AUSTIN, Texas — Today’s fun challenge is “Spot the Next Brownie.” In this fab game for the whole family, review a list of Bush administration cronies in office and see if you can pick the next Michael “Heckuva Job” Brown, another disaster waiting for a hurricane to happen.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, who may be the last grown-up left in Washington, has also pointed out Simonson’s professional inadequacies. See the article by Jeremy Scahill in the current issue of The Nation for disturbing details.
One of the appointees, William DeWitt, a top Bush fund-raiser, was also a partner of the president’s in the Texas Rangers, so his knowledge of sign-stealing may be useful. Two Texas oilmen, Ray Hunt and Don Evans, also joined the panel, along with Netscape’s founder, so we can all relax about the effectiveness of intelligence.
Of course, you don’t have to be part of the Bush administration to benefit from being a crony. Cronies in the private sector making money from this administration probably outnumber the cronies Bush has put on the public payroll.
For example, America’s top oil industry executives were openly kowtowed to in embarrassing fashion by Republicans at last week’s congressional hearing. Among other special favors, the executives were not required to testify under oath, which turns out to be a blessing for them, since they lied.
The Washington Post found a Secret Service document showing that executives from ExxonMobil, Conoco, Shell and BP America all met with Dick Cheney’s energy task force. Last week, the CEOs of ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips said their firms did not participate in the task force. “Not to my knowledge,” said the president of Shell. The guy from BP said he didn’t know.
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