14
Apr
Begin The Wolfowitz Death Watch
Sadly, recent events forced me to take out the peg on my shcadenfreud-ometer. Is it 26 or 76? Who knows.
- World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz personally dictated the rule-breaking pay deal that the WB set up for his girlfriend. Heck, this scandal even has sex in it.
- Drum wraps up the bothched ratf*ck aspect of the Army tour extensions as well as anybody.
- Will Rove’s bad email habits put him back in Patrick Fitzgerald’s spotlight?
- The email scandals in general highlight the way that every scandal seems to only lead to newer, more egregiously heinous misbehavior. Why aren’t people talking about the firing of David Iglesias anymore? Because Gonzales and most of his aides lied their asses off and got caught by their own documents. Why aren’t people talking about Gonzales’s serial mendacity? Because the document dump left out staggering numbers of inappropriatelly filed emails. That would be a top story, except that the White House lost five million of its own internal emails over a two year period. Five million.
As grateful as all this makes me for Congress’s new subpoena power, it seems like almost too much. Does anybody seriously think that the next pullled thread won’t uncover something even more heinous? Of course it will. There’s only so much space on page one, which means that scandals that would have crippled any normal administration will be lucky to get a blurb on A16. Exponential increases cannot last forever, but my general epiphenomenal sense tells me that we have plenty of log phase growth to go before peak schadenfreude.
tBone
I’m going to the grocery store today to stock up on popcorn. I have a feeling there may be price spikes and shortages on the way.
VidaLoca
“peak schadenfreude”—Has a nice ring, I like it. Is it anything like “peak oil” where the schadenfreude supply reaches a theoretical ceiling, then starts to decline while technology-driven schadenfreude demand continues to climb?
Does it mean that research into new schadenfreude-extraction technology becomes more and more lucrative as the price of schadenfreude goes up? Will we see international cartels organized to keep schadenfreude off the market to insure that schadenfreude is only available at inflated prices?
Tulkinghorn
We need a creep wiki to keep track of all the bad actors. A big part of the problems we have now comes from creeps who were tainted by scandal in the Nixon and Reagan presidencies being rehabilitated and given powerful positions in this one. Eliot Abrams still draws a paycheck, to my horror.
If we can identify the crooks and the crook enablers in a thorough fashion now we can at least try to keep them out of future positions of power.
Chad N. Freude
Alas, it is too much. As Tim points out, each new revelation overshadows the preceding ones. Ultimately, there will be so many scandals, that all will disappear in a haze, individual scandals will be too difficult to pick out, some blond will disappear/die/be insulted, and we’ll forget about everything that the Bush League has done. The Yin of schadenfreude is balanced with the Yang of reality-based pessimism.
Chad N. Freude
And a genealogical chart showing the relationships of successive generations of creeps.
Hyperion
maybe we need one of those “prints for thinking persons” that i see advertised at TPM. a guide to the history of idiots/thieves in the neocon movement. i think the graphic needs to show who begat whom.
Hyperion
chad…great minds.
Krista
Good idea. We can’t take the risk of the next generation of voters (none of whom probably watch the news right now), electing the unholy result of a matchup of Andrew Rove and Jenna Bush.
Dave in ME
Talking Points Memo has something called the Grand Ole Docket which keeps track of all the crooks.
Might be time to have a scandal tracker too. I think what we are witnessing is the beginning of the fall of the whole house of cards that is this administration but peak schadenfreude may be a while away yet. Just think off the top of your head of all the crimes these asshats are implicated in:
Prisoner abuse
extraordinary rendition
intelligence manipulation
misuse of the FBI against US citizens
Mercenaries like BlackWater run amok
The abandonement of the Gulf Coast
Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, – crimes too numerous to mention on one comment
David Addington – brains behind the brain dead veep
Abu Gonzalez – violates Geneva Conventions, Guantonomo advocate, firing prosecutors who don’t swallow etc.
That is just what I can name in a few seconds thinking. As this process of discovery expect this list to grow exponentially.
RSA
With Rove’s beauty and Jenna’s brains, that matchup would be unbeatable.
Punchy
Fixed.
Chad N. Freude
Uncredited original quote attributed to George Bernard Shaw. Thank you Doris Kearns Goodwin. (Excessively snarky, I know, but my inner pedant will not be denied.)
Barry
The bright spots are (1) the media has largely ceased to believe these guys, (2) this is after only two months of oversight, (3) these guys kept doing sh*t after the Democrats took Congress, which bodes poorly for their ability to get away with more stuff.
Chad N. Freude
Wolfowitz, having left the shattered fragments of his policy recommendations for green(back)er pastures seems to be getting all the support he deserves from his friends and colleagues. The NYTimes says
Few seems to be a synonym for “no”. As for his good buddies in the Bush League, we have this ringing endorsement:
(To the tune of “O Tannenbaum”) Oh, Schadenfreude, Schadenfreude, how I love you Schadenfreude.
RSA
Never deny your inner pedant. Thanks for the reference.
grumpy realist
The FT had another “Wolfie must go!” editorial this morning, as well as more coverage. They’re pissed. They compared Bush’s emphasis on loyalty to the behavior of a Mafia don.
That’s why I think Wolfowitz won’t hang around. The business world shrugs its shoulders about Bush’s military antics and decides whether to take puts or calls on Iranian oil futures. When it comes to one of their own institutions suddenly having the authority of a dead duck because Bush insists on keeping one of his own cronies in the top slot, things start to heat up very very quickly.
jake
I think the Republican Party has reached the final stage of Scandal-Thon: Live Boys and Dead Girls.
Can I get some popcorn over here?
Zifnab
It’s like cleaning your bathroom. You start out with a bucket and a mop thinking you’re doing the right thing, but by the time you start cleaning behind the toilet you begin to suspect there are something things man was never ment to see or know.
And yet, if you don’t clean behind the toilet, the fungus kingdom that’s claimed fedual domain back there will probably try and take over the rest of your house.
So it’s dirty work, and no one really wants to do it, but better we get it done now than let that stinky cesspool get any stinkier or more cesspooly.
Just be glade our country’s media sources have the “depressurize” button on authentic page 1 journalism. Without ANS taking front page every now and again, how are we supposed to take Attorny Purge scandals seriously?
Rome Again
No, asswipe! [Paulson]
“The United States” is not an entity with one particular mindset. The United States is a melting pot of thought, with naysayers and passivity both in play via thoughts of everyday Americans, and you don’t speak for my point of view as a citizen, dick-for-brains! The United States is not a person (sorry to inform you) and does not THINK in and of itself.
Baby Jane
While checking prediction markets on Wolfowitz, I ran across something amusing.
skip
My lady works at the World Bank . The word is that Wolfie’s lady was given to ordering the elevator emptied before she rode in it.
Rome Again
Does she support the work of eugenics too, or is she just a high-class snob?
Redhand
Wolfowitz’s sweetheart deal (literally) is one of the more disgusting episodes of political nepotism, on either side of the political spectrum, to come to light is quite some time. Just as revolting is this highly paid, corrupt scum’s half- assed “I didn’t know the rules” plea for “understanding.” You don’t need an conflicts procedures manual to know this is absurdly unethical.
I’ve had a major grudge against this clueless f*ck from the beginning of the Iraq war. I consider him personally culpable for the deaths of thousands; now we see that he is thoroughly rotten as regards personal morality too.
It’s time for Wolfowitz to be booted out of public life permanently: throw him to the wolves!
tBone
That’s what should happen. So I guess we can look forward to another Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony.
sglover
Now now. The Washington Post editorial department urges us to avoid leaping to conclusions, and sagely points out that the kind of intemperate language used in Senator Leahy’s outburst can only ruffle the placid waters of our national pond. Surely the missing e-mails are the result of an honest mistake, right?
Rome Again
The churning of these “placid waters” is mind boggling.
Krista
Neither. She was being kind enough to not submit anybody else to her 10am beer farts.
chopper
i’ll churn your waters! (shakes fist)
VidaLoca
Yep. Me, I’m going to start investing in pony futures.
Rome Again
Hmmm, do wolves sniff butts as much as dogs? Perhaps he likes taht sort of thing.
Rome Again
Sir, I already have someone churning my placid waters, but, thanks anyway, for thinking of me. ;)
Chad N. Freude
I looked up the WaPo editorial in sglover’s posting above and found this:
The Washington Pontificationist strokes its collective chin and comes up with “not helpful”. By all means, let us be civil to the point of numbness and not display any pique. Presumably, it would be helpful to accept the administration’s explanation of “Gee, we don’t know how this could have happened,” and move on. Au contraire, you shining example of the decline of the US press. It is very helpful to tie this event to similar historical occurrences and to put the administration in the position of having to provide an explanation. Unless, of course, it’s not helpful to risk rousing the populace from somnolence.
Grrr
Can I trade my weltschmertz for schadenfreude and somehow still make a profit?
jake
Jesus Christ on a hand truck. I think we may have discovered what Alberto Goner does in his spare time. Keep an eye peeled for an WaPoOp-Ed that contains the phrase “Heaven forbid.”
As in: Heaven forbid we allow ourselves to become distraught because the members of this Administration make depraved mafiosos look genteel by comparison.
daveinboca
In addition to his other problems at the World Bank, like trying to curb corruption in poor countries getting WB aid, poor Paul is hated by Arab countries for dating Shaha Riza—-Arab girl dating Jewish boy.
All sorts of weird agendas going on here, and none of them pretty.
Grrr
At least the comb-licker showed proper respect in a Mosque. Heck of a job Wolfie.
Tsulagi
Whoa. That’s pretty mean. For a Canadian. ;)
jake
Thanks Grrr. Really. I like fighting the urge to tear out my eyes.
Very few things shout “Hey! I’m a filthy slob,” like big holes in one’s socks. Unless it’s using spit as a pomade.
Punchy
Uh…if holes in one’s socks makes one a “filthy slob”...uh…hmmm…yeah…I’m one GIGANTIC filthy slob. At least 4 days a week.
sglover
As far as the WaPo goes, I live in the DC area, and ever since the Iraq disaster began I make a point of urging everyone I know who subscribes to the rag to kill their subscription. It’s not trustworthy, and as often as not it’s nothing more than a propaganda rag.
jake
Darn it! I am so disillusioned.
Wolfdaughter
Daveinboca said:
“In addition to his other problems at the World Bank, like trying to curb corruption in poor countries getting WB aid, poor Paul is hated by Arab countries for dating Shaha Riza—-Arab girl dating Jewish boy.”
While I have no doubt that many in Arab countries do dislike Wolfowitz primarily for that reason, it’s irrelevant to the present discussion. Wolfowitz was not doing a particularly good job at the World Bank, and his salary for Riza was pure nepotism. But his egregious misstatements leading up to the Iraq cluster fuck are what I dislike most about him.
Hyperion
how gentile…i think they live together.
but maybe this is hair splitting from the Arab/Muslim POV.
Hyperion
oops…replace gentile with genteel…
JessWonderin
Do think maybe we can stop calling her “his companion”??? Sounds like Paris Hilton’s dog or Michael Jackson’s monkey . . . or old man’s nurse on a Agatha Christie mystery . . . SHE IS HIS FRICKING GIRLFRIEND
!
(Atleast Bill Clinton had the decency NOT to hire her at $250,000 a year . . . and when he lied, no one died . . .)
srv
I think I see a promotion in the works. Maybe War Czar.
jake
How about “Bit of crumpet”?
Rome Again
methinks you set that up on purpose. ;)
grumpy realist
‘Twill be interesting to see how this plays out over the next week. If Wolfie hasn’t been totally burnt he’s definitely been toasted. A lot of countries are waiting to see the recommendation of the board. Board says Wolfie should go, that’s it.
Now the question is a) how much string-pulling the Bush Admin is willing to do about members of the board and b) how important the World Bank is considered in world affairs by the financial community. Particularly, how important will it be that the anti-corruption campaigns really get off the ground. If Wolfie stays around with a slap on the wrist, a lot of the soft power of the WB suddenly vanishes and we go back to the “making noises about anti-corruption and you pretend to do something about it.”
jake
Wolfman sez: Stuff it, I’m stayin’.
AKA The Gone-Zo Defense.
Yes of course. Organization X does important work, ergo the corrupt sleazoid in charge should keep his job. Anyone who says otherwise is a threat to the work done by Organization X.
Only Wolftits can make sure poor countries receive need much needed aid.
Only Goner can protect us from Islamoterroristpedophiles.
Only a very large bucket can hold the amount of bile I’m about to hurl.
Chad N. Freude
except for his own dealings”, according to reports.
so that we can continue siphoning money into our own pockets.”
until they find him innocent of these spurious, unfounded charges.
demimondian
Um, no, actually, she is his fucking mistress. (Although, technically, the “fucking” is redundant. Of course they fuck, otherwise, she’d just be his girlfriend.)
Rome Again
except for his own dealings”, according to reports.
Well, of course, those who are hypocrits are the best judges of society. Feh!
jake
Someone tell Paulson we really don’t need the details about Wolfman’s relationship with his main squeeze. Oh wait. That’s PUBLIC.
Never mind.
The Other Steve
Do you have evidence they are fucking?
Perhaps a used condom or semen stained blouse? Something, anything?
What exactly is the wrong doing here? So he gave his friend a raise. Everybody does that. It’s how business works.
Balloon Juice
[...] First, Al Maviva sent me this World Bank report to suggest that the girlfriend scandal doesn’t have much meat on the bun. [...]