Party at the DOJ

One aspect of the DOJ hiring scandal about which I haven't heard much discussion is the matter of remedies. Josh Marshall makes a case today that the prime offenders, including Michael Elston, might be prosecuted.

But even then the Bushies have still "won." They've successfully stocked the DOJ with wingnuts of the Goodling/Sampson variety while purging a generation of better qualified applicants who just happened to be lib-ruls. For years, the wingers will now be onward and upward to plum appointments--as DOJ execs, USAs, judges, etc.--in a way that will be tough for Dems to catch up. Those conservative lawyers hired via regressive action policies can't exactly be fired now. That would look discriminatory, and who can imagine Mukasey taking such steps anyway? Moreover, even if Obama wins, the same law that the Bushies broke in politicizing the department will prevent Obama from undoing the damage by hiring a disproportionate number of liberals or withholding promotions to Bush's wackadoos. Game set match Bush.