Sunday 9 October 2005

Welcome to the Hackocracy | TNR.Com

The fifteen most incompetent Bush administration appointments.(mefi)

Use bugmenot.com to get into this article:
we've drawn up a list of the 15 biggest Bush administration hacks--from the highest levels of government to the civil servant rank and file. The tnr 15 is a diverse group--from the assistant secretary of commerce who started his career by supplying Bush with Altoids to the Republican National Committee chair-turned-Veterans Affairs secretary who forgot about wounded Iraq war vets--but they all share two things: responsibility and inexperience.


not all of these have been confirmed...

15: Israel Hernandez ALTOID BOY
Assistant Secretary for Trade Promotion and Director General of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service, Department of Commerce (confirmation pending)

8: Mark McKinnon M-CAT
Member, Broadcasting Board of Governors (confirmation pending)

but my favorite from this list is:
3: Rear Admiral Cristina Beato
Acting Assistant Secretary (acting, as in unconfirmed) for Health, Department of Health and Human Services
In June 2004, Cristina Beato admitted to her hometown newspaper that she hadn't paid much attention to the details of her resumé. That's too bad, because those silly little details seem to have stalled her confirmation for assistant secretary for health for over two years now. Beato said she earned a master's of public health in occupational medicine from the University of Wisconsin (but the university doesn't even offer that degree). She claimed to be "one of the principal leaders who revolutionized medical education in American universities by implementing the Problem Based learning curriculum" (but the curriculum was developed while Beato was still a medical student). She listed "medical attaché" to the American Embassy in Turkey as a job she held in 1986 (but that position didn't exist until 1995). She also boasted that she had "established" the University of New Mexico's occupational health clinic (but the clinic existed before she was hired, and there was even another medical director before her).


you should read Larry Beinhart's article Reporters: Lost in the 'Fog'? - it might help explain why you've never heard of most of these worthless appointees... and central auditory processing disorder might explain the nicknames.

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