a few pieces of silver . . .

A man writes a book. About a culture of deception. And those enshrined in that culture wonder how that man, Scott McClellan, could go from . . .

“. . . a loyal and trusted staff member to an embittered person who makes biting accusations.”

Yesterday, in McClellan’s rather limp Mr. Smith Goes to Washington moment on Capitol Hill, the New York Times writes,

…the book, with Mr. McClellan’s lacerating criticism of his former colleagues, has generated a rich discussion about the obligations of political loyalty… The man who once regularly and seemingly by rote defended Mr. Bush in the White House press room was attacked by the committee’s ranking Republican, Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, who grilled Mr. McClellan as ferociously as any reporter had in his three years as press secretary.

I got a good laugh at that part… hahahahahahahahaha… the idea… bwahahahahahahahaha… that reporters had grilled anybody ferociously in… snort snort laughinginginginginging…. in seven plus years. To whom does the New York Times refer?  One can only… chortle giggle gha giggle… wonder.

Let me wipe the tears from my eyes… further, according to the New York Times…

…Committee Democrats, on the other hand, were much gentler, treating Mr. McClellan as if he were an author promoting a book in an interview.

Makes one dizzy doesn’t it? But this is what blew me away…

Rep. Smith said, “Scott McClellan alone will have to wrestle with whether it was worth selling out the president and his friends for a few pieces of silver.”

“What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception” was written by Scott McClellan for money. Huh. Now that is rich. Isn’t it??? Rep. Smith, a money grubbing, power mongering, lying, despicable Washington politician who shills ONLY for the interests of the monied and powerful deplores the greed of Scott McClellan. And double huh.

Well, then. Rep. Smith… let’s talk about a few pieces of silver as it relates to:

 or something like this

The Army official who managed the Pentagon’s largest contract in Iraq says he was ousted from his job when he refused to approve paying more than $1 billion in questionable charges to KBR, the Houston-based company that has provided food, housing and other services to American troops.

Army auditors had determined that KBR lacked credible data or records for more than $1 billion in spending, so Charles Smith, the official, refused to sign off on the payments to the company. “They had a gigantic amount of costs they couldn’t justify,” he said in an interview. “Ultimately, the money that was going to KBR was money being taken away from the troops, and I wasn’t going to do that.”

Support the troops my American ass!

and the ethics just dripping from this…

Health insurance company Health Net Inc. rewarded employees for finding ways to drop customer policies and not pay for their medical expenses, according to an investigation by the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC).

and from this week…

President George W. Bush: Given the facts that tax cuts have worked, what will be the congressional response? Our response is, let’s make those tax cuts permanent. Let’s make sure that there is certainty during uncertain times in our economy. Imagine if you’re trying to plan — plan your life, plan the future for your small business — and you don’t know whether or not Congress is going to keep your taxes low. It makes your environment more uncertain.

You hear a lot of talk out of Congress about, you know, the economic slowdown, and we understand there’s an economic slowdown and we’re concerned about the economic slowdown. But one of the things that they can do to help make sure that this economy recovers like we believe it will is to make the tax cuts permanent.

Our fellow citizens have got to understand that those tax cuts aren’t permanent. In other words, if Congress allows them to expire, here are the consequences: First of all, taxes go up by an average of $280 billion a year. And I promise you there’s going to be a $280 billion expansion of government to couple that — those tax increases. And the fundamental question is, who would you rather have spending your money — you, or the Congress? I would strongly suggest the answer is, you. (Laughter.)

Again, I find myself convulsing with laughter. Or is it hysteria? Who would I rather have spend my money? Me or Congress??? How stupid do they think we are.

finally, the things we can’t count in silver…

Estimated Iraqi deaths since invasion:

More than 1.2 million

American Combat Deaths

Since war began (3/19/03)………………….4102

Since “Mission Accomplished” (5/1/03)……3963

Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03)……..3641

Since Handover (6/29/04)……………………3243

Since Election (1/31/05)………………………2665

American Wounded

Official 30333

Estimated 23000 – 100000

<sup>Latest Fatality June 20, 2008

Page last updated 06/20/08 4:46 pm EDT</sup>

Maybe the better question is this: how fucking stupid are we?