First off, I want to say that Monica Goodling’s standard interview questions creep me out, particularly this one:
[W]hat is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?
Yuck.
Eric Lichtblau writes in today’s New York Times,
The report released on Monday goes much further in documenting pervasive evidence of political hiring for some of the department’s most senior career positions, including immigration judges, assistant United States attorneys and even senior counterterrorism positions.
The pattern appeared most damaging in the hiring of immigration judges, as vacancies were allowed to go unfilled — and a backlog of deportation cases grew — while Mr. Gonzales’s aides looked for conservative lawyers to fill what were supposed to be apolitical jobs.
The inspector general’s investigation found that Ms. Goodling and a handful of other senior aides to Mr. Gonzales used in-person interviews and Internet searches to screen out candidates who might be too liberal and identify candidates seen as pro-Republican and supportive of President Bush.
One senior official, in describing Ms. Goodling’s strategy, likened it to a “farm system†used to fill temporary vacancies at the Justice Department with Republicans who could then move up.
I wish some reporter could flush Monica Goodling out of whatever hole she’s hiding in these days and ask her these questions:
- Do you understand why people are upset with you?
- Did you understand at the time that your hiring practices were deeply unethical and compromised our justice system?
- Did someone direct you to use such partisan criteria for hiring, or did you do this on your own initiative?
- If someone directed you, who was it?
- If this was on your own initiative, what made you think your hiring practices were appropriate or justified?
I’d be willing to bet money Ms. Goodling either had no idea that her hiring practices were in any way out of the ordinary, or else she sincerely believed she was serving some greater good.
Q: What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?
Oh, man, the responses to this are limitless.
A: He’d go great with fava beans and a nice Chianti.
A: His nickname in my backyard is “Shuttlecock.”
A: Forget Jim Morrison; Dubya’s the true Lizard King!
Et cetera….
joanr16 — ROFL!
The scary thing about the Neocons and their associates is that they do believe they’re serving a greater good. And those folks have control of the most powerful army in the world for the next six months.
I read something about Monica or the interns she vetted – heavy dose of budding lawyers from Regency (or is it Trinity?) University: onward Christian soldiers. I don’t remember if Monica is an alum of these schools, but I suspect she is. And so I’m sure she thought she was completely justified in her actions, just as I’m sure she saw (and perhaps still sees) George Bush as God’s annointed viceroy or some such sanctimonious role. (Words like “serve” are extremely common in Christian circles and really creep me out when it comes to the earthly plane).
I too would like to know where she’s hiding out, and I especially hope she can be brought to justice. That perjury charge mentioned in Times’ article could be a long shot, unfortunately.
She’d have made a great little moonie if she hadn’t been indoctrinated in another direction.
I work in industry (actually, a federal contractor), and we’ve been specifically trained by attorneys specializing in employment law that there are questions that we just can not ask if we want to avoid lawsuits and uncomfortable government inquiries (at best).
I refuse to believe that someone working in the Justice Department did not know, or did not have ready access to the knowledge, that these hiring practices were either illegal or morally way wrong.
Monica knew exactly what she was doing. Whether on her own or by direction is the only real question.
She’s in Palm Springs with Osama.
We don’t want Osama, just Monica will be fine.
My guess is she had no idea what she was doing was unethical. Hell, she spoke openly about being involved in “caging”–as she used it, basically a scam for keeping democrats from voting–and seemed to have no idea that anyone would question the ethics of that. I guess if you’re caging for the Lord…
To answer number 5 question.
5. If this was on your own initiative, what made you think your hiring practices were appropriate or justified?
Because I got my degree at the Pat Robertson School of Alternate Universe Religious Law.
http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/wildhogs/whodoyoulove.htm
I wonder. I can imagine, like many other Bushies, she felt powerful and that she could abuse her position.
w]hat is it about george w. bush that makes you want to serve him?
that’s a misprint. what she actually was asking was, “what is it about george w. bush that makes you want to service him?”
I can’t remember where now, but Goodling stated at some point that she knew exactly what she was doing, that it was wrong (according to man’s law – not ‘god’s’ law) and that this was the common practice at the White House – that all departments do this, so what’s the big deal?
These Bible Colleges, like Regents, must be barred from any sort of certification, their ‘diplomas’ must be rejected and not recognized as having any legitimacy. Monica Goodling was touted as one of Regent’s finest graduates. Her activities at the White House are exactly what was expected of her and exactly what places like Regents are intended to produce: highly partisan politicians that place their party’s political power far above the needs of the nation.