The emails behind the furor:

The U.S. attorneygate e-mails. - By Bonnie Goldstein - Slate Magazine

I guess the question is whether or not prosecutors should be political appointments or not. I thought that there were rules governing the filling of civil service positions, and that political patronage was a non-issue. I guess not, at least for the higher level positions. But it would also seem that Bush has returned political cronyism to an art form, and this is really to their great shame, or at least it should be. I would think that the position of US Attorney/federal prosecutor is an important position, a position for which professional qualifications would be crucial, not a place to put your favorite buddy.