It’s time for another edition of conservative postmodernism!

According to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, the performance of US attorneys can only be measured in political terms:

Sampson, in remarks obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, spoke dismissively of Democrats’ condemnation of what they call political pressure in the firings.

“The distinction between ‘political’ and ‘performance-related’ reasons for removing a United States attorney is, in my view, largely artificial,” he said. “A U.S. attorney who is unsuccessful from a political perspective … is unsuccessful.”

“[L]argely artificial”! Remember, the Congressional Research Service could find only ten US attorneys who had resigned amidst controversy or been fired in the last 25 years — and none of them were pushed out for partisan political reasons.

(For more on conservative postmodernism, start with Josh Marshall’s 2003 Washington Monthly article and then see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.)