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   Read the story and see the video discussion by the authors about why creeping consolidation is crushing American livelihoods.
 If you liked Hamid Karzai and Pervez Musharraf, youll love our latest ally, Yemens Ali Abdullah Saleh.
 Crises can force even the most dysfunctional governments to changeand Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou aims to prove it.
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January 2, 2009
O'BEIRNE STILL CAUSING TROUBLE AT THE PENTAGON.... In many respects, Jim O'Beirne helps represent most of what was wrong with the Bush administration. After U.S. forces had successfully removed Saddam Hussein's regime, it was O'Beirne's office in the Pentagon that screened applicants for positions in Iraq. Instead of judging people on their regional expertise or background in post-conflict reconstruction, O'Beirne wanted to know about applicants' politics: did they vote for Bush? Those with Arabic language skills and/or postwar rebuilding experience were rejected if O'Beirne found their partisan loyalties suspect. The result was a series of unqualified GOP activists in key government posts, screwing up reconstruction efforts. More than five years later, O'Beirne is still in the Pentagon, and is still causing trouble. Two weeks ago, Barack Obama's transition team informed 90 Bush appointees at the Pentagon that they would be replaced after the inauguration. O'Beirne then proceeded to contact those appointees directly, accusing the Obama aides of -- get this -- playing politics with employment decisions.
First, when talking to officials at the Pentagon, it's best not to refer to Barack Obama and his administration as "the opposition." He's the next Commander in Chief. Second, this behind-the-scenes whining from O'Beirne is nonsensical -- political appointees are routinely replaced when a new president takes office. There's no reason for any of these officials to "harbor residual doubts," since they no doubt expected to depart once Bush's presidency ended. And third, for O'Beirne, of all people, to complain about employment decisions based on politics instead of merit is hysterical. We're talking about a guy who once described a young man applying for a job in Iraq as "an ideal candidate" because he'd worked for the Republican Party in Florida during the presidential election recount in 2000. O'Beirne screened prospective political appointees for Defense Department posts by asking about Roe v. Wade, for crying out loud. —Steve Benen 8:00 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (22)Comments
Isn't he the one married to Kate O'Beirne? I hope so. That is fitting, ongoing punishment for him. Posted by: Andrew on January 2, 2009 at 8:06 AM | PERMALINKAnd this is yet another marriage between the Bush administration and the media. Jim and Kate (the shrew) O'Beirne But then I suppose Dems should be proud they had nothing to do with trying to turn Iraq into an Ayn Rand utopia. Posted by: Danp on January 2, 2009 at 8:06 AM | PERMALINKI'm pretty sure Jim O'Beirne will be next out the door--that is, unless Obama decides to keep him around for comic relief. Posted by: Helena Montana on January 2, 2009 at 8:09 AM | PERMALINKI know it's in the Constitution, but could we add the phrase "Commander-in-chief" to the list of banned phrases list for 2009? Posted by: Brock on January 2, 2009 at 8:12 AM | PERMALINKI'm pretty sure Jim O'Beirne will be next out the door- According to Gertzfile, O'Beirne is one of those 90 bein dismissed. Posted by: Danp on January 2, 2009 at 8:17 AM | PERMALINKPerhaps some appointees lacked experience at the time of their appointment, but now they are hardened pros. It would be a serious mistake to gut the Pentagon of these patriots, and it will harm our efforts in hunting down Osama Bin Laden. Posted by: Al on January 2, 2009 at 8:34 AM | PERMALINKYou can bet that Republicans won't/don't see any problem with a "Republican" asking about Roe v. or making employment decisions based on loyalty to party not country. I've decided that Republican is not a political party - it's a religion and believers simply believe. The details are not important to Republicans. The thing they want is to preserve Republican - tradition, law, precedent, reason, morals, values, and integrity mean nothing! Posted by: Mark-NC on January 2, 2009 at 8:50 AM | PERMALINKBoy I needed a good morning laugh Al. Hunting Oama Bin-Laden? Posted by: Gandalf on January 2, 2009 at 9:16 AM | PERMALINKThis is classic Rove strategy: blame the opposing party loudly for your own sins. Posted by: jen f on January 2, 2009 at 9:21 AM | PERMALINKSo, Al, eight years ago you fought tooth and nail trying to convince Bush to keep all the Clinton political appointees? Try posting something believeable sometime, ok? Posted by: tomeck on January 2, 2009 at 9:27 AM | PERMALINKIt would be a mistake to ask O'Beirne to leave the Pentagon. Rather, he should be fitted with lead weights, tied to the back of a horse and dragged out to the middle of the Potomac. Posted by: JoeW on January 2, 2009 at 9:39 AM | PERMALINKWhy does his statement remind me of something 'the party' would say to comfort the faithful? Wacko - again I'm reminded of how close our democracy dodged a bullet in November. Posted by: Smoof on January 2, 2009 at 9:57 AM | PERMALINKIt would be a serious mistake to gut the Pentagon of these patriots, and it will harm our efforts in hunting down Osama Bin Laden. I completely agree. We need them in place to continue to hunt down the person they have so successfully hunted down the last seven years utterly without success while ruining two countries. I know, don't feed the trolls, but I think Al is kidding. He has to be. I don't think he would remember how to breathe if he was really that stupid, and here he is posting on the internets... Posted by: Andrew on January 2, 2009 at 10:12 AM | PERMALINKIf Obama really loved his country, he'd let Dubya remain as CinC. After all, Dubya's been "on the hunt" for BinLaden for over 7 years now. Shame to waste all that experience. Thanks Al, for the genius inspiration... Posted by: RP on January 2, 2009 at 10:33 AM | PERMALINKYeah, Al, why they were just neoconphytes during Tora Bora - But, now that they are "hardened" pros and have, finally, learned how to Google Pakistan, they are being given the boot. However, they can now become bounty hunters for their eternal quest of hunting down bin Ladin. Danner Boot sales will increase as they prepare for their trek. Good hunting, neo-conartists, with Al leading the way. Posted by: berttheclock on January 2, 2009 at 11:30 AM | PERMALINK@Andrew: I know, I've been thinking the same thing for a while now. Al's rhetoric is just too wingnutty to be believable. On the other hand, several members of this site have assured me that he is, in fact, a total Republican apologist, so maybe my irony meter is just broken after so many years of this garbage. Posted by: Kris on January 2, 2009 at 12:06 PM | PERMALINK@Kris: Thanks. Just wondered. Of course, Republicans have never allowed reality to set in, with its liberal bias and all. Posted by: Andrew on January 2, 2009 at 12:39 PM | PERMALINKIt would be a mistake to ask O'Beirne to leave the Pentagon. Rather, he should be fitted with lead weights, tied to the back of a horse and dragged out to the middle of the Potomac. What did the horse do to deserve that? Is there anyone better at playing the victim than a Republican? I'm starting to think they only hate Al Sharpton et al. so much because he's stealing their schtick. Posted by: Mnemosyne on January 2, 2009 at 1:40 PM | PERMALINK"I've decided that Republican is not a political party - it's a religion and believers simply believe. The details are not important to Republicans." - Mark NC I would agree that this was somewhat true in the beginning. Many not-too-deep-thinkers voted for Bush initially because they felt he was a 'godly' man who believed in the same 'values' they did. But now it's worse. As I've said before, modern Republicanism is now a certifiable mental disease among those who still think Bush/Cheney were right, and who view all the evidence to the contrary simply as proof of the 'vast liberal conspiracy'. I still get the willies just thinking about them lurking out there. This degree of hypocrisy has occurred so many times that I believe it is a deliberate tactic. Do something nakedly and even unprecedentedly partisan and pretend that isn't in any way abnormal. Then, when the other side does something that, while clearly partisan (replacing political appointees is partisan, right?), is nonetheless quite normal, attack them very vigorously for being horrible and unprincipled partisan actors. It's all of a piece of moving the discourse further to the right. Posted by: Vince on January 2, 2009 at 2:24 PM | PERMALINKHe offers proof that at least Republicans are the whiners Phil Gramm said we all were. 
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