After Rachel Paulose’s resignation as U.S. Attorney for Minnesota yesterday, the Left celebrated and blamed the Bush administration for a politically-grounded appointment that was bound to fail.

The Right blamed her departure on a media lynching.

And a non-partisan, offering a more temperate view, blamed it on the common mistakes of an inexperienced supervisor.

Here’s a sample of what the bloggers had to say last night and this morning.

U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose

TPMmuckraker
“It’s not a promotion — it’s a way out.”

TalkLeft:
“Now, how hard was that? Should have been done months ago.”

Norwegianity:
“Only with the Bushies do failures fall upwards. Pathetic.”

Power Line’s Scott Johnson, a friend of Paulose, reacting to an early StarTribune.com story about her resignation:
“Let’s see. She’s a Republican. (The position of United States Attorney is a political appointmet.) She was appointed to the position by the Bush administration. (No one other than the president and the Attorney General had the legal authority to make the appointment.) She knew Monica Goodling. (Liberals used to oppose guilty by association.) And former United States Attorney Tom Heffelfinger might have been fired if he had not resigned when he did. I understand completely.”

Lazy Gopher Pachyderm blames the media and Sen. Norm Coleman for abandoning her:
“Minnesota Republicans’ own wind-tossed strand of boiled linguini, U.S. Senator Norm Coleman, abandoned Rachel Paulose, his successful nominee for the U.S. attorney’s office in St. Paul. Bowing to unsubstantiated, even false media speculation, Coleman pulled his support, which I’m guessing is what likely led to the end of her tenure in St. Paul.”

Indiablogs:
“After the New York Times hatchet job on Rachel Paulose last week, we never had any doubt that her departure was imminent.”

Mark Cohen at Minnesota Lawyer blog says that Paulose is smart, charming, conservative in belief but not political in how she ran the office. He says she was neither the Wicked Witch her detractors claimed nor the St. Rachel that conservatives held her up to be:
“It has always been my belief that it was a management situation causing the disruptions at the office. Paulose has sterling academic credentials and a highly impressive resume for her age. But she had little real management experience.

“Intent on impressing her bosses and no doubt believing in her priorities, she plowed ahead and redirected the office without getting buy-in from the troops. She was also reportedly sometimes dictatorial in manner and abrasive toward subordinates. These are rookie mistake frequently made by inexperienced managers. But when that manager is in charge of 100 talented individuals at the U.S. Attorney’s Office and operating in a fishbowl, there is little room for error.”

What’s your analysis?

The Minnesota Department of Transportation is under scrutiny on a couple of bridge-related fronts. The agency suspended its incomplete inspection of the I-35W bridge, months before it collapsed. And MnDOT hired but then didn’t use a consulting firm to inspect the bridge for flaws. Here’s the story by Pat Doyle and Mike Kaszuba.

Meanwhile, the state Legislative Auditor now has MnDOT in his sights. The agency failed to notify James Nobles about questionable travel expenses by its official in charge of emergency responses. Nobles learned about the situation after the Star Tribune reported that the official was on an East Coast business trip when the bridge collapsed — and that she took 10 days to return to Minnesota. Here’s the original story and here’s today’s news.

An investigation on a completely different front involves allegations against the U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Rachel Paulose. As part of the continuing staff upheaval in her office, a federal office is looking into reports that she carelessly handled classified documents and retaliated against employees in her office. Here’s the story, and here’s the initial report on the probe on former colleague Eric Black’s blog.

Jim Ramstad, just a day after he announced his retirement plans, scored a big victory in the U.S. Senate last night. The Senate passed the mental health parity bill, which Ramstad, R-Minn., and the late Sen. Paul Wellstone had long championed. The bill is awaiting action in the House. Here’s the news report and here’s more information about the legislation on the Wellstone Action! website.

There’s a big vote beginning at 11:30 a.m. today. Ok, it’s not really a political development, but still… The designs for next year’s Winter Carnival button will be unveiled today, and the public will have a chance to vote for their favorites. Here’s more information.