he’s been a asshole a lot longer than he’s had a brain tumor.
Delia
Wasn’t there an original Star Trek episode where something like this was required? Big, splotchy amoeba-like things fall down on the crew and take over their brains?
Or maybe I’ve got the wrong SciFic universe. Maybe we’re in Stargate SG-1 and they’re trying to get the Goa’uld out of him.
jake
A simple two question test:
1. List the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution.
2. List the branches of government in order of importance.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
You mean sort of like this, only in reverse?
TenguPhule
Yes. SATSQ.
Then line them up against a wall and execute them.
It’s the only way to be sure.
A Mom Anon
I believe Ms Goodling is now Mrs. Mike Krepansky.
w vincentz
Who is the dike that Condi is sticking her finger in?
Oh…and about the topic of this thread…the French had a very clever contraption that they used frequently subsequent to their Revolution. It had a heavy angled blade, and a basket to catch the separated head of the “traitor of the people”. I hope the freedom loving French will lend it to us so we can set it up on the south lawn of the White House. Of course, televise the executions and sell commercial advertisements. The defecit will also be remedied as the heads roll.
r€nato
SowellFan is exactly right. The essence of democracy is that we hold an election for dictator every four years.
dbrown
Sorry for this old news post but I just got outta ICU ward two days ago – but this staggers me:
The NYT editor writer novak was stopped by someone on a bicycle and told that a man was lying across his corvette string ray’s windshield as he was driving down the street?!!! Someone had to pull up to him to tell the animal that a human was lying across his windshield (not a bug) and shouldn’t he now stop and render aid?!!! This is the family values rightwing fake news noise machine’s best behavior – needing to be told I see you and you are caught so do something about the victim? This isn’t on the news (I read it since they were talking about his brain cancer) and everyone isn’t talking about it still? What planet did I return too and are we really, and truly, that far gone?! please, tell me its not so?
Napoleon
Go read Kevin Drum’s post on how Gooding sunk an experienced terrorism prosecutor because he is married to an active Democrat and they were not able to fill the position with anyone qualified. Why does anyone think the Republican’s were the least bit serious about the war on terror.
srv
I know Abu hasn’t found a job yet, but did anyone give Monica a job?
Gus
Can we count on you to do the same since it’s his prerogative as president?
Clutch414
I’m laying 5-1 odds that she ends up on Fox News as the next schreeching conserva-bimbo, a la Mangalang, Coulter, Ingraham, and Marsden.
Gus
OT Novakula has a brain tumor.
Gus
Sorry, I posted before reading the comments.
Clutch414
Whoops! I meant to say screeching. Ugh…
John Cole
No. Unless it got sucked up in the spam filter. Then, yes.
AnneLaurie
every time she applies for a job, someone should go “Oh, wow—you’re THAT Monica Goodling?!?” and start to laugh and point and call others in the office over to gawk, so much so she has to run away, crying and screaming at the sheer level of gut-wrenching embarrassment.
A person who can say “What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?” without gagging is incapable of embarrassment. Once we return to our pre-Bush state of semi-functional democracy, I hope Goodling & her cronies are hit with so many civil suits that they can use the paperwork to build themselves shelters, which they’ll need if paying their mortgages relies on their legal skillz.
As for McCain’s “mole-like patch”, I say Karl Rove crawled so far up Old John’s arse that he’s leaking out McLame’s earholes.
Delia
What is this “election” of which you speak?
MAX HATS
Yes.
Davis X. Machina
The organs of the State, like the Justice Department, exist to serve the needs of the Party, because the Party is the Vanguard of the Revolution. It is foolish to expect the Party to subordinate itself to the organs of the state, since upon the success of the Revolution the State is fated ultimately to wither away.
All correctly oriented cadres, like Comrade Goodling, know this.
And Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman.
We’re governed by Maoists, in case you haven’t noticed.
Delia
I’m sorry, but this is an insult to honest dog packs everywhere. Dogs have the good sense to pick their their strongest and most intelligent pair as their leaders. If they fail to do their job, they’re out and more competent replacements move in. This is completely unlike Maoists and Goopers who develop propaganda ministries and goon squads to create the cult of personality and the illusion that all is well even when it ain’t.
Andrew
So, like, um, why the fuck isn’t she in jail?
Just kidding. We all know nothing will ever happen to her!
Zuzu's Petals
I guess you’re keenly unaware of that little thing called federal law. Which you would know about if you’d bothered to, you know, read the actual report:
Davis X. Machina
I guess you’re [SowellFan] keenly unaware of that little thing called federal law.
The GOP’s passionate attachment to the ‘rule of law’ being applied to the executive branch applies strictly to oral sex.
harlana pepper
This is why fiction often bores me.
harlana pepper
Oh, I’m sure Mukasey will just be all *over* this! Remember, he testified he saw no politicization of the DOJ in his review of the system.
harlana pepper
Fixed:
KevinNYC
“Condi’s bravely sticking her finger in the dike.”
Now there’s no way Monica Goodling would have hired her.
harlana pepper
Any why do pundits and bobbleheads continue to ram it down our throats that republicans just have a better reputation on national security and there is no one in the other chair countering such unadulterated, putrid, steaming bullshit?
truth machine
“What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?”
That is the antithesis of conservatism as a political philosophy
Who are you trying to kid? It is entirely consistent with the political philosophy of conservatives.
and the Platonic form of conservatism as a political movement in the US today.
Aside from this being nuttily self-contradictory (Platonic forms don’t have a time or place), Platonism is a generalized form of the “no true Scotsman” fallacy.
Jon H
Has anyone asked Krempasky why his wife was aiding and abetting Al Qaeda by hiring an incompetent, inexperienced political hack instead of an experienced anti-terrorism prosecutor?
liberal
John Cole wrote,
Are there even any statutory provisions for a fine and/or jail time?
liberal
PaulW wrote,
IIRC, I read somewhere (perhaps the Washington Post) that someone is suing. Can’t recall if it’s a simple lawsuit or a class action.
Jon H
“IIRC, I read somewhere (perhaps the Washington Post) that someone is suing. Can’t recall if it’s a simple lawsuit or a class action.”
Probably the woman who was denied promotions, etc, because she was suspected of being a lesbian.
Conservatively Liberal
Goodling was just another bootlicker who did what she was told, and that was to hire other bootlickers who would do as they were told. She was one pawn of many in this administration. Loyalty to party over country is sick, but that is what it is. These people do not love their country, they only love their party running the country. They don’t give a shit about anyone who don;t think like they do.
The public enabled this mess and stood by while nothing was done to stop it nor to demand punishment, the politicians on both sides played games of one sort or another, money was squandered, asses were covered, lies were told, campaign and PAC corporate ‘donations’ flowed into the political coffers (and from the government budget back into the corporate pockets), markets were manipulated, people died when there was no reason for them to and on and on the mess goes.
The odds are that nobody will be held responsible for anything at all. Democratic politicians will not lead, and the Republican politicians are in near lockstep. Nobody wants to lead, and as long as they don’t lead nothing happens. Nobody is held to account, and some of the biggest crimes in our history will go unpunished.
We got the government the people voted for.
History is going to look down on nearly everyone in this country during this time, and I hope it will not be kind.
BottyGuy
I hear the Monica Goodling will be covering the Justice beat for the Washington Post. To provide scrutiny on the Obama administration and make sure that enough “conservatives” are hired. She is an expert, after all.
liberal
Jon H wrote,
No, actually, I’m pretty sure it was a guy, and the issue was political beliefs or lack thereof.
In fact, IIRC, the dude himself was actually a Republican! Maybe just not far-right enough.
Sock Puppet of the Great Satan
“when she [Monica Goodling]’s older, looks back on her life and figures out that a promising law career was forever thrown into the shitter she decided to worship at the altar of George W. Bush.”
Promising law career? She was a Regent University graduate, 4th tier law school. She wouldn’t have got near the DoJ without affirmative action for wingnuts: otherwise she’d have been writing wills and doing traffic court for DUIs. Getting into the DoJ as a career attorney is pretty competitive: One wonders how she (and other wingnut AA recipients) felt dealing with the Yale, Stanford, Boalt, Penn, etc., 1st and 2nd tier law school graduates that populate the civil service of the DoJ.