The fired US attorneys

The American public, rightly, is refusing to get excited about the eight US attorneys that got fired.  It’s apparent that Bush simply passed on complaints without making any recommendations or demands, and equally apparent that Gonzales did not go overboard in firing people (unlike the Clintons’ housecleaning in 1993).  I don’t care that tradition demands that US attorneys stay in their jobs until their terms expire.  If you’ve got someone who is not doing a good job on the public payroll, damn tradition — serve the public and fire the person.

And that gets me to the “not doing a good job.”  I have it on first hand authority that one of the attorneys fired was running an unhappy office that was glad to see him go.  Sure, they’re all a bit nervous there about their own job security, but basically they’re pleased that a bad boss walked.

In other words, Gonzales is being pilloried for doing a smart managerial thing — getting rid of people who were not earning their pay.