Posted by Andrew Zajac at 4:45 pm CST
It's Friday afternoon in Washington. Time for the administration to dribble out some bad news.
Wait...
Waddya know. The resignation of the recently notorious Charles "Cully" Stimson has moved on the wire.
Stimson, you will recall, is the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs who tried bullying law firms engaged in pro bono representation of Guantanamo detainees by suggesting in a Jan. 11 radio interview that such firms' paying clients might want to consider taking their business elsewhere.
He also declared, with no evidence, that lawyers who claimed to be working for free were getting money from "who knows where."
It was an odd blast both because of its dismissal of the bedrock principle that everyone, no matter how odious, deserves a decent defense and because this is a settled issue. Large law firms have been defending detainees since at least 2002.
Legal groups reacted with predictable rage and Stimson on Friday determined that the reaction "hampered his ability to be effective in this position," Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman told AP.
Tossing out-of-favor bureaucrats overboard on Friday afternoon is basic Washington PR tradecraft. The stink on TV, the Web and in newspapers, if there is any, tends to dissipate over a weekend.
Doesn't seem like there's much danger that Stimson will be remembered, but his words won't soon be forgotten.
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Comments
Why do Republicans hate our freedoms?
Posted by: Tony | February 2, 2007 4:57 PM
Tony because they want you to think, walk and talk like them
Posted by: Dale Peters | February 2, 2007 5:09 PM
Bye Stimpy, and good riddance.
I guess the Republican hierarchy is starting realize the right to legal defense in court is a good thing, eh?
See, they can't feel anyone else's pain, see, ya gotta feel it yourself, see, or the pain ain't real, see.
Ya startin' to get it, America?
These people can't be anywhere near 'power' or they turn into Dr. Goebbels.
Posted by: C.Morris | February 2, 2007 5:20 PM
Another one bites the dust!
Posted by: bill r. | February 2, 2007 7:29 PM
"the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs"
Okay...is there somewhere a list of all the nonsensical job titles in DC and what they actually do? Or is the list so long you'd never be able to compile it?
Posted by: lochnessmonster | February 3, 2007 5:59 AM
Tony -
Republicans hate our freedoms just as much as Democrats do (if that's even possible).
Posted by: no name | February 4, 2007 8:49 AM
See Ya Curly....I mean Cully!
Posted by: John E. | February 4, 2007 1:26 PM