Bob Barr slams U.S. Attorney dismissals

This one has got to sting the Bush White House just a bit (insert sarcasm) - Republican Rep. Bob Barr, who would never be mistaken as a liberal, criticizing the Bush Administration's handling of the Alberto Gonzales/U.S. Attorney firing scandal. (And he's got cred - he once served as a U.S. Attorney in northern Georgia.)

A partial transcript:

BOB BARR: Well, it's probably some of both. But what's really unfortunate here, both from the White House standpoint, as well as from the more important standpoint of what's best for the country, is the integrity of the Department of Justice is being used as a political football by the administration to prove who's the toughest hombre in all this. It's very unfortunate. And I'm not really sure that the administration has chosen the best line in the sand to draw here, so to speak.

Congress clearly has a right to inquire into the running of the Department of Justice, to inquire into the integrity of the process of hiring and firing U.S. attorneys, notwithstanding the fact that that that is technically a prerogative of the president. And rather than fight this, the administration really ought to be going out of its way to do what prior administrations have done, such as the Bush I administration and Reagan administrations, and that is take whatever steps are necessary to assure the American people that the integrity of our justice system has not been compromised.

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Ouch. More of A-Gonz and the attorney scandal later tonight.