Even as the reasons are exposed as false

The White House moves to replace one of the eight fired prosecutors:

The Justice Department has announced two interim replacements for Margaret Chiara, the former U.S. attorney for the district of Western Michigan who resigned as part of a Justice Department purge.

Brian Delaney will serve as interim U.S. attorney until mid-April, when Charles Gross will succeed him, the department said Monday. Gross will remain until a permanent replacement is nominated by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate.

Chiara's last day was Friday.

Update: The New York Times:

In one case, Margaret M. Chiara, a United States attorney in Michigan, pleaded for a few extra weeks on the federal payroll while she looked for a job.

[snip]

In one note, Ms. Chiara urged Mr. McNulty to quickly revise the explanation the department was offering for the dismissals.

“The legal community in Grand Rapids and organizations throughout Michigan are outraged that I am being labeled a ‘poor performer,’ ” she wrote in a March 4 message to Mr. McNulty. “Know that I am considered a personification of ethics and productivity.”

She also wrote that she had heard she was being removed to make way for a member of Congress who was expected to lose his seat in the November election.

Aren't you glad Harriet Miers

Didn't get to the Supreme Court?

Harriet Miers is nothing if not loyal to her bestest buddy Bush: (my bold)

Sampson sent an e-mail to Miers in March 2005 that ranked all 93 U.S. attorneys. Strong performers "exhibited loyalty" to the administration; low performers were "weak U.S. attorneys who have been ineffectual managers and prosecutors, chafed against Administration initiatives, etc." A third group merited no opinion.

At least a dozen prosecutors were on a "target list" to be fired at one time or another, the e-mails show.

Only three of those eventually fired were given low rankings: Margaret Chiara in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Bud Cummins in Little Rock; and Carol S. Lam in San Diego. Two were given strong evaluations: David C. Iglesias in Albuquerque, who has alleged political interference from GOP lawmakers, and Kevin V. Ryan in San Francisco, whose firing has generated few complaints because of widespread management and morale problems in his office.

Update: TPM Muckraker has the timeline.

Update: Res Ipsa Loquitur at Rising Hegemon notes:

... in December 2005, Specter's chief counsel "slipped a provision into the Patriot Act reauthorization bill that made it possible to replace U.S. Attorneys permanently without Senate confirmation."

Am I supposed to think that Specter didn't know what was going on? That his chief counsel, who, I assume, he supervises, just happened to make it easier for the administration to can U.S. Attorneys the administration thought unfriendly to their great and glorious Republican revolution? Was Specter negligent? Is he stupid -- or does he merely think I am stupid?

The Attorney General is not the only one with some explaining to do.