Interesting tidbits in today’s Political Bulletin from US News and World Report tell the story of the misplaced priorities of the Bush administration’s Department of Justice. Seems the Bush team isn’t doing so well on terror-related prosecutions. But, the Bush administration is devoting resources towards politically related prosecutions. That political charge comes from a former U.S. Attorney General who was also a GOP Governor. And, you know that political prosecution agenda came right out of Karl Rove’s office.

First, the failure on terror:

Acquittals Hurting Counter-Terror Efforts The New York Times reports, “From 1993 to 2001, prosecutors in Manhattan convicted some three dozen terrorists through guilty pleas and in six major trials.” But since “the Sept. 11 attacks, the government’s track record has been decidedly spottier, and its failure to obtain a single conviction on Monday in its terrorism-financing prosecution of what was once the nation’s largest Islamic charity was another in a series of missteps and setbacks.”

Then the stunning testimony from Richard Thornburgh on the politicization of prosecutions:

Thornburgh: Federal Prosecution Was Political The AP reports Dick Thornburgh, who served as attorney general in the first Bush Administration, “told a House panel Tuesday he thinks the Justice Department had political aims in prosecuting a high-profile Democratic coroner from Pennsylvania.” Thornburgh, whose “law firm is representing coroner Cyril Wecht in the pending trial and who acknowledged speaking as an advocate for Wecht, said the outspoken Democrat was ‘an ideal target for a Republican U.S. attorney trying to curry favor with a (Justice) Department which demonstrated that if you play by its rules, you will advance.'” The New York Times adds Thornburgh “became the first former Republican attorney general to join with Democratic lawmakers to suggest that the Justice Department under Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales had singled out Democratic politicians for prosecution.”

The Bush administration puts all of its energy into politics and spin. This is just another glaring example.