bush's appointees: "talented individuals"?

[mwb970]

Bush, the Man Without a Conscience
(Watching the Watchers, February 12, 2008)

Bush appointees. Famous for their competence, ethics, and dedication to the idea that their job is to serve the president, not the country (unless, of course, you view the country and president as synonymous). From an an April, 2007 story from the AP, running down Bush appointees and other White House warriors who left under a cloud or face conflict-of-interest allegations:

• Scooter Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice
  
• Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced (faces?) congressional investigations into his role in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. Two top aides have resigned in the investigation into whether the firings were politically motivated. Emails and other evidence released by the Justice Department suggest that Rove played a part in the process. Other e-mails, sent on Republican party accounts, either have disappeared or were erased
  
• J. Steven Griles, an oil and gas lobbyist, became deputy Interior Secretary and then became the highest-ranking Bush administration official convicted in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, pleading guilty to obstructing justice by lying to a Senate committee about his relationship with the convicted lobbyist. Abramoff repeatedly sought Griles' intervention at Interior on behalf of Indian tribal clients.
  
• Former White House aide, David H. Safavian, was convicted last year of lying to government investigators about his ties to Abramoff and faces a 180-month prison sentence
  
• Roger Stillwell, a former Interior Department official, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for not reporting tickets he received from Abramoff
  
• Matteo Fontana, a Department of Education official who oversaw the student loan industry, was put on leave after disclosure that he owned at least $100,000 worth of stock in a student loan company
  
• Claude Allen, who had been Bush's domestic policy adviser, pleaded guilty to theft in making phony returns at discount department stores while working at the White house. He was sentenced to two years of supervised probation and fined $500
  
• Eric Keroack, Bush's choice to oversee the federal family planning program, resigned from the post suddenly after the Massachusetts Medicaid office launched an investigation into his private practice. He had been medical director of an organization that opposes premarital sex and contraception
  
• Robert W. Cobb, NASA's inspector general, was investigated on charges of ignoring safety violations in the space program, with an internal administration review concluding that he routinely tipped off department officials to internal investigations and quashed a report related to the Columbia shuttle explosion to avoid embarrassing the agency
  
• Julie MacDonald, who oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service despite having no academic background in biology, still overrode recommendations of agency scientists about how to protect endangered species and improperly leaked internal information to private groups, the Interior Department inspector general said

And that's actually a pretty small selection of the Bush-appointed and Bush-countenanced sleaze and plunder troop.

Yes, but don't forget about Democratic Rep. William "Cold Cash" Jefferson! This problem is obviously "bipartisan."

PS. Here's the quote from bush's radio address last Saturday:

"One of the most important jobs of any president is to find good men and women to lead government agencies, preside over our courts and provide vital services to the American people. So I have nominated talented individuals for these positions."

Have you ever heard such patently false BS? I mean, since the last time bush opened his yap?

[ixion]

1. ah yes, but you have to remember this is bushspeak

and so therefore it means exactly the opposite of what he says. When he says 'talented' he means 'incompetent'.

[DCKit]

2. Yet even Dumbya didn't go so far as to mention Brownie. n/t

[momster]

3. Only Talented Compared with *Him*

GWB picks intelligent people who are, however, not too intelligent to listen to him. I'm sure all his life he was brushed off by smarter people "That's nice, George...go play with your toys...frat buddies...cocaine..." So now he chooses fairly intelligent people who see an opportunity to succeed if they listen to him for a little while first. Unfortunately, people who can stand to listen to George tend to be venial, cheesy, and have the moral fiber of dog-droppings (which, of course, doesn't care whether your shoes are Payless sneakers or Ferragamo pumps).