The Bush Presidency: You scratch his back, he’ll scratch yours
Historians will look back and wonder how in the hell U.S. citizens voted in a man who treats the Presidency as if it were a used-car dealership.
But the fact is this: If you do a favor for the President, as Sam Fox did by helping to smear John Kerry, then you reap the benefits, in this case, the ambassadorship to Belgium.
Swift Boat donor’s appointment sidesteps Congress
President Bush named Republican fundraiser Sam Fox as U.S. ambassador to Belgium on Wednesday, using a maneuver that allowed him to bypass Congress where Democrats had derailed Fox’s nomination.
Democrats had denounced Fox for his 2004 donation to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The group’s TV ads, which claimed that Sen. John Kerry exaggerated his military record in Vietnam, were viewed as a major factor in the Massachusetts Democrat’s losing the election.
Recognizing Fox did not have the votes to obtain Senate confirmation, Bush withdrew the nomination last month. On Wednesday, with Congress out of town for a spring break, the president used his power to make recess appointments to put Fox in the job without Senate confirmation.
This means Fox can remain ambassador until the end of the next session of Congress, effectively through the end of the Bush presidency.
U.S. soldiers are treated as pawns and fodder by this President. The people of New Orleans are told to fuck themselves on a daily basis by him.
But if you’re a Republican who spreads around his money and helps him out, George W. Bush will take care of you. It’s how he was raised. And when you’re as desperate a failure as Bush has been, there are a lot of fat cats willing to help out, who now are getting their payback.
–WKW