Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, caught in a lie on Meet the Press about fired US Attorney Carol Lam. He said, among other things, that

“She was a former law professor, no prosecutorial experience, and the former campaign manager in Southern California for Clinton, and they’re trying to say that this administration appoints people politically?”

She has had 15 years of prosecutorial experience when she was appointed by George W. Bush. She successfully prosecuted ex-Congressman”Duke” Cunningham.

Ironically, it is rumored that Hatch is on the short list to replace Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should he be forced to resign over his handling of the firings of US Attorneys for purposes of thwarting prosecutions of Republicans (and to punish those who were not quick enough to prosecute Democrats).

We hope Gonzo is forced out. We also hope, that despite Hatch’s attempts to lie on behalf of the Bush administration (we can imagine that this is endearing him to Karl Rove) , that he is not appointed to the upcoming vacancy.

If folks call his office (202) 224-5251 or Fax: (202) 224-6331 to complain, let us know what his office is saying in response, and when he will come out with a big apology. Hatch must never, never, be allowed to forget this, not until his retirement day.

Here is the video of Rachel Maddow explaining it all for you.

Update:

From Josh Marshall at TPM

My comments about Carol Lam’s record as a U.S. Attorney were accurate, but I misspoke when making the point of discussing politically connected U.S. Attorneys. I accidentally used her name, instead of her predecessor, Alan Bersin, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton.

This is kind of classic on a couple levels. My comments were accurate, just not the facts I used in the comments.

But that’s only the half of it.

The simple fact is that Hatch’s explanation makes no sense. He’s saying: In the course of attacking Carol Lam I inadvertantly used Lam’s name when describing facts that may or may not apply to, Alan Bersin, a guy Bill Clinton appointed to the same office back in the mid-1990s.

As one of the comments suggests, it seems Hatch knew exactly what he was doing. Few people heard that “clarification” as on the April 8th Meet The Press it was only said that Hatch left a message about what he said the week before, look at the website. He was deliberatly putting this disinformation out there, and it did not matter a few people heard his statement later, most did not. Many people now believe Lam was an unqualified person appointed by Clinton.