First off, I want to say that Monica Goodling’s standard interview questions creep me out, particularly this one:

[W]hat is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?

Yuck.

Eric Lichtblau writes in today’s New York Times,

The report released on Monday goes much further in documenting pervasive evidence of political hiring for some of the department’s most senior career positions, including immigration judges, assistant United States attorneys and even senior counterterrorism positions.

The pattern appeared most damaging in the hiring of immigration judges, as vacancies were allowed to go unfilled — and a backlog of deportation cases grew — while Mr. Gonzales’s aides looked for conservative lawyers to fill what were supposed to be apolitical jobs.

The inspector general’s investigation found that Ms. Goodling and a handful of other senior aides to Mr. Gonzales used in-person interviews and Internet searches to screen out candidates who might be too liberal and identify candidates seen as pro-Republican and supportive of President Bush.

One senior official, in describing Ms. Goodling’s strategy, likened it to a “farm system” used to fill temporary vacancies at the Justice Department with Republicans who could then move up.

I wish some reporter could flush Monica Goodling out of whatever hole she’s hiding in these days and ask her these questions:

1. Do you understand why people are upset with you?
2. Did you understand at the time that your hiring practices were deeply unethical and compromised our justice system?
3. Did someone direct you to use such partisan criteria for hiring, or did you do this on your own initiative?
4. If someone directed you, who was it?
5. If this was on your own initiative, what made you think your hiring practices were appropriate or justified?

I’d be willing to bet money Ms. Goodling either had no idea that her hiring practices were in any way out of the ordinary, or else she sincerely believed she was serving some greater good.