Justice Dept-"WE JUST WANT THE STORIES TO DIE" (LAT)

[kpete]

Justice Dept. worked to contain U.S. attorney fallout
Documents show that officials scrambled to curb bad publicity over the widening scandal.
By Richard A. Serrano and Richard B. Schmitt, Times Staff Writers
March 20, 2007

WASHINGTON — As the scandal over the firing of a select group of U.S. attorneys was building two weeks ago, the No. 2 official at the Justice Department tried to persuade one of those being removed that Washington was not out to ruin their reputations.

According to new documents released Monday, Deputy Atty. Gen. Paul J. McNulty told Margaret M. Chiara of Grand Rapids, Mich., that "our only choice is to continue to be truthful about the entire matter," and in an e-mail sought to explain the official Bush administration position that the eight federal prosecutors were being let go for performance reasons.

"The word 'performance' obviously has not set well with you and your colleagues," McNulty conceded. "By that word we only meant to convey that there were issues about policy, priorities and management/leadership that we felt were important to the department's effectiveness."

.....................

The documents show that Justice Department officials have been scrambling over the last two months to control the amount of damaging fallout and negative publicity from the widening scandal, even lamenting at one point that "we just want the stories to die."

more at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-usattys20mar20,0,3082655.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Cirque du So-What]

1. As my wise grandmother used to say...

I'm sure people in hell want ice water too.

[John Q. Citizen]

4. I think I like your grandmother. n/t

[CrazyOrangeCat]

5. indeed.

my Ozark grandma used the same expression.

[Blackhatjack]

2. Oh yeah, wait for the critics to silence themselves... that is a plan!

These folks do not get it.

The media coverage is a warning,a symptom of what is wrong. Waiting it out without taking corrective action only means it will live on and grow bigger...

[Halliburton]

3. but cnn said the emails were "innocuous"

an there was little new info within the emails