Paul Krugman on Keith Olbermann's Countdown:

The firing of the prosecutors was shameful. But what you really worry about is what the guys who were not fired did in order to keep on the administration‘s good side....

We have statistical evidence. Donald Shields (ph) and James Creighton (ph) did a study of press reports of attorneys‘ actions across the country, and they found that while that the statewide races, it was sort of rough parity, at the local level, it was seven to one investigations or charges against Democrats compared with Republicans, which strongly suggests you have a real pattern in which the U.S. attorneys‘ offices are being used to—for political purposes, and it just happens that these eight guys who got fired weren‘t going along with the program....

We need more of those numbers, the Creighton and Shields numbers are interesting, they‘re very revealing. But we really need to know a lot more about specifically what went on all across the country. New Jersey, there are strong suspicions. There‘s questions in New Hampshire. There‘s questions in Kentucky. We need to know exactly what‘s going on in terms of the misuse of the Justice Department.

And also on the show, GW law professor Jonathan Turley:

I think that‘s everyone‘s concern, that not what did these people fail to do that got them fired, but what the other people did do that kept them in their jobs....

You also worry what this tells other U.S. attorneys. I mean, the impression is that if you go after someone like Jerry Lewis or other powerful people like Cunningham, that you‘re really risking your career, and that maybe you‘d be better suited finding other targets....

Seeing Karl Rove in this issue is really something that sticks out. I mean, this is the pig in the parlor. I mean, not that he‘s a pig. But he sticks out, and no one wants to talk about it, perhaps, in the White House. But any involvement of Karl Rove on this issue really screams for investigation.

The above comments get to the crux of the danger behind this scandal: to what extent were political threats used to intimidate sitting prosecutors into doing the administration's partisan bidding? Eight apparently rebuffed the threats and paid the price, but of even greater concern is how many prosecutors agreed to cut deals and carry out their marching orders, thus tossing aside objectivity when it came to enforcing our system of law, all to save their jobs...?

The rampant thuggery and use of intimidation in every aspect of government are trademark tactics of this White House and it continues to exhibit no bounds.