Monica Goodling Serves the President

The DOJ's Inspector General has released a 146-page (pdf) "Investigation of Allegations of
Politicized Hiring by Monica Goodling and Other Staff in the Office of the Attorney General." Via the Washington Independent comes a sampling of ways in which Goodling assessed whether lawyers were qualified to act as chief prosecutors for the United States:

The report gives eight instances where candidates who qualified for positions like counter-terrorism prosecutor and asst. U.S. attorneys were turned down by Goodling due to questions about their GOP loyalty. Goodling gave each of these employees interview questions like "Aside from the President, give us an example currently or recently of someone in public service that you admire" and "Why are you a Republican?" Several prospective employees told the inspector general that Goodling often steered the conversation to questions about abortion and gay marriage. For instance, one employee might have thought they were displaying their GOP bona fides by naming Condoleezza Rice as their most admired politician. But Goodling "frowned" and replied "but she's pro-choice."

Goodling also performed Lexis Nexis searches on prospective candidates by typing in their names in tandem with words like "abortion," "gay," and "homosexual." She also mined www.opensecrets.org for prospective employee's political contributions.

Also on the list of interview questions: "What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?", which sounds like a Twilight Zone punchline. In Goodling's favor, she apparently makes excellent brownies.