The Soviets would be proud. Central American dictators of decades past would be proud. Dictators the world around have nothing on what our government is capable of in corrupting the basic principles and foundations on which this country was founded. Many times before I have written about Don Siegelman’s case. You remember, the former Democratic governor of Alabama who was indicted, convicted and jailed in a case so full of holes, you could fill the Albert Hall. (Siegelman is currently free on bail pending yet another appeal, meanwhile Sen. Ted Stevens’ case has been dropped by the Department of Justice; for prosecutorial misconduct.) From the look of things, Attorney General Holder could spend the entirety of Obama’s first term just reviewing prosecutorial (and judicial) misconduct in political prosecutions over the last 8 years.

A group called “Project Save Justice” has created an hour-long film entitled, “The Political Prosecutions of Karl Rove” detailing the prosecutions of hundreds of people around the country based almost completely on political affiliation and involving dozens of corrupted prosecutors and judges. The film shows how widespread this problem became throughout the Bush years and how the actions of the parties involved have created a calling card of sorts for Karl Rove. The politicization of the Justice Department is a scary, scary prospect and it is not fiction. This stuff happened and real peoples’ lives were destroyed because of how they voted. You can watch the film below, which includes commentary by Scott Horton, a professor, civil rights attorney and editor for Harpers Magazine.

Horton describes how the mainstream media was used in many of these cases to convict the target of an investigation in the court of public opinion often before prosecuting the case in court. This PR game is nothing new, but when case after case shows the systematic use of the media by the prosecution to try and convict, something is seriously wrong (actually, this is a crime). Innocent people are in jail or even worse, dead because of these prosecutions and save for a story here and there about the most vocal victims of this campaign (i.e. Gov. Siegelman), the mainstream media has remained silent. I knew political prosecutions had become more widespread over the last 8 years, but I had no idea how widespread. But this is precisely why often low-level political activists in the Democratic party were targeted… Sensationalism in the media is what sells and only on a hyper-local level will the prosecution of a state legislative fundraiser be reported. Actually, you are more likely to find 10 minutes of your evening “news” broadcast dedicated to the latest health scare (remember Anthrax?) or the price of gas, then a report on innocent member of your government being sent to jail because of how they vote.

Why is Chris Matthews such a panty waist? I’ve asked this question many times before and yet somehow I’m still surprised when new evidence of his fresh disposal is found. Thanks to TPM for this little clip where Matthews discusses how the Justice Department has dropped the charges against Senator Ted Stevens due to prosecutorial misconduct… Well, sort of. That is why the charges were dropped, but apparently Tweety Bird thinks the charges should have never been brought! Oh, and apparently Sen. Stevens is no longer the senior Senator from Alaska BECAUSE of these now dropped charges, according to this blithering idiot.

Well, Mr. Matthews – Just to clarify a few points: Sen. Stevens was already convicted last fall for not reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from an oil executive (normally we would call this a bribe, but somehow in this country the crime is just not telling anyone about the bribe, not the bribe itself). And to say that the charges should have never been brought? That is not at all what the Justice Department has said, rather that the charges held merit but that the prosecution failed to share evidence with the defense, thereby screwing up the case. On a related note though, perhaps Matthews should be more concerned with another politician whose re-election bid and political career WERE affected by prosecutorial misconduct, politicization of a trial and a whole other list of crap. Don Siegelman, the former Democratic Governor of Alabama has another appeal pending to try and have his charges dismissed, but he lost his re-election bid years ago because of this crap. Any mention from Matthews on this lately? Some of his other colleagues at MSNBC are a bit better, but so far only when it is convenient. Siegelman was interviewed by TPM regarding these comparisons and you can read that here.

As of 5:30PM Eastern time, Fox News listed on its website, the story of the United States House Judiciary Committee sending a subpoena to Karl Rove, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff and an employee, officially this time, of Fox News. They listed it as the second most important story in the “politics” section of its website. Scroll almost to the bottom and you’ll find it. They neglected to mention that this should be listed above the stories about pretty faces, the high school principal who will quit over a gay student club or vandals damaging Stonehenge with a hammer. Perhaps it is important to the American public to learn that one of the highest appointed members of the Bush administration (and our government) tampered with the Justice Department and sent an innocent man (former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman) to prison for political reasons alone. For proof, look at the fine news reporting done by Harpers Magazine, MSNBC, CBS and independent bloggers regarding this issue. More to come, for sure.