Well, to begin with the story is all over the place right now, so I don't really understand how the story getting in the papers would be a concern. You think Coyners really makes those 17 Republicans tremble in their boots, huh? If they had put up some kind of fight or insisted there was no wrong doing on the part of the Bush White House because that's what they believed or knew to be true then it would have made the Democrats look bad...not been something to be worried about getting in the papers. Are you saying these Republicans are that weak that they won't stand up for what they believe and defend the President because they are afraid of what might get said in the papers. That would be pathetic. The truth is, Pat, they know the Bush White House is in deep pooh pooh on this and they know Bush is a lame duck and has never done them any favors in popularity poles so they don't want to go down with a sinking ship. They know the White House is covering up and that there are way too many leaks to plug on this so they are gonna let George burn this time. Their vote was a message to Bushco that "You're on your own on this one guys."

The other thing you need to know is that all 8 of those fired attorneys were Republicans supported by Republican Senators. They were not firing them because they were Democrats they were firing them, to stop ongoing investigations. Carol Lam had dug up some nasty stuff during the Duke Cunningham deal and it led all the way back to the CIA and massive Republican corruption...Bushco didn't want her prosecuting Republican corruption they wanted her drumming up stuff to hurt Democrats...they wanted, as the e-mail said, "loyal Bushies"...meaning folks that would lie and look the other way for them.

Why does the Senate talk about term limits yet nothing ever happens? Maybe they saw what happened in the Reno firing and decided mass firings like the Reno debacle in '93 should not happen again

This answer really makes no sense at all and seems to indicate you have no idea at all what I asked or what is going on. First the term limits thing seems to be there just to talk about something other than what we are discussing and is completely pointless. Second, did you read the question? They voted to repeal part of the Patriot Act, Pat. The Patriot Act did not exist when Clinton was President so they were in no way making a statement about Clinton or Reno. There was no "Reno debacle" in 1993 and Reagan and Carter did the same thing when they began their terms. I don't expect you to know that but in this case Clinton's Administration was not the first to fire them all at the start of the term. It was thought to be normal procedure. Georgie's father did not have to fire them all when he came in because he was just taking over from another Republican administration. See that's the only concern that it's a political appointment and the serving attorneys are representative of your side...Republican, Democrat...whatever...Bushco's move was unusual because they were firing Republicans that were put in place during their own administration no less! When they hand pick 8 that are prosecuting cases that may damage them or other Republicans well then it becomes even more odd...when they say it's for performance issues but do not detail them and they had up to that point got glowing reviews for their performance then you really have to question things...when the firings are traced back to Karl Rove asking how they can get rid of them and in at least one case in Arkansas install one of his pals...well the obvious issues with these firings begin to pile up...so much so that even Republicans are disgusted by them. When you locate e-mails stating that "Carol Lam is a real problem" and they are talking about what she's prosecuting...well we have a clear attempt to manipulate the justice system. When the White House is hiding all e-mails and documents related to this case for the 16 days leading up to the firings...well, it's not to hard to figure out what's happening.

So, you see nobody ever cared if a new president came in and they fired all the attorneys at the start of the term...Carter did it, Reagan did it, Clinton did it, Bush fired most of the federal attorneys when he came into office too...that's all a big so what...but it has nothing to do with how the Senate voted or this current issue.