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Reddit"The Culture of Corruption" is a clever alliteration, a catchy political phrase, but without a vivid image to bring it to life, it amounts to a series of statistics: the increase in earmarks, the number of no-bid contracts, etc. But a rather vivid picture has started to emerge of a new scandal Wonkette is calling WatergateGate.
According to reporting in The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and The Nation's own David Corn, the CIA inspector general and the FBI are investigating whether Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the CIA's executive director, helped businessman Brent Wilkes win overpriced CIA contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Foggo was a regular at Wilke's poker game.
Wilkes stands accused of conspiring with defense contractor Mitchell Wade to bribe Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Wade, who has pled guilty, claims he also provided the Republican congressman with free limos, prostitutes, and rooms at, yes, the Watergate Hotel. The feds are investigating whether any other current or former Congressmen or their staffs received similar perks.
And just as these two stories were gathering momentum, Porter Goss, the former Republican congressman who promoted and worked closely with Foggo at the CIA, resigned rather abruptly Friday afternoon. So abruptly in fact that he forgot to mention he wanted to spend more time with his family.
So picture this: Republican Congressmen, CIA officials, defense contractors, shady businessmen, and lobbyists playing poker in a Watergate hotel room complete with your tax dollars and free prostitutes. The mind boggles. Were they Russian? It's like Christopher Buckley penned an episode of The Sopranos.
Bada Bing Bada Bombshell.
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Katrina vanden Heuvel
Thoughts on politics, current affairs, riffs and reflections on what’s in the news and what’s not--but should be.
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If you see nothing more than "Hollywood Star gossip" in this story, RIO, it might be time for a trip to the optometrist. It's tawdry, but we've already got one conviction, one guilty plea, and more to come.
Posted by tjbehrens1 at 05/08/2006 @ 12:59pm
Actually RIO, the more subtle AND humorous point is...
the fact that Ms vanden Heuval mentions "poker" and "prostitutes" twice as much as she mentions "no bid contracts".
So once again, politicians' "private lives" are "back on the table", when discussing scandals.
I guess she figures that sex with hookers may "sell" better to the public than "memos" (if from the Texas Air Guard or Downing Street)
Posted by Mask at 05/08/2006 @ 1:23pm
Thank you again, KVH, for providing facts and background information, the very fruit and flower of investigative reporting, the apparently morally bankrupt mainstream media and its "powers that be" backers decline to detect, much less unearth. Fortunately, your continued pursuit of journalistic quality, i.e. truth, reminds us all to buck-up; even "night soil" becomes "good earth," when decompressed and aired out.
Posted by lewwelge at 05/08/2006 @ 1:27pm
Posted by RIO BRAVO 05/08/2006 @ 12:51am
Brave River is, as always, right. Who really cares that our national security is in the hands of men who are so desparate for sex that they will sell the country out for a free 30 seconds with a hooker.
There is nothing to see here. Move along.
Posted by orwell2005 at 05/08/2006 @ 1:27pm
Posted by MASK 05/08/2006 @ 1:23pm: the fact that Ms vanden Heuval mentions "poker" and "prostitutes" twice as much as she mentions "no bid contracts".
"The fact"? The entire article is about corruption. Prostitution is mentioned twice. Does it only count if she uses the words "no bid contracts"?
And besides, the most humerous point is that she spends so little time discussing what a complete and total moron you are. So go ahead, stick up for your family values buddies who sell out their country for 30 seconds of sex.
Posted by orwell2005 at 05/08/2006 @ 1:36pm
"politics"
have you seen the sky lately?
what a beauty, a marvel of delight
even in storm, a soft canvas of art;
could we have chosen, on our own,
such a ceiling as we were given?
sadly, i think not.
as a start, ours would be upside down,
the rest would still be left to debate.
wearied parties will be ravaged,
and bullied into compromise,
when hate, disguised as rage,
chooses what's most right,
finally revealing its face
in our sky, as our sky:
power, hate,
and greed.
c. 1-22-03
Posted by bohdan yuri at 05/08/2006 @ 1:39pm
Great post, Katrina... let's get WoodWoodward and Bernsteinstein on it right away. After all, enquiring minds want to know.
Posted by domfocher at 05/08/2006 @ 2:03pm
Mask -
It's hardly "private" when taxpayer money, and the procurement of government contracts is tied up with free hookers as the pruported trade.
Posted by Hman23 at 05/08/2006 @ 2:16pm
Was it not Milton Friedman who observed that there is no such thing as a free hooker?
Posted by tghamill at 05/08/2006 @ 2:51pm
ORWELL...
MY family values buddies?....nope, sorry,no.
But interesting you put in the QUALIFIER about "family values"...so, I suppose if they were "non-family values" types, it's be "okay"? Or maybe if they went longer than 30 seconds?
LOL
Posted by Mask at 05/08/2006 @ 2:59pm
In the short time I've been visiting the Nation website, (and others), I've learned a lot. In fact, between the editorials, the blogs, and the assorted links, I've learned more than I wanted to know.
One thing still eludes me, though.
In the face of all that we've learned about this administration, what drives the apologist?
Posted by drhammer at 05/08/2006 @ 3:07pm
Posted by MASK 05/08/2006 @ 2:59pm
No... I think he was just commenting that the "family values" guys were having hooker parties.
Which are illegal now matter who is having them.
(Oh and did I forget to mention that they were the rule of law guys too)
(were)
Posted by Will C. at 05/08/2006 @ 3:12pm
wow
it took all this time for a few hamsters to remember that Joe Wilson outed his wife to them.
That sounds about right. It took a few years for the swift boat veterens to remember that John Kerry didn't earn his medals for valor on the battlefield
Posted by Will C. at 05/08/2006 @ 3:43pm
In the face of all that we've learned about this administration, what drives the apologist?
Posted by DRHAMMER 05/08/2006 @ 3:07pm | ignore this person
Um..chauffers?
Posted by Lillian at 05/08/2006 @ 3:44pm
sorry
Posted by Lillian at 05/08/2006 @ 3:45pm
i was thinking more... a three wood
Posted by Will C. at 05/08/2006 @ 3:45pm
Posted by MASK 05/08/2006 @ 2:59pm: But interesting you put in the QUALIFIER about "family values"...so, I suppose if they were "non-family values" types, it's be "okay"?
Well if that's what you suppose, then you are wrong. Of course, that would hardly qualify as news, since you are virtually always wrong.
But, to simplify things for your outrageously simplistic brain, I will remove the qualifiers. So go ahead, stick up for your buddies who sell out their country.
Posted by orwell2005 at 05/08/2006 @ 3:53pm
Posted by RIO BRAVO 05/08/2006 @ 3:38pm: he "tabloid worthy dirt" the left chooses to inflate and fantacise about can be relegated to "gossip business as usual for the left"
Good point Brave River. Republicans taking money and sex to sell out their country is simply not worth investigating. I mean, christ, its not like they did something really bad, like pointing out that the Decider is a lying cretin. The Wilsons caused so much stress to right wing whackjobs like the River that they are no longer able to get their little soldiers to stand to attention even when encouraged by free hookers and viagra.
Posted by orwell2005 at 05/08/2006 @ 4:00pm
Again, bribery too "boring" under Abramoff....so let's throw in some hookers and "sex it up".
Never mind that all it does is remind people of the "scandal-mongers obsessed with sex" Bad Ol' Days (and hypocrisy).....let's try it anyway!
Posted by Mask at 05/08/2006 @ 4:05pm
Posted by MASK 05/08/2006 @ 4:05pm: Again, bribery too "boring" under Abramoff....so let's throw in some hookers and "sex it up".
Your whackjob buddies are the ones who threw in the hookers. That's just reality. Sorry if it bothers you. Or if you find reality to be hypocritical.
Actually, I'm not sorry.
Posted by orwell2005 at 05/08/2006 @ 4:12pm
Again, bribery too "boring" under Abramoff....so let's throw in some hookers and "sex it up".
Never mind that all it does is remind people of the "scandal-mongers obsessed with sex" Bad Ol' Days (and hypocrisy).....let's try it anyway!
Posted by MASK 05/08/2006 @ 4:05pm | ignore this person
Well sure, OK Mask, let's just have some Congressional hearings on the "bribery" part. And whenever they find themselves about to talk about the parts that involve sex as the bribery, we'll just replace that with something else. Some code words. How about, when they talk about "hookers" we just replace that with "Jeff Gannon". Feel better?
Posted by Lillian at 05/08/2006 @ 4:14pm
Posted by RIO BRAVO 05/08/2006 @ 4:25pm
Apparently no longer able to make up lies in defense of his whackjob friends who sell out the country for sex and money, Brave River resorts to simply insulting Mexicans. I'll bet you and Zorro have a real good laugh over that one. Twit.
Posted by orwell2005 at 05/08/2006 @ 4:35pm
Not standing for something has to be the most luxurious thing in the world, eh MASK?
Posted by tjbehrens1 at 05/08/2006 @ 4:46pm
Mask -
I know your hobby is to pick out supposed hypocracy, but you are really pushing the boundaries of reality on this topic.
If the news is bribery through a paid vacation or gold watch, no issue, but if it is hookers and hotel room, then look out, it's going to backfire because the Clinton scandal involved sex too.
Are you serious?!?!?!
Posted by Hman23 at 05/08/2006 @ 5:00pm
RIO BRAVO's ancestors obviously arrived in the US on a luxurious yacht and were received with open arms on a red carpet. You can't get much more small-headed than his last comment. RIO, why don't you go do something worthwhile for your nation, like teach some of your idiot countrymen geography? I'll wager a week's pay 9/10 Hispanic immigrants in the US are not only more productive than you, but more ambitious, too. I'd like to see your reaction to life there without illegals, for if you truly understood the relief they provide for your wallet, you'd shut your snout. The fact that you feel the need to pull meaningless numbers out of your ass about something so trivial speaks volumes. I mean, white men, especially politicians or businessmen in suits and ties, would never steal. Please don't ever have sex without a condom, RIO.
Posted by chimichenga at 05/08/2006 @ 5:27pm
1) Relating this to Bill and Monica is indescribably dumb. If you can come up with a Shakespeare-quality insult, feel free to respond. Otherwise, please don't dignify it.
2) The real problem here (Plunger touched on it on a related thread) is the attempt to transform the traditionally civilian-controlled of CIA into another arm of defense intelligence. Variety of viewpoints be damned. Once again, the same idiots who are burning millions per day battling losers like Zarqawi to a draw are allowed to reshape the government for generations to come. Why, why, why ... actually, I know why. If it's military you get to KEEP IT SECRET and everybody has to shut up because we all SUPPORT THE TROOPS.
Posted by MyParadigm at 05/08/2006 @ 5:48pm
Please don't ever have sex without a condom, RIO.
Posted by CHIMICHENGA 05/08/2006 @ 5:27pm | ignore this person
please get a vasectomy rio. please.
Posted by loveloki at 05/08/2006 @ 5:55pm
So once again, politicians' "private lives" are "back on the table", when discussing scandals.
Posted by MASK 05/08/2006 @ 1:23pm
Once again, MASK, if you campaign on family values, if you sanctimoniously preach morality, then yes, your private life is indeed "back on the table".
It is not about a double standard, as you try to imply, but rather it is about accountability for the campaign that was waged in 2000, about campaign themes and claims of moral superiority that are so obviously NOT being backed up by clean living.
OR DON'T YOU BELIEVE IN ACCOUNTABILITY?
Posted by ILOVEPHYSICS at 05/08/2006 @ 6:16pm
Posted by MYPARADIGM 05/08/2006 @ 5:48pm: the same idiots who are burning millions per day battling losers like Zarqawi to a draw
Actually, at last count, we are spending $10 billion a month, which works out to about $333 million per day.
Posted by orwell2005 at 05/08/2006 @ 6:17pm
Posted by ILOVEPHYSICS 05/08/2006 @ 6:16pm
Actually, it is not about private lives at all. It is about morally vapid whackjobs who sell out their country for money and sex. There is nothing private about it.
Posted by orwell2005 at 05/08/2006 @ 6:20pm
AWWWWWW......
poor poor poor republicans....are those mean ole dems pointing out sex scandals and self serving criminal corruption of good republicans? sooooo not fair!!!! only republicans can scandal monger and it be ok. but republicans are all good god fearing folk, right? they would NEVER participate in such tawdry affairs! how dare those mean democrats sully such fine upstanding republicans! republicans would never stoop to such levels! they would never drudge up lurid unpleasantness for political gain...would they?
HAR HAR HAR HAR. KARMA IN ACTION YOU EVIL EXCUSING SELF SERVING RIGHT WING IDEOLOGUE HYPOCRITES.
WEEP AND GNASH YOUR TEETH ALL YOU WANT. IT IS MUSIC TO MY EARS.
Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/08/2006 @ 6:53pm
YOU MADE THE RULES TO THIS GAME. NOW, PLAY BY THEM.
Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/08/2006 @ 6:55pm
Sounds like the All-American Dream. "Boys' night out:" A little poker, a little p...y, good Bourbon, a few laughs. Wadda ya expect "shady businessmen" (as compared to ,say, "straight from the gut" Jack Welch?)to do at night? Sit home and read Noam Chomsky?
Posted by donescobar at 05/08/2006 @ 8:03pm
Seaking of scandels, KVH.......we are now four days and counting into the Patrick Kennedy debacle event and not "peep' ut of anyone at the Nation....When might this "sorry' episode be addressed .......WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER ????????? Dannyo
Posted by dannyo at 05/08/2006 @ 9:58pm
Tending our gardens.
What else is there to do friends?
Fertilize and shape.
Posted by lewwelge at 05/08/2006 @ 10:04pm
It's good to see our neo-con Bushies here playing "Change the Subject" again. It's apparently one of their favorite maneuvers.
Back when the NSA wiretapping story broke: "Clinton sucked!!"
Now when Porter's gone and Duke and his bribery boys play poker with ladies of the evening: "Joe Wilson told someone Valerie was CIA!!"
By the way... Joe Wilson didn't tell R. Novak about Val, guys.
Posted by Rapaport at 05/08/2006 @ 10:17pm
...we are now four days and counting into the Patrick Kennedy debacle event and not "peep' ut of anyone at the Nation....When might this "sorry' episode be addressed .......WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER ????????? Dannyo
Posted by DANNYO 05/08/2006 @ 9:58pm | ignore this person
Oh dear! A librul, a Kennedy at that, sees his personal demon re-surface and annouces he's going back to rehab (I wish him the best). SCANDALOUS!!!
Imperialistic war(now World War III) under false pretenses, thousands dead- power, corruption, hands in the cookie jars (he he!) OBVIOUS grounds for comparason.
Posted by prokopiww at 05/09/2006 @ 12:15am
Your bigotry and misanthropy now usher you into the sea of oblivion, Rio, my ignore list. Adios.
Posted by lewwelge at 05/09/2006 @ 06:04am
Rio is a tru Republican- racist at heart. Nice to see one honest enough to admit it. :)
Posted by rmjlattanzi at 05/09/2006 @ 08:59am
Actually, it is not about private lives at all. It is about morally vapid whackjobs who sell out their country for money and sex. There is nothing private about it.
Posted by ORWELL2005 05/08/2006 @ 6:20pm
When MASK used the phrase "private lives" I assumed it to be a euphemism for "sex lives". Thus I was using his phrase in response to him so that we would be on the same page; I wasn't using the phrase to endorse his slant of the issue.
Posted by ILOVEPHYSICS at 05/09/2006 @ 09:46am
Posted by RIO BRAVO 05/09/2006 @ 12:21am
Brave River proves that he is not a racist by re-telling the racist jokes of his imaginary racist mexican friend.
Posted by orwell2005 at 05/09/2006 @ 10:58am
Posted by RIO BRAVO 05/09/2006 @ 01:49am: Life is sure a carnival when you are liberal!
It sure is. And life must really suck when you are a moron. But, don't worry. With any luck, you will be dead soon.
Posted by orwell2005 at 05/09/2006 @ 11:00am
Since we're on the topic of prostitutes . . .
Rupert Murdoch, the conservative media mogul whose New York Post tabloid savaged Hillary Clinton's initial aspirations to become a US senator for New York, has agreed to host a political fundraiser for her re-election campaign.
The decision underlines an incongruous thawing of relations between Mr Murdoch and Mrs Clinton, who in 1998 coined the phrase "vast rightwing conspiracy" to denounce critics of her husband, such as Fox News, the conservative cable channel owned by Mr Murdoch's News Corporation.
Mr Murdoch will host the fundraiser, due to be held by July, on behalf of News Corp.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12692606/
Posted by fromredbird at 05/09/2006 @ 1:32pm
RIO, your friend is full of self-hate. Just because he is a minority does not excuse the racist mantra that he spews and you thought needed repeating. He's a self-loathing jackass and you are an even bigger jackass for excusing his behavior instead of calling him on it. No wonder you and he are such good friends. Ignoramuses to the end.
Posted by k330k at 05/09/2006 @ 1:35pm
Oh and I truly believe his self-hating racist friend is real. You know racists tend to live together in bunches. They can't stand diverse viewpoints. I can't imagine what kind of bullshit the Mexican friend teaches his children. His parents must be so proud of him.
Posted by k330k at 05/09/2006 @ 1:38pm
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's approval rating has slumped to 31% in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, the lowest of his presidency and a
warning sign for Republicans in the November elections. The survey of 1,013 adults, taken Friday through Sunday, shows Bush's standing down by 3 percentage points in a single week. His disapproval
rating also reached a record: 65%. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points.
Bush's fall is being fueled by erosion among support from conservatives and Republicans. In the poll, 52% of conservatives and 68% of
Republicans approved of the job he is doing. Both are record lows among those groups.
Moderates gave him an approval rating of 28%, liberals of 7%.
http://tinyurl.com/kclod
Liberals? Liberal like what- Hillary Clinton, Joe Liberman, and Nancy Pelosi? These are probably the swing voters who put Bush in office.
Posted by fromredbird at 05/09/2006 @ 1:40pm
Rio -
Birds of a feather flock together.
Have fun with your "buddy," whom I am SURE does not really exist.
Posted by Hman23 at 05/09/2006 @ 1:45pm
whatta disgusting creep Rio Bravo is. Ignore the mofu, please
Posted by johannesrolf at 05/09/2006 @ 3:19pm
In the face of all that we've learned about this administration, what drives the apologist?
they crave the attention
Posted by johannesrolf at 05/09/2006 @ 3:23pm
Oh, how I yearn for the good old days...when all a congressman had to worry about was being found with a dead woman or a live boy...!
Posted by John Earl at 05/09/2006 @ 3:54pm
Katrina, well done - btw - you were excellent, as usual on This Week. Any chance of giving some tips to Nancy Pelosi? It is amusing ( almost, anyway )when the "values" crowd gets caught with their pants down. The feigned outrage that we are the salacious ones for exposing this activity is beyond the pale. Hey, what do you expect from folks that says Barry Goldwater was a civil rights hero. Sheesh Please keep up the great work. Hey, anybody heard anything on Ann Coulter regarding her Florida voting fraud lately?
Posted by taters at 05/09/2006 @ 4:23pm
Ann Coulter spoke at the University of Florida some weeks ago, easing any qualms I may have fleetingly entertained about "balancing" Howard Zinn's and Spike Lee's talks previously, but beyond the admirable "Black Box" voting fraud investigators/researchers here in the state that would make our country, if it were an animal, male, I've not heard about Coulter's "election fraud" here. Wuz up?
Posted by lewwelge at 05/09/2006 @ 4:55pm
Excuse me: "voting fraud."
Posted by lewwelge at 05/09/2006 @ 4:56pm
http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/powersurge_healy_lynch.pdf
MUST READ!
Posted by johannesrolf at 05/09/2006 @ 5:06pm
DANGER - Bu$h, Cheney, NeoCons R Wonuded - DANGER
NEW PATRIOT, DEMOCRACY, Image at...
http://www.RogerART.com
THIS IS the most DANGEROUS time of the Bush REIGN
OK 2 copy and PASS it ON
Posted by RogerARTcom at 05/09/2006 @ 5:11pm
Blind Obtuse Money Kills Like A Gun . . .
Just Quieter . the Bu$h / Cheney / Rove / NeoCon U.S.A. Sick government stolen gangsters Obtuse Killers and buds lie in the shit... . Jolly . Meanwhile on the far side of Turd Blossom Street Creative people are Given hidden tools Out of the Earth to pry lose truths from the Gods To slay the lie-fire smoking muck Foaming from the death-dragon's forked tongue... . Singing their Happy Motto They are already Dead a long time ago... . It's time for The obtuse W one To go And Never play the boss Of Hurricanes War Or Sick Love Again Killing Old and Young Alike . Around OUR EARTH
Posted by RogerARTcom at 05/09/2006 @ 5:14pm
She voted in the wrong precinct and listed her realtor's address as hers. Here's the link from Brad... http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002427.htm
Posted by taters at 05/10/2006 @ 2:22pm
She voted in the wrong precinct and listed her realtor's address as hers. Here's the link from Brad... http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002427.htm
Posted by taters at 05/10/2006 @ 2:24pm
it has often been noted by people in the know that male republicans sex making is like the up and down shaking of their hands --- and their wives are even less talented --- so why wouldn't they need to go to professionals. I would only hope that ms. republican females are getting a little, too, from some professionals since their men lack the mental freedom to get past the boredom of their missionary narcissism.
Posted by sonofthewest at 05/10/2006 @ 8:10pm