Which admin figure will leave DC the MOST discredited

[salin]

or looking the most foolish/toolish?

Tom Ridge is looking prime today... (remember his slip when unrolling the safety advice per duct tape that the idea had been tested by... not safety experts but... FOCUS GROUPS! Gee Tom, we really feel better now...)

Or is it - I lost my stature and credibility at the altar of bush before the UN - Colin Powell...

Other nominations?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Oh I think Cheney has already surpassed all of them

even amongst Republicans they have a very hard time defending him.

[salin]

5. true... perhaps I should distinguish between those

that gleefully acted and don't give a damn per public perception (its all about the power baby...)

and those that seem to have played a long and now look like they are simply a tool - especially if they had been previously respected in the public.

[salin]

22. I am revising this opinion

when typing a response to MonicaL ... I rethought the distinction of intentional acts (eg ring leading - thus not a tool so to speak)... with many in the public he did once have credibility - remember that many felt better about bush (due to his lack of brain power) because of Cheney... very few still view him this way.

[charlyvi]

2. Mr. "I can't imagine" Rumsfeld

I can't imagine we need more troops.
I can't imagine we'll be in Iraq for very long.
I can't imagine it will cost that much.
I can't imagine we'll need a draft.
I can't imagine being out on my ass after November 2.

[calimary]

23. How about contradicta "NO ONE could have IMAGINED..." rice?

If you want something to fuck up, ROYALLY, just put her in charge of it. Look how well we anticipated 9/11. Look how spot-on our intel was - pushing toward war. Look how well Iraq's been doing since bush gave her overladyship of it. She's a poster child for The Peter Principle. The worst incompetent, the poorest excuse for a PhD I've ever seen sucking air off the planet. The biggest PR for the most wretched of nincompoops.

[DemoTex]

3. A$$croft

But it is hard to pick just one in the Bu$hco ship of fools.

[calimary]

24. Actually, that's a good choice. So is cheney. MOST of them belong

behind bars. And not the ones georgie-poo likes - where they serve all those nice drinks.

[DemWitch]

4. Shrubya Inc.

is going to stick it to Rummy and Wolfowitz. All the errors in judgement are going to be placed directly at their feet after November as to keep Shrubya and Cheney on the repubs pedestal.

[salin]

7. Then why haven't they done this already?

It would make bush look better (holding folks accountable) but he seems psychologically unable to do this (with the ONE exception of Harvey Pitt) - as if doing that somehow makes HIM look bad... I think they are uniquely safe (scary, eh.)

[NMDemDist2]

6. Colin Powell, he had the farthest to fall IMO eom

[salin]

8. I would have to agree - and he really looks pimped

per his UN performance, his known objections before that performance and then going in and performing anyway.

[newscaster]

9. How about Condi Rise?

She is certainly one of the admin's prime liars and like Bush.....
In the wrong Job. She should be on the State Dept Russian Desk because she is said to be an expert on the old USSR but they put her as top adviser when the middle east is in the spotlight? Wrong wrong wrong.

Rice is a major WMD liar as is Bushie who is also in over his head. The best government job for him would be......forest ranger at Everglades National Park.

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. Condi Mushroom Cloud Jets As Missiles Rice

Our national security adviser on the day of 9/11.

[salin]

20. she of the... we didn't have specific evidence

and there for did nothing wrong... if we knew the dates and times then we could have acted (she is INCOMPETENT!)

[punpirate]

Gore Vidal may have his own agenda...

... but he's been watching politics in this country for a long, long time. He says Bush will leave office the most despised President in history. Ultimately, it's going to be Bush himself who is most discredited....

[salin]

17. I only hope this IF all of the despise generalizes out to those

who brung him to the dance. Would hate to see all of the anger pinpointed on him, but leaving the movement largely sound and the same.

[Jack Rabbit]

11. I nominate Donald Rumsfeld

This is a really difficult question. Even those who had little credibility to begin with lost whatever they had while serving the junta.

Rumsfeld at least seemed like a competent bureaucrat four years ago; I didn't think he was a bad choice for Defense Secretary. Now I think he should be brought up on war crimes charges.

Rumsfeld's lies have at least been witty. I'm still impressed with "the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" in reference to Saddam's biochemical arsenal. Other lies were just outlandish, such as "We know where they are; they're in the neighborhood of Baghdad and Tikrit." Obviously, he either had no clue where Saddam's weapons were or, more likely, he knew very well that Saddam didn't have any biochemical weapons in Baghdad or Tikrit or anywhere else. His most recent pronouncement that the methods of torture he approved were not methods of torture is just pure obfuscation.

[salin]

18. I would agree... even though he started with only minimal credibility

and though he doesn't seem to fit the "tool" part (as in, being used) - but his statements demonstrate contempt and shallowness and a complete and utter disregard for those in the military, and for the general public.

[comradebillyboy]

12. too many excellent choices of incompetence

but rummy is a leading candidate

[benddem]

13. after reading chap. 8 of the 9-11 report

I cannot fathom why Condi and Hadley have not 1) resigned 2) been fired.
They really blew it.

[salin]

19. I am hoping that the NON FIRING becomes a more common theme

it really counters the "bush didn't lie... it was the intelligence folks fault."

Then why are they all still in their jobs, why have no changes been made?

Yes, we say it among ourselves, and occaisionally a dem will say it during the rare moments of tv/radio time we are given - but that question has not penetrated the public psyche. I think it is an important one, because it underscores an overall impression of intentional, ideologically driven incompetence.

[mikehiggins]

14. Powell

He was the only one who had any credibility in January 2001. What has he left to him now?

[Swede]

15. Send in the clowns.

Neocons,rightwing Christians, or just the plain greedy bastards,they are all gonna look pretty bad in the history books.

[Mandate My Ass]

16. Cheney

Big time.

[salin]

21. Hard to believe that Cheney ever had any credibility in the first place

but given the national sigh of relief when he was selected (b/c bush was such an intellelctual lightweight) - it is clear that in many corners he once did have credibility. I have to rethink my comments earlier to NSMA - where I excluded Cheney due to his intentional role in the various debacles (as opposed to those who have been placed into demeaning roleplaying such as Ridge)...

[Bake]

25. Cheney 'em: ALL OF 'EM will be discredited

You can't single anyone out (although Colon Blow Powell is an attractive candidate for the dubious honor). They'll ALL be discredited. Smirk can't even do the lecture circuit because he can't string a coherent sentence together. Rove, maybe? Who'll want to hear a lecture by the twit that got them booted out of power?

Bottom line: ALL OF 'EM.

Bake

[NightOwwl]

26. "Had we any inkling whatsoever

that terrorists were about to attack our country, we would have moved heaven and earth to protect America,"

The entire BushCo gang.