About a month ago I posted an article about complaints from private advocacy groups that government scientists were being subjected to pressure from their superiors. I pointed out how disingenuous it is to suggest that any employee should not be subject to pressure from above. Now the Democrats are all aghast that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales fired eight federal prosecutors.

The Associated Press reports that:

Gonzales, expected to meet with lawmakers this week, has been fending off Democratic demands that he resign over the ousters of eight U.S. attorneys – dismissals Democrats have characterized as a politically motivated purge.

A politically motivated purge? Never mind that Bill Clinton fired every federal prosecutor except one when he took office. In the unique logic of Democrats and their media minions, that is different. It is somehow alright for Democrats to be free to select their own appointees, but not for Republicans. How would they characterize the Clinton purge? The long-awaited replacement of mean-spirited Republican prosecutors with fair-and-square Democrat prosecutors?

So, how do the Democrats get away with these kinds of attacks? There are two reasons: (1) They have most of the media on their side. (2) Republicans are spineless and weak-kneed. The pattern is always the same. Some Democrat makes a charge. The liberal media pick it up and run with it. The Republicans cave.

The Democrats and the media are looking past this simple fact: U.S. attorneys are the federal government’s prosecutors and serve at the pleasure of the president. They can be hired or fired for any reason, or none at all.

I’m no big fan of Gonzales but he shouldn’t be replaced for his handling of the firing of the eight prosecutors.  Bush should fire him for prosecuting the two Border Patrol agents for shooting a drug smuggler and for his role in the whole border control fiasco.