Political punishment

Rafe adds another take on the US Attorney firing scandal (I previously noted Josh Marshall's explanation of its importance here), pointing out that the Administration couldn't really think it had done nothing wrong, or it wouldn't have tried so hard to cover it up. As he explains it, the current hearings are part of how our political system corrects itself:

What's going on now is the standard punishment for political offenses, which is that your dirty laundry gets aired and your rivals make you twist in the wind for as long as possible. If the Bush administration really had a valid defense for its actions, all they'd have to do is make an honest case to the American people, but they don't, so the punishment continues. And the longer Alberto Gonzales keeps his job, the longer it will go on.

It may indeed take that resignation to make this go away; will be interesting to see. The longer it goes on, the more impact it will have on future elections, and I can't believe that the Republicans want that, even if the upside is less talk about Iraq...