CORRECTED Kyle Sampson didn't resign--he was REASSIGNED by Gonzales

N.B. In the original diary, I claimed that Rove had to do with Sampson's reassignment. I have NO idea where I got that idea. He may well have been, but the article didn't actually say that. I read the article, and for some reason gleaned Karl Rove's involvement from it. That is apparently a figment of my imagination...it's all Gonzales. My apologies--the point, however, remains the same...

These people just don't get it: even as reports arrive that Gonzales is about to be fired, and that it may take place in spite of Bush's stubborn loyalty to his lackey, and Tony Snow is now backtracking on the idea that Harriet Miers originally suggested the idea of firing the attorneys, claiming that ""At this juncture, people have hazy memories" (!), these Administration criminals still don't understand the severity of the scandal they have gotten themselves into.

Karl Rove et al. just believe that this scandal will just blow over, and that not even the heads of the little guys have to roll.

Don't believe me? Well, check out this report from Think Progress: Gonzales Gave Kyle Sampson New Justice Dept. Office After His Supposed ‘Resignation’.

That is, after a very public "resignation", Karl Rove Gonzales simply reassigned his criminal little lackey into a different position in a different office of the Justice Department--and figured he would get away with it. As Think Progress reports:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales planned to install his former aide Kyle Sampson as a lawyer in the Justice Department’s environment division even after Sampson’s “resignation,” NPR reported today.

Media outlets have reported this week that Sampson, Gonzales’ ex-chief of staff, resigned over the U.S. Attorney scandal on Monday. But as ThinkProgress noted, Gonzales on Tuesday made vague remarks during his press conference indicating that Sampson was still on the department payroll. “His transition — as a technical matter, he is at the Department as he transitions out and looks for another employment."

To paraphrase Jon Stewart, Karl Rove Alberto Gonzales must have enormous balls. Maybe it was his ability to escape the Valerie Plame business unscathed. Maybe it was the fact that he remained in his position in the WH after his dismal failure in orchestrating the 2006 elections. Maybe it was his ability to get away with all the rest of his dirty tricks during his career. Perhaps he believes that there really is no such thing as accountability. Regardless of the reason, however, Karl Rove apparently feels that not only will Gonzales' head not roll for this horrific abuse of government power, and not only will his or Harriet Miers' heads not roll for it--not even the people whose heads have already rolled for it need necessarily be off the Justice Department payroll. Gonzales just figured he would roll Sampson's head a short distance down the hall wihtout even knocking over any bowling pins...

Apparently, however, Alberto Gonzales has recently been feeling a little too much heat to be entirely comfortable wih that--but even he tried to hedge his bets.

In fact, Gonzales “started to set up a new office for Sampson” in the Justice Department, and Sampson only resigned on Tuesday when “the scandal surrounding eight fired U.S. Attorneys continued to grow.” A Justice official told NPR that “there were discussions about whether or not he would be detailed elsewhere as he was transitioning out and ultimately it was decided not to go that direction.”

So here's what we're looking at: as this business started to spiral out of Administration control, Karl Rove Gonzales was initially still so insouciant that he figured he could just reassign Sampson and get away with.

At his press conference, Gonzales indicated that Sampson was still on the payroll--even though he understood how totally unacceptable that was--hoping apparently to hedge his bets in case he didn't actually have to fire Sampson.

Finally, only today did an unnamed Justice Department official state that they just now figured that keeping Sampson on might not be such a good idea after all, given the depth of inquiry this matter has been receiving. That's not just cojones grandes: that's cojones the size of the world's biggest ball of twine.

These people will literally try to get away with ANYTHING, and they have absolutely NO concept of accountability. Like a small child whose parents never say "no" and stick to it, they believe that nothing can touch them or ever will.

And what's most infuriating is that the American Public actually pays Rove's and Sampson's salaries.

Well, it's time we said "no" and meant it. It's time these people finally learn the meaning of accountability. And time we took some air out of their overinflated testicles. And it's time some heads rolled--permanently and off the taxpayer payroll--into prison if possible, and into the even more morally deficient dens of K-Street iniquity in case convictions cannot be obtained.

Enough is enough--because they don't even pretend to act like they get it.