Purge

There is just so much in this one story.

No wonder there have been two recent terror warnings. And no wonder Monica Goodling took a powder immediately upon the story breaking, taking the fifth before being called to testify, and holding out for immunity. She's been a naughty little girl.

In one case, Ms. Goodling told a federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia that she was not signing off on an applicant who had graduated from Howard University Law School, and then worked at the Environmental Protection Agency.

“He appeared, based on his résumé, to be a liberal Democrat,” Ms. Goodling told Jeffrey A. Taylor, the acting United States attorney in Washington, according to two of the department employees who asked not to be named. “That wasn’t what she was looking for.”

Because no Republican or conservative would ever work at the EPA, I suppose? Besides being rabidly partisan, this girl was just plain dumb. But then I guess we had hints of that when we were told where she went to school - a fourth-tier college run by American Mullah Pat Robertson.

Two years ago, Robin C. Ashton, a seasoned criminal prosecutor at the Department of Justice, learned from her boss that a promised promotion was no longer hers.

“You have a Monica problem,” Ms. Ashton was told, according to several Justice Department officials. Referring to Monica M. Goodling, a 31-year-old, relatively inexperienced lawyer who had only recently arrived in the office, the boss added, “She believes you’re a Democrat and doesn’t feel you can be trusted.”

Just about anyone she thought might be a Democrat had a "Monica problem".

Ms. Goodling would soon be quizzing applicants for civil service jobs at Justice Department headquarters with questions [...] like who was their favorite president and Supreme Court justice.

[...]

Ms. Goodling also moved to block the hiring of prosecutors with résumés that suggested they might be Democrats, even though they were seeking posts that were supposed to be nonpartisan, two department officials said.

And she helped maintain lists of all the United States attorneys that graded their loyalty to the Bush administration, including work on past political campaigns, and noted if they were members of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group.

[...]

The people who spoke about Ms. Goodling’s role at the department, including eight current Justice Department lawyers and staff, did so only on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

And she doesn't even work there anymore! The retribution they fear would be coming from Gonzales and the White House.

The Justice Department is conducting its own timely investigation of Ms. Goodling, and therefore can block anyone currently at the offices from talking to reporters about her.

....but hey, you know.