I'm not a big fan of Illinois' Congressional wunderkind Rahm Emanuel, because he operates too much like a "political machine" guy – he kind of held on to the purse-strings during the last election and a lot of deserving grassroots candidates had to scramble for campaign funds because they weren't "insiders" or sexy enough to pique Emanuel's interest.
Be that as it may, he recently did a rundown of all the highlights in the scandals, schenanigans, and criminal acts that have come to light that have plagued the Bush Administration. The full text is at www.TomPaine.com. It's a quite a little chapter of accidents, as they say.
TomPaine.com – Politicizing Government Service
I don’t think politics is a dirty word. (And, those of you who know me know that I am very knowledgeable when it comes to dirty words.) Politics is a vital and essential element of our political system—the vehicle by which we advance our governing principles and policies.
Believe me, I’m not naïve. President Clinton made me a top aide in the White House not because of my good looks or charm—and not because I was a top policy expert. No, I got to the White House the same way he did: through politics. I am not one who believes you can ever fully divorce politics from policy in a democracy. It would be like trying to do physics without math. Yet I’ve also always recognized that there is a balance; that we should never allow the basic functions and solemn responsibilities of government to be subjugated to or take a backseat to politics or party interests.
President Bush came to the White House with an entirely different understanding.
Not since the days of Watergate, when our judicial system and intelligence community were deployed by the White House in the service of partisan politics, have we seen such abuses. And in many ways, what we have seen from this administration is far more extensive than that scandal.
