It would appear that seven U.S. attorneys, some of whom are in the middle of investigating Republicans, have been sacked and replaced by Republican political appointees. Thanks to the Patriot Act, these appointees, regardless of their qualifications, don’t have to be confirmed by the Senate (does Congress even read the legislation they sign? And if not, how do I get on that gravy train?). Josh Marshall describes one appointee, J. Timothy Griffin:

Well, top of the list seems to be his stint at the White House where he worked for Karl Rove doing opposition research on Democrats. That was until late last year. According to this Arkansas Times report, for the last ten years — with the exception of two one year stint — he has always worked as a Republican party opposition researcher digging up dirt on Democrats. Deputy Research Director for the RNC from 1999-2000. Research Director for the RNC from 2002-2005. Oppo Research Director for Karl Rove 2005-2006. Prior to 1999? Well, he was associate independent counsel investigating Henry Cisneros from 1995-96. After that he went to work for Dan Burton on the Hill to investigate Asian money contributions to the DNC.
Back in 2000, when he was in charge of digging up dirt on Al Gore, he apparently had a poster hanging on the wall behind his desk which read: “On my command – unleash hell on Al.”
So clearly, Griffin’s a pretty apolitical guy.

I have a feeling this guy will wind up doing a heckuva job…
Related note: It appears that ‘moderate’ Republican Sen. Arlen Spector was the one who slipped this in at the last minute. Maybe Spector could just resign and we could appoint Calligula’s horse.