Quote Originally Posted by freewheelinfrank
something that seems to escape understanding by liberals: the President has absolute legal authority to appoint and fire federal judges and attorneys AT WILL, no reason is required (my next-door neighbor was a Federal judge appointed by Reagan, who was immediately fired when Jimmy Carter took office - a good thing, he was a hangin' judge on pot offenses) - also, when President Clinton fired ALL of the Federal attorneys upon entering the White House, not one complaint was heard from the Republicans (evidently, the hated Republicans were educated enough to understand the law, and knew Clinton was within his rights) - also, Reagan fired a bunch, Carter also fired a bunch - it is common practice, and had never been complained about before, it's just more of the same, tired, old 30-second soundbites, (that seems to be enough these days, to sway an election, an election by lazy, uninformed voters - and, that is a sad state of affairs :
Next time, you certainly need to do much better research before you use the phrase "escape understanding by liberals" or term others as stupid. Federal judges can indeed be appointed and dismissed at will (it's not calling "firing") and often change from administration to administration. But U.S. Attorneys are hired by the Department of Justice, whose head, the Attorney General, changes from administration to administration. The U.S. Attorneys themselves usually do not change out with the pendulum swings in political tides. That's why this firings controversy--the floating of a plan to clean out the ones who weren't sympathetic to the Bush administration--is so egregious. U.S. attorneys have to represent a variety of political persuasions so the entire body of the DOJ can appear fair and impartial since, of course, they're doing judicial and prosecutorial work at very high levels. They keep their jobs based on performance or desire, and though a few may leave spontaneously when the Attorney General leaves or may leave to take better-paying jobs in the private sector, until now, they've not been government employees who are fired at will. They certainly shouldn't be fired for partisan political reasons, and that, again, is why this is such a story. The 8 or 9 U.S. Attorneys who apparently lost their jobs under this "plan" all had exceptional performance records. Here's where you can read more about the DOJ and the U.S. Attorneys. And if you need me to introduce you to my friend Lee, a high-ranking attorney who formerly worked in this very organization in Texas, you can hear it from him, too.
The United States Department of Justice - United States Attorneys' Office

You can work on your presidential chronology here:
List of Presidents of the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia