Thursday, October 16, 2003
Dr. P. discovers nepotism in Washington
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Dr. P. claims that he has, in search of inside stories, once more visitedthe Midtown bar where the Texan who knows makes his headquarters.The man was there, drinking Maker's Mark on rocks, in the company of astriking blonde, introduced as Marina, nln.In answer to Dr. P.'s query about the Joseph Wilson affair and therevelation of his wife's CIA cover, the Texan sat back, thought a bit, thenspoke: "Let me ask a few questions, to help you populate your matrix. Go aways back. To whose benefit was it to forge a Nigerean state documentsuggesting sales efforts of yellowcake to Saddam in 1999-2001, and sneak it tointelligence sources (the attribution to an Italian magazine that some news sources make is inaccurate, Panoramawent to the CIA in October 2002)? Was it to further American interventionand the creation of the neocons' and Irving Kristol's imperialist NewAmerican Century? Was it the Bushists' initiative? The latter is unlikely,if you keep in mind that it was VP Cheney who asked the questions andprompted CIA's Tenet to send Wilson in February 2002 to investigate theNiger allegations. Why did the Brits buy into the palpable fraud (was MI6at work, as per Seymour Hersh?)What made Washington hide behind the Blair story? Why did Wilson onJuly 6, a year later, start publicly talking about the administration'sshoehorning of the spurious yellowcake story into the President's January 2003SOTH message? Why such a dumb act of revenge, later in July, with "twosenior administration officials" telling six journalists about Wilson's CIAwife getting him the investigation gig? Why would Robert Novak spread thenepotism story on July 14, then try to wheedle out by implying ValeriePlame was a non-covert agent, "as all Washington knew"? If so, then he tooshould have known that the 40-year old woman who joined the CIA in 1985,straight out of Penn State, held a covert "non-official cover" job (NOC, nodiplomatic privilege claim available, when arrested) in the US and abroad?Why did he further blow her CIA's cover operation, the Brewster-Jenningscompany? All of the above disclosures are injurious and possibly deadly toher contacts and destructive to the CIA terror-stopper function."Irving Kristol says that the CIA is at war with the White House, and Stateand Defense departments are at war with each other. Get granular, and and youmay surmise that Novak is acting as a covert White House mouthpiece, andthat all kinds of politics are involved here, not just party."As for nepotism, call it influence-peddling, all Washington is full of it.Every retired Congressman and general gets a job through connections. Startwith the Bushes, W. and W. H. both products of nepotism. Michael Powell, son of Colin; ElaineChao, the Secretary of Labor, is the wife of Mitch McConnell, the Senatemoney raiser. Chao's lead labor attorney, Eugene Scalia, is the son ofAntonin! The gun-totin' Rehnquist daughter, in Health and Human Services(for a little while). Liz Cheney, the Veep's daughter, is a Deputy AssistantSecretary of State, with her mama the Arts chief and her husband the chiefcounsel in OMB. In the states, look at the governors, Jeb Bush in Florida,Mitt Romney in Mass; the Senators, John Sununu in New Hampshire, MarkPryor in Arkansas, Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina."In publicly owned business, the progeny of founders get preference, Fisk Johnson ofJohnson Wax, Lachlan Murdoch of Rupert Everything, Harold McGraw, WilliamFord. In theatre, Rob Reiner, Tori Spelling, Sean Lennon, Enrique Iglesias,Jane and Peter Fonda, Tatum O'Neal, Michael Douglas, Kate Hudson (daughterof Goldie Hawn), they all got a leg up from their parents."And the Democrats are no different. Al Gore! Andrew Cuomo! The Kennedyclan!"When that opening brought on questions about the Schwarzeneggergovernorship, the blonde interjected: "Anyone who tries to get a personnaked in a public elevator is a low-class boor. Socially acceptablepeople would keep at least one layer of clothing between them whileattempting congress." That made the Texan burst out in a loud guffaw. Oncerecovered, he pointed his finger at the woman and stuttered, in his best DeNiro imitation: "You?...you?…you?…you're good!" before collapsing. "Not funny,"she muttered and stalked out, breaking up the festivities.When Dr. P, asked the barman what made her leave, he explained: "Klugmanblew her cover. She's Marina Good, the Washington hostess and socialtone-setter. Gee, another tip!"The author thanks Dana Priest, WP, and Adam Bellow, Atlantic Monthly.
Dr. P. claims that he has, in search of inside stories, once more visitedthe Midtown bar where the Texan who knows makes his headquarters.The man was there, drinking Maker's Mark on rocks, in the company of astriking blonde, introduced as Marina, nln.In answer to Dr. P.'s query about the Joseph Wilson affair and therevelation of his wife's CIA cover, the Texan sat back, thought a bit, thenspoke: "Let me ask a few questions, to help you populate your matrix. Go aways back. To whose benefit was it to forge a Nigerean state documentsuggesting sales efforts of yellowcake to Saddam in 1999-2001, and sneak it tointelligence sources (the attribution to an Italian magazine that some news sources make is inaccurate, Panoramawent to the CIA in October 2002)? Was it to further American interventionand the creation of the neocons' and Irving Kristol's imperialist NewAmerican Century? Was it the Bushists' initiative? The latter is unlikely,if you keep in mind that it was VP Cheney who asked the questions andprompted CIA's Tenet to send Wilson in February 2002 to investigate theNiger allegations. Why did the Brits buy into the palpable fraud (was MI6at work, as per Seymour Hersh?)What made Washington hide behind the Blair story? Why did Wilson onJuly 6, a year later, start publicly talking about the administration'sshoehorning of the spurious yellowcake story into the President's January 2003SOTH message? Why such a dumb act of revenge, later in July, with "twosenior administration officials" telling six journalists about Wilson's CIAwife getting him the investigation gig? Why would Robert Novak spread thenepotism story on July 14, then try to wheedle out by implying ValeriePlame was a non-covert agent, "as all Washington knew"? If so, then he tooshould have known that the 40-year old woman who joined the CIA in 1985,straight out of Penn State, held a covert "non-official cover" job (NOC, nodiplomatic privilege claim available, when arrested) in the US and abroad?Why did he further blow her CIA's cover operation, the Brewster-Jenningscompany? All of the above disclosures are injurious and possibly deadly toher contacts and destructive to the CIA terror-stopper function."Irving Kristol says that the CIA is at war with the White House, and Stateand Defense departments are at war with each other. Get granular, and and youmay surmise that Novak is acting as a covert White House mouthpiece, andthat all kinds of politics are involved here, not just party."As for nepotism, call it influence-peddling, all Washington is full of it.Every retired Congressman and general gets a job through connections. Startwith the Bushes, W. and W. H. both products of nepotism. Michael Powell, son of Colin; ElaineChao, the Secretary of Labor, is the wife of Mitch McConnell, the Senatemoney raiser. Chao's lead labor attorney, Eugene Scalia, is the son ofAntonin! The gun-totin' Rehnquist daughter, in Health and Human Services(for a little while). Liz Cheney, the Veep's daughter, is a Deputy AssistantSecretary of State, with her mama the Arts chief and her husband the chiefcounsel in OMB. In the states, look at the governors, Jeb Bush in Florida,Mitt Romney in Mass; the Senators, John Sununu in New Hampshire, MarkPryor in Arkansas, Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina."In publicly owned business, the progeny of founders get preference, Fisk Johnson ofJohnson Wax, Lachlan Murdoch of Rupert Everything, Harold McGraw, WilliamFord. In theatre, Rob Reiner, Tori Spelling, Sean Lennon, Enrique Iglesias,Jane and Peter Fonda, Tatum O'Neal, Michael Douglas, Kate Hudson (daughterof Goldie Hawn), they all got a leg up from their parents."And the Democrats are no different. Al Gore! Andrew Cuomo! The Kennedyclan!"When that opening brought on questions about the Schwarzeneggergovernorship, the blonde interjected: "Anyone who tries to get a personnaked in a public elevator is a low-class boor. Socially acceptablepeople would keep at least one layer of clothing between them whileattempting congress." That made the Texan burst out in a loud guffaw. Oncerecovered, he pointed his finger at the woman and stuttered, in his best DeNiro imitation: "You?...you?…you?…you're good!" before collapsing. "Not funny,"she muttered and stalked out, breaking up the festivities.When Dr. P, asked the barman what made her leave, he explained: "Klugmanblew her cover. She's Marina Good, the Washington hostess and socialtone-setter. Gee, another tip!"The author thanks Dana Priest, WP, and Adam Bellow, Atlantic Monthly.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 5:21 PM 
