MONICA BLOWS IT! Goodling Tells how GOP Partisanship Infests DOJ / Influenced Election Results

I watched with much interest the testimony Wednesday of former Justice Department official Monica Goodling. She insisted on immunity then calmly spilled the beans. She was ever so nonchalant when admitting to asking Justice Department job applicants their party affiliation - making sure they were loyal to The Party. She tried to muddle the issue by saying that SOME people applied for both political and non political jobs anyway - which is a bit like defending adultery by saying that you also slept with your wife ( Let’s call it the Ted Haggard Defense) . Goodling also claimed to be out of the loop on a lot of stuff and shifted as much of the blame she could over to retiring assistant AG Paul McNaulty. Still, this young and inexperienced political operative embedded in the Justice Department ended up revealing much of what has been deliberately hidden away.

Goodling is a graduate of Regent University, Rev. Pat Robertson’s right wing college with dubious academic credentials.(Interestingly, no less then 150 graduates of this University have gone on to work for the Federal Government since 2001). Of course when a Democrat pointed some of that out the Republicans on the committee claimed that Christianity itself was being assaulted and that people of faith were suffering unbearably from the unflattering comments. Anyway, they explained, the school recently won a debate competition! It's frightening to learn how many Regent University graduates have been given control of the levers of power. It's also illustrative to witness just how fast some Republicans will claim religious persecution at the slightest opportunity.

Finally, she talked about “caging” - a Republican tactic used in 2000 and 2004 to disenfranchise black voters. (Or, to put it another way, steal elections) Again, Goodling admitted to it as if it should all come as no surprise. Maybe it doesn't the BBC reported it 3 years ago. Yet, the silence is deafening from the American public as our once great democracy is destroyed, from the inside, right before their eyes.

When you get 10 minutes watch this 2004 Newsnight report from the BBC which shows how “caging” was used by Republicans in 2000 and 2004 to keep Democratic voters from casting a ballot.