I think this is a terribly misplaced notion. We can argue about who should have been fired when, but "if for no other reason than to make them non-issues" is the worst reason I can think of. It's like teaching your children that if they scream loud enough in sacrament meeting, it's a free trip to romp around the foyer carefree.

Don't feed the sharks.

Yapping dogs is a more appropriate analogy than sharks, because yapping dogs won't shut up no matter what.

Political capital is a rare and rapidly depleted commodity if you expend much of it in defending your underlings (and thereby build up negative capital) then there is little left to do things like pursue your legislative agenda. You know, the thing you were elected to do (or at least GW may have once thought).