Friday, November 16, 2007
John McCain's Shameful Descent
- "That's an excellent question" normally doesn't make the list of utterances that can get a candidate in trouble on the campaign trail. But this presidential campaign isn't what anyone would call normal.
- John McCain gave that anodyne response Monday at a "town hall" event in South Carolina when an elegant woman, of patrician bearing, posed this question about a possible Democratic nominee: "How do we beat the [expletive]?"
| The expletive in question is a highly derogatory word used by rappers to describe the scantily clad women who gyrate in the background of racy music videos. It's the word that former first lady Barbara Bush was hinting at when someone asked her opinion of Geraldine Ferraro and she replied, "I can't say it, but it rhymes with rich." |
Blackwater USA and the Brothers Krongard
O Brother, Who Art Thou? By Dana Milbank Thursday, November 15, 2007; A02 "I am not my brother's keeper," Howard "Cookie" Krongard, the State Department's inspector general, testified to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee yesterday. As Cookie surely must know, that excuse hasn't worked since Genesis. But it was a fitting contribution to the modern-day Cain-and-Abel tale that unfolded before lawmakers' eyes in the Rayburn Building. In this case, the players weren't Cain and Abel, but Cookie and his brother Buzzy. Biblical scholars believe the first fratricide was committed with an ass's jawbone, but the weapon in this case was a uniquely Washington cudgel: the conflict of interest.Cookie, under fire for allegedly quashing probes of the infamous Blackwater security contractor, began his testimony by angrily denying the "ugly rumors" that his brother, former CIA official Alvin "Buzzy" Krongard, is on Blackwater's advisory board. But during a recess, Cookie called Buzzy and learned that -- gulp -- the ugly rumors are true: His brother is on the board. When the lawmakers returned, Cookie revised and extended his testimony. "I had not been aware of that," Cookie told the congressmen. "I hereby recuse myself from any matters having to do with Blackwater." |
