Here’s a few extra facts the media seems unwilling to make clear:

• Clearing out USAs during a term is pretty much unprecedented, though (as we’ve said before) the 4-year-term usually means new Presidents get to pick their own as part of their new Administration. Saying “Clinton fired them all!” in this context, as a defense of the current gang, makes as much sense as complaining that Bush fired Clinton’s cabinet.
• Prior to PATRIOT, these appointees were subject to Congressional approval. After PATRIOT, they’re not. This creates a situation wherein Bush could replace his Congressionally-approved USAs with those who would not pass such scrutiny.
• Moving to clean out politically troublesome prosecutors smacks of a total disregard for the rule of law.
• Making such a move previously would have opened the door for Congressional oversight, since any replacement would have to be made with their approval. This is known as “checks and balances,” and you may recall somewhat hazily from your junior-high civics course.
• Post-PATRIOT, the executive branch is free to load the USA ranks with political functionaries presumably free to pursue prosecutions only of troublesome Democrats, as opposed to grotesquely corrupt Republicans like Duke Cunningham. As noted before, this purge-and-replace campaign has far more in common with the Saturday Night Massacre than anything else.
• Lying to Congress about why these USAs were dismissed is a big no-no.