The Next Bush Scandal?

He writes that there "are cases in which sitting US Attorneys resigned under questionable circumstances in late 2005 or early 2006 and then were replaced by young DOJ staffers who Attorney General Gonzales appointed using the Patriot Act provision. The names of at least some of these resigned USA were showing up on a list of potential firees at Main Justice. And there's also at least some overlap with the states from which GOP officials were sending complaints about 'voter fraud' to Karl Rove.

"Rove, of course, wanted results. And it's no accident that almost all of the states in question were key swing states.

"The details are murky. And we're still looking in to several of these cases. But it looks more and more like the 8 Attorney Purge was just a new chapter in a longer running story -- and the hold the White House political office had over the Justice Department through President Bush's footman Alberto Gonzales is and was at the center of every part of the story."

Immigration Watch

Johanna Neuman writes in the Los Angeles Times: "President Bush unveiled the basics of his latest immigration proposal Monday, a mix of tougher border enforcement and a complicated path to legal status for illegal immigrants that the White House hopes can break the congressional deadlock over the thorny issue. . . .

"Whether he can help steer passage of a bill this year looms as a major test of his clout in Congress in the latter half of his last term.

"Although the president was vague about the details of his new effort, proposals being discussed among White House officials and GOP lawmakers seem designed to bring recalcitrant Republicans aboard.

"For instance, one plan would require illegal immigrants wishing to remain in the United States to return to their country of origin first and pay a $10,000 fine to obtain a three-year work visa. The visas would be renewable, at a cost of $3,500."

She also notes: "One new wrinkle under consideration by the White House would rewrite the law on legal immigration. Currently, family relations play a key role in obtaining visas that grant immigrants legal residency. Under proposals being discussed by Republicans in the Senate, business needs would take higher priority than family connections."

Here's the text of his speech.

Rick Klein writes in the Boston Globe: "The Bush administration set off alarms among immigrants' rights groups in recent weeks when an internal White House presentation outlining a set of stricter immigration principles was leaked to the media.

"Those principles would make it more difficult for families of immigrants to move to the United States, would subject undocumented immigrants to fees and fines of $20,000 or more and require that they leave the country before they could reenter and gain legal status.

"The White House has said that the presentation simply reflected ideas on the table rather than immoveable principles. But supporters of a get-tough approach to immigration reform say the administration seems to be backing away from one of its key positions: offering undocumented immigrants already in the United States a chance to become citizens.