Liars and bunglers get the payoffs in Bush administration

Sunday, July 15, 2007 Volume 18, Issue 28

Liars and bunglers get the payoffs in Bush administration
By Marshall Helmberger

President Bush’s decision to commute the prison sentence of I. Lewis Libby shows there is no shame remaining at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It also shows there must still be plenty to hide surrounding the administration’s decision to out undercover agent Valerie Plame and then cover-up their dishonorable act.

There was a day when the president promised a full investigation into the outing of Plame and he stated that anyone responsible would no longer be a part of his administration. We, of course, now know that Vice President Dick Cheney and presidential advisor Karl Rove, among others, either directly leaked or authorized the leak of Plame’s undercover status, as a means of retaliating against her husband and former ambassador to Iraq Joe Wilson. Not only are these men still members of Bush’s administration, they’re still running the show.

And the one man actually held responsible for the administration’s wide-ranging cover-up is granted a get-out-of-jail free card before serving a single day for his crimes.

None of this is a surprise from an administration where the only punishments are inflicted upon truth-tellers (otherwise known as snitches in the White House). Liars and bunglers receive medals of freedom, cushy payoffs, and the un-ending loyalty of the president. It’s kind of the way they do things in the Mafia.