The politicization of the DoJ beyond the appointment process seems symptomatic of the casual way this administration has integrated politics and ideology with public policy.

A statement by Gonzales recently departed chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, strikes me as dispositive:

Sampson’s statement also suggested that his contacts with the White House were well known within Justice. If the contacts were not brought to the attention of McNulty and others, the statement said, it was “because no one focused on it or deemed it important at the time.”

Which is to say, and as I’ve said before,

to a Whitehouse where policy IS politics, politicizing the prosecution of the law of the land was no big deal. Business as usual.

So while, to you or I, subverting the criminal justice system might seem an attack on this country’s fundamental principal of the rule of law, to those serving King George it was standard operating procedure.

And whether or not such a subversion of the rule of law is in itself criminal, it is certainly shameful.

And it certainly did not begin, nor will it end with the departure of the AG.