There are two moments that seem to completely encapsulate the competence level of the Bush administration. Together, they are pretty much all you need to know.
The first is the image of Dubya’s back-slapping show of support to FEMA Director Michael Brown when he was being criticized for his poor performance in managing the response to Hurricane Katrina. Watching Dubya say “Brownie, your doin’ a heckuva job” as people were dying on the Gulf Coast was probably the most stunning display of incompetent leadership that I have ever seen.
The second is the recent release of a series of e-mails that included this classic to Brownie from his secretary during the catastrophe:
Brownie isn’t the only incompetent in this administration, but he’s clearly the poster boy! Luckily, we have a perfect photo op of the president standing right beside him to put on the poster! Two hard workin’ guys with their sleeves rolled up!Please roll up the sleeves of your shirt, all shirts. Even the president rolled his sleeves to just below the elbow. In this [crisis] and on TV you just need to look more hard-working.
And technically, Brownie hasn’t even been replaced as the current poster boy (or girl), despite a great many worthy contenders. He wasn’t fired, but was allowed to “resign” - while staying on the freakin’payroll!
If such an obvious, incompetent, dimwit as Michael Brown is still allowed to take home a taxpayer-funded salary, how are we to even entertain the thought that George Bush might do the honorable thing and fire Karl Rove for lying about his interactions with reporters about Valerie Plame.
It ain’t gonna happen!
I think the new framing should be that George Bush doesn't have the guts to fire anyone in his administration, beacause he is not a strong leader. That ought to get to him.
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