Promoting 'as many of our Bush loyalists as possible'
By Steve Benen Thursday Jul 31, 2008 3:00pmThanks to a report from the Justice Department’s inspector general, we got a better sense this week about the extraordinary — and illegal — efforts to politicize Bush’s Justice Department.
But let’s not forget, the problem of basing employment decisions on politics went well beyond the Justice Department. Charlie Savage picks up on an email that went largely overlooked.
On May 17, 2005, the White House’s political affairs office sent an e-mail message to agencies throughout the executive branch directing them to find jobs for 108 people on a list of “priority candidates” who had “loyally served the president.”
“We simply want to place as many of our Bush loyalists as possible,” the White House emphasized in a follow-up message, according to a little-noticed passage of a Justice Department report released Monday about politicization in the department’s hiring of civil-service prosecutors and immigration officials.
The report, the subject of a Senate oversight hearing Wednesday, provided a window into how the administration sought to install politically like-minded officials in positions of government responsibility, and how the efforts at times crossed customary or legal limits.
To be sure, Bush didn’t invent political patronage, and practically all modern presidents have made at least some efforts to, as Savage put it, “impose greater political control over the federal bureaucracy.”
But none have gone as far as this gang. “The Bush administration is unprecedented in how systematic the politicization is and how it extends both across the wider organization chart and deep down within the bureaucracy,” Professor Rudalevige said. “They’ve been very consistent from Day 1 in learning the lessons of previous administrations and pushing those tactics to the limit.”
The NYT report added:
The report released on Monday by Justice Department investigators said that the context of the May 17, 2005, message from the White House “made plain” that it was seeking politically appointed government jobs, for which it is legal to take politics into account. The report did not say who sent the message.
But the message also urged administration officials to “get creative” in finding the patronage positions — and some political appointees carried out their mission with particular zeal.
“We pledge 7 slots within 40 days and 40 nights. Let the games begin!” Jan Williams, then the White House’s liaison to the Justice Department, said in an e-mail message two days later.
Within a week, messages between Ms. Williams and the White House showed, she began trying to match the White House-vetted names of people who had been “helpful to the president” — like campaign volunteers — with openings for immigration judges, positions that are supposed to be filled using politically neutral, merit-based criteria.
Focusing on the implications for the Justice Department, Paul Krugman helped explain the big picture:
As we all know, the Bush administration essentially brushed aside all notion of due process. It locked up and tortured people it said were “enemy combatants”; it engaged in warrantless wiretapping; and so on.
We weren’t supposed to worry our pretty little heads about this, because we were supposed to take it as a given that these were people we could trust not to abuse their power.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department was interviewing job candidates, and asking, “What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?”
In other words, there was a combination of power without oversight and a deeply creepy cult of personality (which was obvious long before we got the latest specifics.)
I think we were lucky to get out of this with democracy more or less intact.
That’s especially true when we recognize the fact that these politicized hiring decisions went well beyond the Justice Department.
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IMPEACH Cheney first...
Pelosi second...
Then the Fuhrer...!
.
"We simply want to place as many of our Bush loyalists as possible,”
*Vomits*
He was trying to create a cult of personality.
That bastard
Will we, as a nation, ever recover? I think we are so mired in incompetence, Money woes, broken military and a defunct DOJ. Now McCain is on CNN spinning his way through his Bull-Shit.
IMPEACH Cheney first…
Pelosi second…
Then the Fuhrer…!
I think that would leave Al Haig in charge.
.
Did they create govt. jobs for these people or were people fired so these people could have a job?
I agree with Krugman, maybe we are lucky to have what scraps we have left due to what could have happened with this many inexperienced loyalist.
How to turn a democratic republic into a dictatorship...
They actually found a whitehouse e-mail?
The line between civil service and political appointee has been erased by this administration. Saying it's illegal is not enough. Without a STRONG opposition party, the laws won't be enforced. If the laws aren't enforced, the laws are useless.
Eric in Ottawa @ 6:
Looks like Bush was on step two.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_personality
I wonder what step he's on now.
DonQ @ 4:
No, actually it would be Robert Byrd as president since he's the current Senate president pro-tempore.
....not to mention that the guides at the Grand Canyon were instructed not to tell the true age of the Grand Canyon-since after all, the world was created in only a few days a few thousand years ago.
Shrub was the original corrupt gatekeeper at his father's White House, and instituted "loyalty" on a grand scale when selected as president. Shame on the Democrats for not going aggressively after this creep for two elections up to the present. Losers in every sense of the word. A McCain presidency will prove it once again.
DonQ @ 4:
I thought he was in charge. Did he ever leave the building when Reagan left office?
The public service (all branches of the gov't) should reflect the politics of the general public and not the gov't in power; anything else and we are no better than a banana republic or the fascist regimes of the past. Bush/Cheney and Repukes tried to change that for their own good, not that of the country they were elected to serve.
One would hope that when Obama is President he will take all the Bush loyalists, put them in the crapper, and
FLUSH THEM DOWN.
“What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?”
I suspect that these were the most common answers to this question:
1) Gawd told me to!
2) I hear that you can get away with pretty much anything in this place.
3) He's an old drinking buddy of mine.
4) He's an old "coke" buddy of mine.
5) I hear that you can take a lot of vacation time.
Jo @ 14:
Then spray air freshener all over the place. Give it a nice fresh minty aroma.
Symon @ 15:
or, I like his stance.
... now watch this drive!
Ka-Roney ~ Ba-Loney
It's time the country went on strike until these criminals resign.
"I think we were lucky to get out of this with democracy more or less intact."
I think less intact is accurate. Rep. Pelosi-are you listening?
That question: What makes you want to serve him? It just creeps me out. It sounds like bush is a fu*king king instead of a president. What makes you.......
As if they have to have some lifelong dream to serve someone so anointed.
Symon @ 15:
6) money and more money
Jo @ 17:
Is it a wide-stance?
I'm sure the pool of boosh loyalists is draining.
Screwtape the Epistemologist @ 20:
Absolutely!
I was in the hardware store this AM and after I had paid, the cashier asked me if I wanted to support the Barbara Bush children's hospital. I answered, "You mean the mass murderer's mother, Barbara Bush? Too bad her son is killing more children as we speak." I said it loud and proud. Got some thumbs up. If there is a word for poison it is anything named Bush.
So the only qualifications required were that they adored bush and they knew how to keep their mouth shut. They must also put loyalty before the law.
Could THIS be the ever elusive smoking gun that Pelosi has been waiting to come to light before she takes impeachment hearings off the table?
Nah.......
Some day in the not-too-distant future, someone will pen a book called Who Wrecked America? If the book is honest, fingers will be pointed at the crooks and liars in Washington DC and Wall Street, at lobbyists (pimps) and Congressmen (whores), at bankers and war toy makers, at AIPAC and PNAC, at presidents, executives and generals.
Yellow Elephant Safari @ 27:
GAAA I meant puts them ON the table.
L.A. Confidential @ 28:
And the media.
chuy! what's wrong with this picture? the whole US Govt, top to bottom, through and through and through and through had been politicized, corrupted, infiltrated by Bush loyalists; everywhere, the services provided by the people's taxes have been and will for the whole foreseeable futrue be controlled by people--hired in on civil servic rules--whose loyalty is to George W. Bush, and nothing else, because without him they wouldn't have jobs, so meager are their qualifications. This was what the Civil Service was supposed to prevent. But it is just another example of how the busheviks have shat messily on everything they have touched.
I have a big problem. I am a 60 year old Viet Nam veteran. I have had a couple of reunions with my war buddies. Now I get their stupid Republican bullshit all the time. I have a spam filter that keeps most of it away. But now I want to answer these people.
Does anyone have a spiel that you can post here for me, that answers their stupid posts about Obama is muslim, the Democrats are amoral etc.?
Thanks
A proud old guy who is not a Republican, thank God.
Dave
Yellow Elephant Safari @ 30:
Tom Frank's' new book
The dems in the house have just turned off the lights and the mics and gone home. The repugs want to talk about offshore drilling and continue to make speeches with out lights and mics. They are demanding that the president call the dems and make them come back into session. This is funny!
Dave @ 32:
Brotha, they drunk the kool-aid...i too am a 'nam vet (fought my war in an air-conditioned trailer atop a mountain peak with a spectacular view of the South China Sea--good of the service, ya know?)
from one to another, just delete 'em. You'll never change any minds. They likely believe we could have "won" in 'nam, right? they've had 40 years to learn the error of their fantasies...they ainta gonna change, amigo!
FASCISM
plain and simple
Did they release the list of 108 people and do any subsequent research as to where they wound up?
Off Topic but
With Congress going home for 5 weeks what's to stop GW from doing whatever he wants to? Will Webb gavel session in as he has in the past, or are we actually expecting GW to pay nice?
pissed off patricia @ 34:
Betcha it makes the nightly news as an example of the pukes' 'courage'...
No Childish Left Behind...
Larry Craig prefers the entire set.
pissed off patricia @ 34:
POP,
The dems could immediately shut down all this talk of drilling if they had the balls. They would only have to legislate that all oil companies producing oil in the US can only sell that oil within the US. The citizens would be overwhelmingly in favor of this because it would actually lower prices (right away!) The oil companies however . . well, that's why the dems aren't even considering it. And of course Bush would veto the bill but at least that would shut him and the repugs up.
woody, tokin librul @ 35:
Your right of course. McCain is still trying to win a war, just look at the fool and how he talks, "we're winning we're winning we're winning."
Me I spent some of my time in a nefty little corner called Con Tien and Dong Ha. I don't understand how my war buddies didn't get it that our government does make mistakes. It isn't USA right or wrong with me. I think. But your right, I won't change their minds.
Thanks anyway.
The most maddening thing is, they got caught, they admit they did it, but they control the penalty phase, so they are going to get away with it. Amazing. Like the Vandals sacking Rome, and getting a standing ovation from the citizens.
Dave@32, I feel for you, my family members bullied me, called me unpatriotic, and said I was sypathetic to terrorists, why you asked, because I had the balls to vote for John Kerry. And what do they say now? Nothing.
Dave @ 32:
Dave, this is the link to Fact-Check on Obama Sliming.
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/sliming_obama.html
It covers both the comments you mention.
The problem I see is how does the Obama administration fix these problems without doing the exact same thing?
P.D. @ 44:
Yea, I keep waiting for the media to give praise to San Francisco because of our correct view of the Iraq war. You know we rioted the night Bush invaded. Broken windows, fires in trash cans and all. But not one media outlet has gone back to those images and said, "You know the lefties were right...".
♫..Bangkok Bob..♫ @ 45:
Thanks I will go there. Hell I'll bookmark it.
ryan @ 46:
It will be very very hard to roll back many of the things these crooks have put in place. Maybe that is why the GOP is in such a panic now, in just five months the shoe will be on the other foot and they have opened the door into snooping into the private conversations of Congress-persons etc. Their hands will be getting scorched from the fires they have lit.
Dave@47, The MSM not doing it's job? Say it isn't so! But seriously, MSM is to blame for Bush and his Cabal. Instead of investigating and doing serious reporting, they have left the American political coverage for Britney and Linsay to the latest missing white chick, Insane no?
The scary thing isn't just that they gave jobs to incompetents, it's that these superfans (you know the type) of Bush's feel it's their duty to help their "team" win however they can. You know, deleting e-mails, destroying videotapes, shredding incriminating papers, jailing political opponents, hypothetical stuff like that. Oh, wait... And with these types, when it looks like their team is going to lose, their fallback position is to employ scorched earth tactics - to screw over the "other team" as badly as possible on their way off the field.
Tell me this isn't an accurate description of the last seven years.
Andhakari @ 8:
The opposition party in this country is non-exsistent. We have Repukes, and pukes-lite. They are all in it together...
Has anyone asked McCain what he thinks about all this crap? Nah....the RNC will just do the same thing again under McCain, just a bit more secretive. Hey, they claim Bush didn't know about it.
BobD @ 38:
I heard Harry Reid say yesterday that there will be por forma sessions during the break, because of the distrust of the president.
Dave @ 32:
You can't argue with someone as stupid as these people. Just tell them to fuck-off and leave you alone. You will live a more peacfull life as a result.
I like the idea of allowing 'em to drill, but to sell it only to USer refiners. With legislation, which if vetoed, would look bad for the PUKES...whicvh is, of coursethe point.....
It's OUR oil, goddam it. You AIN'T Gonna fuukin sell it to no damn chinee!!!
oh, me likeeee...
you can expect the busheviks--if indeed they actually do retire from the whitehouse--to do EVERY ONE OF THE THINGS they falsely accused the Clinton folks of doing when they departed...
50-1 odds...
St. Paul Scout @ 55:
Dave: I have family/friends who are like the guys you describe. What I have done, in
a nice, polite, diplomatic manner is to let them know(in writing) that I want and would
greatly appreciate my name being delted/eliminated/removed from any and all pieces
of correspondence that even has the hint of politics involved. Has been pretty successful.
Both CNN and MSNBC and C-span should be awarded medals for promoting the right wing agenda whenever possible. They seem intent to carry on the Bush agenda even though he's leaving. McCain or Romney - they don't care who ass sits in the WhiteHouse. Just as long as that person kisses their ass And McCain is vying for that position with everything others can give him to achieve that despicable honor..
Just now for example CNN, as CBS and ABC have recently done, edited out a hostile follow up question to McCain at an Urban League event, yet aired the selected parts of McCains answer.
They also began a story about Obama by attaching a negative qualifier to it, "Obama gave a new energy speech today-but is any of it paid for". No supportive interview, nothing. Just a blanket statement out of thin air, by Blitzer
While McCain's intro is just the reverse but still attacks Obama: "John McCains spoke today at the Urban League, McCain says Obama is playing the race card, lets listen.."
Of course the piece not only doesn't address the statement, it's then edited to make McCain's words all positive.
I have now turned/reduced my tv news watching to Olbermann and Bloomberg only.. I suggest anyone who wants facts to do the same.
P.S. Olbermann needs to start a new count of how many people, connected in any way to Bush since Bush came into office, whether here or abroad, have "committed suicide".
Dave @ 32:
Dave: THANK YOU for your service to our great country and I only wish that I could help you.
I have the same problem with relatives who are STILL blaming Bill Clinton for every single fucking problem in the world, big or small.
Monica Goodling, former Justice Department liaison to the White House (i.e. Associate Attorney General for Promoting Bush Worshipers) will return to Regent University to teach Ethics in Government and Labor Law (snark).
Pat Riot @ 60:
You are most certainly not alone in having those kinds of relatives/outlaws.
It's not a failure to communicate, but a failure on their part to become informed
and educated as to the facts.
That Senate hearing with the INjustice department IG was a joke. The senator fell over themselves praising him but the bottom line was NOBODY will be held accountable. The IG found numerous people breaking numerous laws but NO ONE will be charged with any crimes.
The excuse given for the blatant law breaking was 'inexperienced people like Monica Goodling were put in high positions and didn't know any better'. They can't be charged with crime because they didn't know what they were doing. And the mother fuckers who put them there can't be charged with crime because they didn't know what was going on.
This is all a bunch of fucking bullshit. Everybody all the way up to Bush knew enough to know if was wrong. And putting some young bitch who just got out of a fake college and other incompetents in charge of hiring career judges and lawyers who will spreading injustice forever, should be one of the highest crimes in the country.
Once again the Democrats are NOT doing anything about it. WAKE UP!
Do you think George Bush Sr. is embarrassed his wife popped out this turd we call the Chimp?
Remember that famous quote...."Support your country all the time but support the government when they deserve it"
Dave @ 42:
it brings such clarity to all the other monumental screw ups, they were wasting their time with this kind of nonsense.
It's not patronage - it's nepotism. Patronage is when you get your buddy a job because you know him and know he's good at what you need done. Nepotism is when you get your buddy a job because somebody owes somebody else.
What makes him think we have gotten, or will get, out of this with democracy intact?
The Rove gang was convinced that they could do what they wanted and felt there would be enough power in the congress to make sure no oversight would be possible. That the balance of power has enabled oversight now is little more than a lot of luck on top of huge amounts of work by the heroes of the Democratic party. That said it would be supremely dangerous to allow these affronts to the constitution and our laws to go unpunished. There are still wealthy, powerful, connected individuals of sociopathic bent working tirelessly to their own ends. It is way past time for responsible Republicans to examine their conscience -- ask what is proper for the country and the people -- and reject service to the radical right.
Great job browny
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