Condi Rice Provides More Evidence Of Bush Administration’s Arrogance And Hypocrisy.

This morning, on C-SPAN 3, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, while testifying about Iraq to the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, regarding the structure and composition of the Iraqi government, stated:

“The one pledge we have insisted on, from the Maliki government, is that these ministries are going to be staffed by people who are not there for political favoritism, they’re there for competence. We’ve had some good results and some not good results. But I assure you that on that one, we are absolutely candid with the Malkii government.”

And then,

“We are working really hard with them on the professionalization of the civil service and the ministries.”

While these are good expectations that any citizen should have of any government, Rice’s proud statement is a strong reminder of the sheer hypocrisy and an excellent example of the embarrassing arrogance America has shown the world. Does this administration truly believe it has in any way shown leadership in the non-politicalization of its appointments? Does this administration truly believe it has created an organization based on competence, that has served well the American people, and the rest of the world? Here’s a small sampling to jog their memory:

  • Monica Goodling, a Justice Department official who testified in front of Congress on the firing of the U.S. Attorneys, is one of “150 graduates of Pat Robertson’s Regent University currently serving in the administration” (via award-wining journalist Max Blumenthal.)
  • The nomination of Harriet Myers to the Supreme Court.
  • Disgraced Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, a long-time friend and attorney for George W. Bush.
  • Paul Wolfowitz’s appointment to the World Bank, and the subsequent issues there that lead to his resignation, as a result of an investigation by its board of executive directors.
  • Rice’s refusal to hire into the State Department several desperately-needed Arabic translators who had been fired from the Army for, yes, being gay. At a news conference, she promised to “look into it.”
  • FEMA Director Michael Brown.

But, Bill Maher said it best on his April 13, 2007 show (text here, or below):

“[W]henever there’s a Bush Administration scandal, it always traces back to some incompetent political hack appointment, and you think to yourself, where are they getting these screw-ups from? Well, now we know. From Pat Robertson. I’m not kidding.

Take Monica Goodling, who, before she resigned last week, because she’s smack in the middle of the U.S. Attorneys scandal, was the third-ranking official in the Justice Department of the United States. She’s 33 years old. And though she never even worked as a prosecutor, she was tasked with overseeing the job performance of all 93 U.S. Attorneys.

How do you get to the top that fast? Harvard? Princeton? No, Goodling did her undergraduate work at Messiah College. You know, Messiah, home of the Fighting Christ-ies? And then went on to attend Pat Robertson’s law school. Yes, Pat Robertson, the man who said that the presence of gay people at Disney World would cause earthquakes, tornadoes and possibly a meteor, has a law school.

And what kid wouldn’t want to attend? It’s three years, and you only have to read one book. U.S. News & World Report, which does the definitive ranking of colleges, lists Regent as a Tier Four school, which is the lowest score it gives. It’s not a hard school to get into. You have to renounce Satan and draw a pirate on a matchbook.

This is for people who couldn’t get into the University of Phoenix.

Now, would you care to guess how many graduates of this televangelist’s diploma mill work in the Bush Administration? 150. And you wonder why things are so messed up. We’re talking about a top Justice Department official who went to a college funded by a TV host. Would you send your daughter to Maury Povich U.? And if you did, would you expect her to get a job at the White House?

In 200 years, we’ve gone from ”We, the people,“ to ”Up With People.“ From ”the best and the brightest“ to ”dumb and dumber.“ And where better to find people dumb enough to believe in George Bush than Pat Robertson’s law school?

The problem here in America isn’t that the country is being run by ”elites.“ It’s that it’s being run by a bunch of hayseeds. And, by the way, the lawyer Monica Goodling just hired to keep her a$$ out of jail, went to a real law school.”

It’s time that America, Americans, and this Administration start demanding standards we preach to other countries, of our selves, first.


You may also be interested in:

“I Hate All Iranians” | Why Americans Really Have No Idea What’s Happening In Our Own Country.
Maria Bartiromo, WSJ Report, Give Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice Open Platform on Iran. An iPod Playlist.


Elsewhere:

Read “Welcome to Pottersville” and “Movement to impeach George W. Bush”.


I welcome your comments, or, feel free to email me. Why not take a look around? If you like what you see, why not add me to your blogroll? Thanks.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

About this entry

You’re currently reading
“Condi Rice Provides More Evidence Of Bush Administration’s Arrogance And Hypocrisy.,”
an entry on david in manhattan.

Published by David Badash at:
10.24.07 / 12pm