Some self-helper, I can't remember who, wrote a book "Don't sweat the small stuff." Alberto Gonzales should have read it.

When it comes to credibility, I think this statement about the U.S. Attorney firings says it all:

"I value their independence, their professionalism, what they do in the community, and these decisions were not based on political reasons," Gonzales said.

Those of us who toil in the federal courts, particularly in criminal cases, know how it works. The job of U.S. Attorney is a political plum. It's awarded based on recommendations from the district's senators, it almost exclusively goes to a member of the President's party and very often it's based on the person's contributions, including fundraising efforts, to the successful presidential candidate.

That's the way the system has always worked for both parties. The position of U.S. Attorney is an administrative job -- very few of them actually try cases.

I haven't read anyone on either side of the aisle reporting differently. Alberto Gonzalez chose to pretend otherwise. I hope it sinks him.

The document dump Friday showed a chart of U.S. Attorneys to be fired and potential replacements that listed their political loyalty and their membership in the conservative Federalist Society. That totally belies Gonzales' statement.

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Remember this?

Citizen Stengel [Managing Editor of Time] claimed that the American people do not want the Democrats to investigate the attorney firings story:

Mr. STENGEL: I am so uninterested in the Democrats wanting Karl Rove, because it is so bad for them. Because it shows business as usual, tit for tat, vengeance. . . . That’s not what voters want to see.

What could Citizen Stengel be thinking now? This is the Managing Editor of Time Magazine. Boy, he is some newshound huh? Here is some not breaking news, much of our Media is a disgrace.

A U.S. attorney in Wisconsin who prosecuted a state Democratic official on corruption charges during last year's heated governor's race was once targeted for firing by the Department of Justice, but given a reprieve for reasons that remain unclear. A federal appeals court last week threw out the conviction of Wisconsin state worker Georgia Thompson, saying the evidence was "beyond thin."

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby filed court documents today saying he will not be requesting a new trial in the trial court. He's going to make his arguments in the Court of Appeals.

His sentencing is set for June 5, 2007.

Earlier, I linked to this Newsweek article today in which a data recovery expert was interviewed on the missing e-mails. The interview includes this q and a:

What would you do if you were pulled into this White House case?

If they were really doing their job, they would have to give access to forensic specialists. Those companies can go in and find that e-mail file and then sort through it using proprietary software and hardware. But the government is going to have to open their doors. Top secret stuff is on there, I'm sure, and they'd make it hard.

But, the RNC files are not top secret and those are the missing files now at issue, at least with respect to Karl Rove.

And, if there was anything "top secret," wouldn't that be an incredible breach of security for the information to reside outside secure government servers?

This may become a Catch-22 for Bush. Either the Administration was incredibly lax about top secret information or there was no top secret information.

Marcy (Empty Wheel) has some terrific posts up about the Rove-Hadley e-mail and Fiztgerald and the missing e-mails.

Also not to be missed, Glenn Greenwald. Jack Cafferty at CNN highlighted it -- Crooks and Liars has the video.

E.J. Graff makes a simple but important point about the fact that women face hateful speech at higher rates than men; it is NOT a web based phenomenon:

here's what has been missed in the discussion of Kathy Sierra's horrific experience, as far as I can tell: this happens in the world, not just on the web. What's happened to Sierra is a virtual extension of the sexual harassment that hits women in any predominantly male field, what I've come to think of as "barrier" sexual harassment: making it clear to women that they don't belong and will be violated if they stay.

From Hillary Clinton to women academics, particularly in the sciences, to sports coverage to news anchors (yes, I think Katie Couric is awful, but no more so than Brian Williams, and it seems clear to me that Couric is heaped with much more abuse than Williams), to women bloggers, they face much more abuse than men generally (I am the exception that proves the rule, but then I heaped more abuse on folks than anyone in the history of blogging as well so it was to be expected.)

In case it has not been made clear enough, Ed Kilgore is someone I consider a friend and generally very very astute. On top of that, Ed writes on politics as well as anybody, in terms of clarity, persuasion and the goal of being interesting. I wrote about one of his posts, and in the interest of fairness, I want to highlight his response to my post.

As I said, discussion with Ed is always fruitful. I will reply to him in a later post.

Update: Newsweek interviews an expert on whether it's really possible to lose e-mails.

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Original Post

Karl Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, says his client didn't intentionally delete any e-mails and cooperated fully with Fitzgerald's request for e-mail in PlameGate.

Rove's lawyer said the senior presidential adviser had no idea that his e-mails were being deleted from the RNC server. "His understanding starting very, very early in the administration was that those e-mails were being archived," Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, said.

The prosecutor probing the Valerie Plame spy case saw and copied all of Rove's e-mails from his various accounts after searching Rove's laptop, his home computer, and the handheld computer devices he used for both the White House and Republican National Committee, Luskin said.

The prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, subpoenaed the e-mails from the White House, the RNC and Bush's re-election campaign, he added. "There's never been any suggestion that Fitzgerald had anything less than a complete record," Luskin said.

The only deletions Rove made were done to clean up his inbox.

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Uh-Oh. Firedoglake reports things just got a lot worse for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his former sidekick, Kyle Sampson. As spotted by a commenter at Daily Kos in today's document dump, Set 5 p 14. (pdf) (2/12/07 From Monica Goodling):

"This is the chart that the AG requested. I'll show it to him on the plane tomorrow if he's interested"

He requested the chart. But when? When it was made? The chart (scroll down from the email on page 14) shows the fired U.S. Attorneys and their proposed replacements, some of whose names have been redacted.

Gonzales testified under oath he did not have this information and was not involved in the replacements. Kyle Sampson said he did not have a list. Here's a list, from January, 2006.

Are dates a factor here?

John Walker Lindh, known as the "American Taliban" has been moved to Supermax at Florence, Colorado from a medium security prison.

Last week he sought a sentence reduction. Are the two related?

The Bureau of Prisons says the move is for security reasons. Whose security? John Walker Lindh's? I have a hard time believing they can't find a place other than Supermax to keep him safe. Where are the cops who have been convicted of federal crimes doing their sentences? I haven't heard of any at Supermax.

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After a meeting of the Rutgers' womens basketball team and Don and Deidre Imus last night (the meeting which Gov. Jon Corzine was en route to when he had his automobile accident) the team has announced it will accept Don Imus' apology.

``These comments are indicative of greater ills in our culture,'' Stringer said. ``It is not just Mr. Imus, and we hope that this will be and serve as a catalyst for change. Let us continue to work hard together to make this world a better place.''

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Honestly, people think I just look for reasons to criticize Senator Barack Obama and his campaign but they must admit I do not need to look very hard. Look at what one of his key advisors Samantha Power said:

I got to talk a little bit about it with Samantha Power, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author on the subject of genocide and an informal advisor to Mr. Obama's campaign who is helping to write the speech. "We're going to hear something very unusual on the left, which is a genuine pride in what America can be again," she told me.

That is outrageous! This is Obama and his campaign in a nutshell - 'look how great I am, I am not like those other Dems who hate America, religion and Republicans.'

This is right out of the Joe Lieberman school. I am really fed up with the whole mindset of the Obama campaign - belittling Dems to try and make yourself look great is simply awful.

Michael Skakel's hearing on a Motion for New Trial begin Tuesday in Connecticut. Court TV will be televising it. The hearing is expected to last two weeks.

The hearing will center on a 2003 interview in which Gitano "Tony" Bryant reportedly implicated two friends in the 1975 bludgeoning of 15-year-old Martha Moxley in Greenwich.

Lawyers for Skakel, 47, the nephew of Ethel Kennedy, must prove Bryant's account surfaced after the trial and likely would have changed the verdict.

Robert Kennedy, Jr., and Skakel's original defense lawyer (and good TalkLeft pal) Mickey Sherman will be witnesses.

I expect there will be a lot of evidence presented about documents withheld by the prosecution in discovery.

TalkLeft's past coverage of the Skakel case is here. I think there was a paltry amount of evidence against him, most of which came from non-credible sources.

Take for example, Gregory Coleman, the dead drug addict who for all intents and purposes was allowed to testify from the grave.

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