Republicans don’t have to resign until they are indicted with a crime (and sometimes not even then, just ask Larry Craig). And then, even if convicted they get a pardon or a commutation (poor Scooter, you only got the latter). But Democrats? No mistake is too small for a pink slip. That’s just the way that Washington works. Hey, at least the guy didn’t get a blow job, or we’d still be hearing about him for the next two years forever.
One thing about Reagan is that he fired people who screwed up or created a conflict of interest. He hired tons of crooks, but he fired them, too, when they got caught being crooked.
All this changed under Bush II. He hired from the same pool of crooks and fundies, but he refused to fire them for anything.
Bush I pardoned all the crooks Reagan fired.
Yeah, the Iran-Contra folks anyway.
Maybe the lesson here is, Photoshop is your friend.
Every now and then the American electorate is forced by disastrous consequences to fire the congenial tax cutters and imperialists most of us usually prefer and elect people more honest to take their place. The 1974, 1976, 2006, and 2008 elections were of this type. I don’t think this means most of the electorate is genuinely conservative, merely selfish and deeply closeted. The only way to punish the Party of Hypocrisy is at the ballot box because the hypocrites protect their own.
Obama may have been in a position to have to fire Caldera, I was sitting in Newark International all the next day waiting for a cross-country flight and watching CNN, and they were all shocked and outraged. I could just imagine what was happening on Fox.
But then again, as we were discussing over at Real History Lisa’s room here, there’s something fishy about the whole episode. If I were designing something to embarrass Obama and I was in the military, this might be something I’d do. It’s a little push back against CIA torture investigations (along with smearing Pelosi), the don’t ask don’t tell, the NSA spying stuff and the temerity of politicians who think that they outrank the military.
I think that this has happened in the past. Ollie North was part of the planning of the Iranian hostage rescue mission which failed dreadfully and was tied around Carter’s neck. Considering his subsequent illegal actions, does anyone here think that Ollie would not be capable of a little treason to get his team into power?
I expect this to continue throughout Obama’s Presidency. His major opponent in Washington isn’t the Republicans, it’s the military and its allies.
I’m in awe of how gullible many of our “fellow” progressives are about CIA sourced leaks regarding Nancy Pelosi’s complicity in the torture program.
Cheney’s poodles at Langley first nodded like bobblehead dolls when it came to whether Iraq had active WMD programs in 2002, then collaborated in the second rationalization for the ‘preemptive war’ by trying to torture confessions of complicity with Saddam out of al-Qaeda prisoners. I wonder how many real pros are left there after all the resignations from career CIA analysts and desk officers.