TPM’s List of 42 Most Corrupt Bushies
Today Paul Kiel presents Talking Points Memo’s updated list of corrupt Bush administration officials. TPM’s standard of proof is fairly high, considering that Karl Rove didn’t make the list (if only we knew what was in those deleted e-mails!)
Since a complete catalog of administration officials who’ve been accused of some form of corruption or abuse of power would be endless, we tried to maintain a high standard for inclusion. Most of those [listed] were the subjects of criminal probes, but we also included officials who were credibly accused of acts that, if not criminal, were a corruption of office (like the U.S. attorney scandal). And even then, such officials were only included if their accusers had them dead to rights…
TPM’s list of the 42 most corrupt Bushies falls far short of the Reagan administration’s lengthy rogues gallery. By the end of his term, 138 Reagan administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official investigations for misconduct and/or criminal violations.
Was the Reagan administration more corrupt? Or was the Bush administration not investigated enough by a friendly Congress and a cowed post-9/11 media? Will historians conclude that the scope of Bush’s crimes, plus the secrecy and destruction of evidence that hid them, were such an order of magnitude beyond previous administrations that it just wasn’t possible to investigate all of them?
None of the candidates now running for President has promised to investigate the Bush administration and bring the criminals to justice. Why not?
January 1st, 2008 at 1:33 am
Richard:
We do know what was in those Karl Rove E-mails. Greg Palast set up a phony website that caught 500 of those E-mails. They involved illegal voter caging practices and worse. Karl Rove’s biggest asset to Bush was his theft of elections.
The reason the Bush administration’s unprecedented corruption is going unnoticed is because democrats are being investigated and prosecuted 6 times more then republicans, but you’ll notice most of the convictions, if not all, are republicans. Bob Ney, Abramoff, and Cunningham are actually in prison. A list could be made of people, (not on the list above), that just plain never had to go through the court system, but carry a stench so strong that they should be kept off the streets anyway, including Delay, Frist, Rove, Novak, Ralph Reed, Grover Norquist, Ann Colter, Ken Starr, Ted Olsen, Ted Stevens, Tom Feeney…
On and on…
January 1st, 2008 at 11:09 am
All’s fair in love and war? You are seriously wishful thinking Larry. What e-mails? They don’t constitute truth, how would anyone, “prove it”? Only the patsies end up in prison, and now what about a guy at the high level, like a rostenkowski? The elite want you gone, you are gone.
You have to look outside the beltway for any virtue in my view, if what you and Palast maintain is true, and I am sure it is, how is it that democrats still vote in goose step with bush? There is consequence behind the scene that none of us are privy too. The illusion is all that matters.
It isn’t a prison, until you try the door.
Congress defined, find the weakest most venal people available, elevate them to power, that is really in their own minds. Find out what it is they fear and have done in their life, then operate them as the marionettes they are. Reel them in. All life is a stage, isn’t that what Shakespeare said?
Look upon the reality of our cage, and the cages that those that run us, albeit unseen, have built around peoples all over the world. Entry fee required to watch the animals.
January 1st, 2008 at 3:19 pm
The 9 inch nail in the heart of freedumb and demo-crazy.
Machiavelli and Realpolitik rule this world. To know it, is to have a chance against it.
Figure it’s all good, what America has done?
January 1st, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Rooster, linky no workie.
January 1st, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Here it is without the html.
adbusters.org
January 1st, 2008 at 9:02 pm
The 9 inch nail in the heart of Freedumb and Democrazy
January 1st, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Rooster, thanks for that. One would think that with all the effort and practice our sort has invested, we would have come to adopt some more diplomatic, dare I say Christian way to grow from our exposure to other cultures. It is way beyond desturbing to think that killing and theft is more our national pastime than even baseball, football, all the other sports combined, and seemingly more addicting than heroin. May that begin to change in the new year.
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:42 am
We never been anything else Cav, and neither has the human race, never been so afflicted, it transcends nations and races. Though at times there have been some bright spots.
Once people realize we are not what our leaders say we are, real change will happen…, and we are not what democrats say we are, any more than we are what republicans say we are. Or should be. Both angles have been worked for private interests since the beginning, sometimes a serious individual changes the path, for a while.
As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Such a womans perspective and a worthy one. Last time I checked the crocs weren’t listening to reason, work for change, but as any Patriot knows, keep your powder dry. Courage isn’t fear, and fear exists for a reason. Aim for the pea reptile brain.
A professor once explained to our young selves in class, that the primary directive in foreign policy is “no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, only permanent self interest”. Yet we wonder why the crocs rule the crossings, and feed on the masses, or why we as a group are herded by fear. We have no leaders, and there are seemingly none around emerging with the sand to go croc hunting with intent. Most leaders we see are bleating a distraction, which spreads more confusion, and aids in the feeding frenzy. Go with herd and get lucky, or watch and wait until the crocs have gorged themselves. Be advised, they appear to have insatiable appetites. Or be a Human, and hunt crocs, til they are scared…or scarce.
As mammals with desires for abundance, it is long since past time to do some serious crocodile hunting, unto their extinction, after all, when we are gone, the crocs will eat anything. Our survival is tantamount, I don’t need the diversity of crocs in my world, do you?
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:15 am
“…indeed, that is the only thing that ever has”.
This notion can itself be turned on its head to mean that only a small group of sinister croc-types are needed to totally f*ck things up. So, I think it would be unreasonable to suppose that the f*cked-upedness of thier actions would necessarily be any more irreparable than the paradisic scenario sought by the opposing small group of no less dedicated individuals would be vulnerable to destruction. Since only a small percentage of those who are simply along for the ride need to be swayed, must it be accepted that the course toward the destructive has more weight? I’ll grant that it’s in our genes, very often structural, and has been going on since the beginning, but this ‘life at the tipping-point’ is the source of any optimism I can muster. And, since there clearly is a group (and no small group) of us, challenged to find a way toward peace, it is our ongoing task to make that happen. That it is often tiresome only means we need to work on getting rested how and when we can.
No?
January 2nd, 2008 at 1:26 pm
She knew exactly what she was talking about. It is the dominant apes that decide the path of the troop, for better or worse.
There are two elements to destroying tyranny. Non compliance and force of arms. The two go hand in hand. Unarmed non compliance against a dedicated tyranny usually ends in forced slavery at least, mayhem at worst. Test it if you will, but leave the People their options. As trite as it may sound, we must look back, to the future.
Americans need to grow up.
It takes far more energy to create and maintain a just, growing peaceable nation, than it does to to institute a forced tyranny with fear at it heart. Much more energy. The price of peace and prosperity is constant vigilance, and the kind of “peace and prosperity” I am speaking of, is not the colonial variety, whether that be within our borders, or overseas.
One need only consider the mindless teen and the sports car daddy bought, wrapped around a tree to see for example what I may mean.
Question: Does the litany of our rather destructive history as a species give anyone insight as to what it is, evolution has created us for? Look around, holes in the ground, areas cleared, animals penned, rivers “damned”, rivers of shit and steel(traffic
) flowing, fires burning constantly…. Rather entropic. Refer to the 2nd law of thermodynamics for a clue.
It is at times a comfort, as sad as a comfort it is, that if you are a believer in a Creator, that the reason for our woes, is that we have failed to follow the Creators’ directives. At least that would be some explantion for our apparent madness.
January 2nd, 2008 at 1:42 pm
This gives me some faith in American intelligence, and ability to thwart tyranny.
January 2nd, 2008 at 2:03 pm
In case you thought there was any “real” difference between the candid “apes”.
Huckabee lives like a pauper, what a man of god.
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:27 pm
What about Kucinich?
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:50 am
A fair point. Last April Dennis Kucinich introduced a resolution for the impeachment of VP Cheney, which has been stalled in the House Judiciary Committee ever since despite Kucinich’s best efforts to un-stall it. Kucinich has also called for the impeachment of President Bush.
My comment was in reference to the next presidential administration. I’ve heard that Kucinich has promised to re-investigate the 9/11 attacks. Perhaps he has also promised to investigate corruption in the Bush administration.
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:35 am
Jenni,
Ron Paul may not have said specifically that he would investigate, but based on what he has said in public speeches, I think he would do it as a catharsis to America.
Richard,
I’d like to think (maybe I’m naive) that Reagan didn’t know about or condone as much as Bush knows and has condoned.
On another subject, something that bugs me is that Republicans are saying that we have to stick together and vote for an Establishment Republican candidate, because otherwise we’ll get Hillary Clinton.
Hillary’s bad, I agree, but tell me, someone, how that could be worse than what we have now?
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Frank, from the perspective of policies, it may be difficult for any admin to be worse than the present one, but somehow I feel the Dems may just give it a try given that they are essentially steared by thier fear of strength. A quality the pugs will readily supply.
My sense of Hils’ potential and potential disappointment come from my hopes, and expectations alone. The past seven years and what I see as an inescapable legacy of debt and status reduction, have been so bad, it would be my desire that should Clinton (or any Dem for that matter) become president, (s)he would effect a complete 180 degree policy adjustment, smoke out the war criminals, and see them punished, etc (the entire ‘left-wing’ deal) in an attempt to remedy at least some of the problems grown by the bush team. That this is not likely to occur is a built-in dissapointment. There are also all the right wing conspiritors deluded and criminal machinations that will certainly hit the fan in the name of bipartisanship or ‘correctness’, likely making any dem admins’ efforts less effective than might be possible were the ‘other’ side were not so inclined to maintain thier power. It is possible that they’ll be back in as few as 4 years if they can make it difficult enough for the incoming team! It would be nice too, if they were at least somewhat sane . The best that the repugs can field for the presidency, those that are presumably representative of the whole repug mind, hardly come up to the stature of one George W. Bush in 2000. A frightening thought, I know. He has proven that the upper eschalon of the republican party should be sh*t-canned (proscecuted, jailed etc) rather than ever again having a hand in our governance. Unfortunately, they will not be going away, therefore their approach to making our lives miserable will be used to further sabotage the coming Dem admin. That means Hils’ presidency, should it occur, might not be so hot despite our hopes for a better U.S.A
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:26 pm
bush is bad, but he’s not stalin. Stalin disarmed his populace, it is the clue of who is the tyrant, those that wish to disarm the populace have ulterior motives, and if they cannot see the danger of an unarmed populace, they are not fit to rule this Country.
If memory serves me… what was it at Concord that the bloody crownies were after to maintain their tyranny over Boston?…Oh yes, that be our guns and powder, and of course, me, and the moneybags John Hancock. We weren’t to be found. Ah yes, but there were but surprises in their outing to put out the flames of Liberty.
Ron Paul strikes me as a man that could center this mess, and be sure the foreign money that would control our Nation and rob us of our Liberty are loathe to see him popular. Piss and a POX upon them.