It Has Come To This

The corruption in Gonzales' Justice Department has now forced me to link to Paul Krugman's column this morning (TimesDelete), because the information it provides, and I have no reason to believe it's false, is about as shocking as it gets. Money quote:

Donald Shields and John Cragan, two professors of communication, have compiled a database of investigations and/or indictments of candidates and elected officials by U.S. attorneys since the Bush administration came to power. Of the 375 cases they identified, 10 involved independents, 67 involved Republicans, and 298 involved Democrats. The main source of this partisan tilt was a huge disparity in investigations of local politicians, in which Democrats were seven times as likely as Republicans to face Justice Department scrutiny.

How can this have been happening without a national uproar? The authors explain: "We believe that this tremendous disparity is politically motivated and it occurs because the local (non-statewide and non-Congressional) investigations occur under the radar of a diligent national press. Each instance is treated by a local beat reporter as an isolated case that is only of local interest."

And let's not forget that Karl Rove's candidates have a history of benefiting from conveniently timed federal investigations. Last year Molly Ivins reminded her readers of a curious pattern during Mr. Rove's time in Texas: 'In election years, there always seemed to be an F.B.I. investigation of some sitting Democrat either announced or leaked to the press. After the election was over, the allegations often vanished.'

I suspect Rove has been at it again, quietly using the system of justice to advance partisan political power. Gonzales has now agreed to relinquish all hiring decisions of interim U.S. Attorneys - an astonishing concession to the gravity of the charges. If all this pans out, Gonzales should be forced to resign very soon.

(Photo: Win McNamee/Getty.)