Quotes Archive: Culture of Corruption
Since Gonzogate has gotten so big, I broke out those quotes into a separate archive. Also, though election fraud is part of the the Culture of Corruption and Gonzogate, it's also big enough to warrant it's own archive.
"Currently, there is an atmosphere at FDA in which the honest employee fears the dishonest employee, and not the other way around."
FDA scientists in a letter to Obama regarding corrupt management in the FDA that orders staff to change scientific conclusions.
"What he doesn't get is that when you take the candidate's wife and you put a commercial up the same day this thing is filed defaming my wife -- she has a right to earn a living, she has a right to live a life. Al maybe you just don't know there are lines you don't cross. Maybe that's your career of not knowing there's a line to be crossed."
Norm Coleman, regarding corruption allegations in two new lawsuits, making a defense that sounds good as long as no one notices that neither Al Franken nor anyone else is going after his wife, but after him. Hiding behind his family doesn't make the allegations true, but it doesn't look good.
"The politics of personal destruction have come to Alaska."
Matt Zensey, editorial page editor of the Anchorage daily News, on how the McCain campaign is essentially running the Alaskan state government and attempting to destroy the reputations of victims and investigators.
"People are learning that she pandered to us by saying, I'm for this' ... and then when she found it was politically advantageous for her nationally, abruptly she starts using the very term that she said was insulting."
Bob Weinstein, mayor of Ketchikan, the city where the bridge to nowhere would have been built. Palin campaigned on her support for the bridge, but changed her stump speech when running for VP instead of governor.
"The window is now, while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in October 2006, explaining why she supported the efforts of Ted Stevens to make the federal government pay for the "bridge to nowhere". She proudly proclaims in her stump speeches that she opposed the bridge.
"Bush and the top officials of his administration have so far largely avoided the harsh, sustained glare of formal scrutiny about their personal responsibility for the litany of repeated, false statements in the run-up to the war in Iraq. There has been no congressional investigation, for example, into what exactly was going on inside the Bush White House in that period."
Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith, in the introduction to the report by the Center for Public Integrity documenting 935 times Bush or his officials made statements about Iraq that contradicted the intelligence they had at the time.
"One career State Department observer put it to me this way. 'In Blackwater's dealings with the Department,' he said, 'I often find myself wondering who is the service provider and who is beneficiary of the services.' His point was simple: Blackwater exercised an unseen influence over the process of contracting and supervision; often the Government seems to be working for them."
Scott Horton writing about the enormous influence Blackwater has with the Bush administration, especially State Dept.
"The deletion of millions of email beginning in March 2003 coupled with the White House's destruction of back-up copies of those deleted email mean that there are no back-up copies of emails deleted during the period March 2003 through October 2003. The significance of this time-period cannot be overstated: the U.S. went to war with Iraq, top White House officials leaked the covert identity of Valerie Plame Wilson and the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into their actions."
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington [emphasis theirs] on the revelation that the Bush administration taped over the tape backups of e-mail during a period that is the subject of lawsuits and criminal investigations, and then claimed it was best business practice. Apparently it was a best practice for only eight months.
"I guess you could call it the family business."
Conservative pundit Linda Chavez, being accidentally ironic about her many PACs and non-profits that spend near nothing on political activity, but much on fundraising and paying salaries to Chavez and her family.
"Even if the videotape does not constitute an official record that must be preserved under the law, the videotape would be the best proof that the written record is accurate, if such record is called into question in the future. The fact of destruction would reflect badly on the Agency."
Rep. Jane Harman, then ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, in a letter to the CIA following a briefing where they disclosed the existence of the interrogation recordings. This is a textbook example of understatement.
"But Bush plucked [Retired Lt. Gen. James] Peake directly from a private company that has raked in hundreds of millions of dollars from contracts with the VA -- and Peake himself helped develop proposals for the company to contract with the VA. That has raised questions about conflict of interest, potentially pitting veterans' care against corporate profits. Moreover, if he is confirmed, Peake will be the second head of the VA under the Bush administration to come from that same private contractor, QTC Management Inc."
Mark Benjamin, who covers veterans issues for Salon, on the revolving door for the same people to run the VA and work for VA contractors. Even without proven corruption, there's the failing of the smell test.
"Given the prior statements by White House officials, it is surprising that there would be this volume of documents of internal deliberations involving Mr. Abramoff."
Rep. Henry Waxman, chair of the oversight committee, in a letter to the White House about their refusal to turn over 600 documents regarding White House contacts with jailed GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff after repeated denials, including by Bush, that they knew Abramoff, who apparently was at the White House as much as some staff. In this case, "surprising" means "we always knew you were lying."
"The simple truth about the missing money is the same one that applies to so much else about the American occupation of Iraq. The U.S. government never did care about accounting for those Iraqi billions and it doesn't care now. It cares only about ensuring that an accounting does not occur."
Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, on how billions of dollars have been stolen in Iraq, and the administration cares only about stopping any accounting.
"Two witnesses scheduled to testify before Congress against Custer Battles ultimately declined not only because they had received death threats but because they, too, were contractors and feared that they would be shut out of future government deals. To repeat: Witnesses were afraid to testify in an effort to recover government funds because they feared reprisal from the government."
Matt Taibbi, writing about the incredible fraud committed by contractors in Iraq.
"But the White House's worries were quickly set to rest by the man the Senate had chosen to get to the bottom of the matter, Fred D. Thompson. In July 1981, just one day into his job as special counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. Thompson assured the White House that there was no 'smoking gun,' documents show. He had yet to interview a single witness."
Jo Becker, reporting on how Fred Thompson handled his appointment as special prosecutor for William Casey. The Senate too was Republican. Yes, this is 1981, but that's how entrenched the GOP culture of corruption already was, and Thompson for one is still around and running for president.
"The letter previously submitted for this project was found to include an incorrect name and address for the funding recipient."
Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, in a revised earmark request. He had designated the money for the lobbying firm, which had donated to his campaign fund, rather than the client.
"The only people clamoring for Mr. Libby's freedom were the pundits who still believe that Saddam secured uranium in Africa and who still hope that any exoneration of Mr. Libby might make them look less like dupes for aiding and abetting the hyped case for war. That select group is not the Republican base so much as a roster of the past, present and future holders of quasi-academic titles at neocon think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute."
Frank Rich, commenting on just who it was wanted Libby pardoned, namely the delusional neocons. Pardon the redundancy.
"The problem at Interior is not its civil servants but its political appointees; so Secretary Kempthorne's crackdown is like blaming poultry for predation by foxes in the henhouse."
Jeff Ruch, Executive Director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, on the DOI ethics campaign which includes restrictions on Internet use and mottos on badges, but not reforms for political employees, which is where the corruption came from.
"Thompson was a mole for the White House. Fred was working hammer and tong to defeat the investigation of finding out what happened to authorize Watergate and find out what the role of the president was."
Watergate investigator Scott Armstrong, revealing that when Fred Thompson made his name in the Watergate investigation, he was actually leaking information to Nixon.
"The twists and turns of Plamegate, of your precise and intricate lies that sent us into this bottomless pit of Iraq; your lies upon the lies to discredit Joe Wilson; your lies upon the lies upon the lies to throw the sand at the "referee" of prosecutor Fitzgerald's analogy, these are complex and often painful to follow and too much, perhaps, for the average citizen. But when other citizens render a verdict against your man, Mr. Bush, and then you spit in the faces of those jurors and that judge and the judges who were yet to hear the appeal, the average citizen understands that, Sir. It's the fixed ballgame and the rigged casino and the prearranged lottery all rolled into one, and it stinks. And they know it."
Keith Olbermann calling for Bush and Cheney to resign after commuting Libby's sentence.
"[If] the President be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds to believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty."
James Madison explaining that a president can be impeached for abusing pardoning power by using it to pardon cronies and cover his own crimes.
"Unfortunately, few news outlets are willing to use undercover journalism to get a story, or to practice investigative journalism in general. It's just too expensive and risky; media organizations would rather spend their money on tables at the White House Correspondents dinner and watch Karl Rove rap."
Ken Silverstein, reporter for Harper's, who passed himself off as a representative of a dictatorship wanting to hire lobbyists.
"The act of procuring these letters is further evidence of Libby's stove-piping of disinformation. Libby could not reasonably have expected to sway the judge, but there is a higher authority to which he is appealing. These letters constitute the beginnings of the Libby Lobby's pardon campaign."
Sidney Blumenthal, writing about the neocons enormous sympathy for Scooter Libby. As far as sympathy for millions of Iraqis whose lives have been ruined or ended because of their whacked out ideas, not so much.
"This is a scandal in the making."
Paul C. Light, professor of public service at New York University who specializes in government reform, on the growing scandal of the VA administrators giving themselves bonuses despite screwing up. They must think they run a corporation.
"In the end, his career suffered remarkably little from his substantive policy mistakes. But once he moved beyond the forgiving world of high Republican Party politics, his dependence on cronyism finally caught up with him. That he ran into such trouble at the World Bank for behaving in ways that apparently were business as usual for him at the Department of Defense only underlines how corrupt the Bush administration really is."
Juan Cole on Paul Wolfowitz's behavior running the World Bank like he ran his office at the Defense Department.
"They're supposed to be a bulwark against this stuff."
Paul Light, a professor of government at New York University and expert on inspectors general, commenting on the unprecedented situation where four inspectors general are themselves under investigation for corruption. Under Bush, even the guys responsible for investigating corruption are corrupt.
"I can't believe how our system of justice works in this country."
Rep. John Doolittle, under investigation in the Abramoff scandal, showing how a lousy messenger can have the right message. Anyone following Gonzogate and the many exonerations of wrongly incarcerated people would have to agree with him.
"Everybody's kind of a little bit numb. There's this, 'What else can happen now?' feeling going around here."
Rep. Jack Kingston, R-GA, on the fresh flurry of congressional Republican scandals. Yes, some more in just a few days.
"I don't care if they appoint bozo the clown, we need to get rid of Fred Black."
Jack Abramoff, in an e-mail seeking the removal of the USA for Guam, who was investigating Abramoff and his client, the governor of Guam.
"He arrived at the bank expecting the board to behave like the Republican Congress, and ran into a Democratic majority."
Nancy Birdsall, former World Bank executive, on the way Paul Wolfowitz tried to run the bank like a branch of the Bush administration in more ways than just helping a favorite and lying about it.
"If the CIA was really being careful, and had guidelines for all these covert agents, why did they allow Valerie Plame to contribute $1,000 to Al Gore's campaign and list her CIA cover business, Brewster Jennings and Associates, as her employer?"
Victoria Toensing, testifying after Valerie Plame Wilson to cast doubt on the secrecy of her covert status. Here's an answer: because she has the right to donate money to campaigns and listing herself as a CIA agent would have blown her cover. That's maybe not obvious if you're a Bushie scraping for an excuse.
"Yes congressman, and I can tell you that he came to me, (pause) almost with tears in his eyes, he said his words had been twisted and distorted. He wrote a memo, and he asked his supervisor to allow him to be reinterviewed by the committee, and the memo went nowhere, and his request to be reinterviewed so the record could be set straight was denied."
Valerie Plame Wilson describing the Counter Proliferation Division reports officer whose testimony was the source of the Senate Intelligence Committee report claiming she had recommended her husband for the assignment to check the report Iraq bought uranium from Niger. The quote is about 1:15 into the video.
"No. I did not recommend him, I did not suggest him, there was no nepotism involved, I didn't have the authority."
Valerie Plame Wilson, responding to Rep. Stephen Lynch's question, "I want to ask you now under oath, did you make the decision to send Ambassador Wilson to Niger?"
"I will say there was a tremendous amount of sympathy for Mr. Libby on the jury. It was said a number of times, 'What are we doing with this guy here? Where's Rove? Where are these other guys?' I'm not saying we didn't think Mr. Libby was guilty of the things we found him guilty of. It seemed like he was, as Mr. Wells put it, he was the fall guy."
Libby juror Denis Collins asking what many of us in the public are asking, especially if he's implying that Libby is taking the fall for Cheney.
"Capitalism is something of a pyramid, and the guys at the top can get rich, thanks in no small part to the capital, smarts and labor supplied by others. That's a special trust. Violate it and you deserve the scorn of the working stiffs who never had a shot at your payday."
Star Tribune business columnist Neal St. Anthony on the executives convicted in the Buca scandal. Remember the corporate scandals?
"The Constitution does not belong to the politicians. It belongs to all of us. And the medicines it prescribes for the ailments of the body politic are ours to administer."
John Nichols, writer for The Nation Magazine, who is traveling Vermont to promote the impeachment resolutions being debated in town meetings and the state legislature.
"Dale's a nice guy, but he's a Democrat, and I was afraid it would be blown out of proportion."
House Page Board chairman John Shimkus on why Mark Foley's behavior was kept secret from Democrats. Remember this secrecy when the GOP tries to pin some blame on Democrats.
"Man, it's a crazy system, and it's getting worse every year. We rip each other to shreds, and then we're all supposed to come back to Washington and try to work together. It's a hell of a way to elect representatives."
Rep. Ron Kind, D-WI, who is being accused in a TV ad of paying for sex (funding a peer-reviewed scientific study), letting illegal aliens burn flags, and letting convicted child molesters enter the country.
"I remember one incident very clearly -- I think it was 2001. I was working for [New Mexico Republican] Pete Domenici at the time. We were in a Budget Committee hearing and the Democrats were debating what the final result would be. And my boss gets up and he says, 'Why are you saying this? You're not even going to be in the room when the decisions are made.' Just said it right out in the open."
Winslow Wheeler, former Republican staffer in the Senate, on how the Republicans killed partisan cooperation when it came to governing.
"When people are looking at national issues that are not breaking our way, what you want to do is focus on your opponent. You've got to play the field's conditions. They demand very tough tactics."
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), in a memo to House Republicans, revealing the deliberate strategy to avoid issues and focus on ads making misleading personal attacks. They've grown so arrogant that they aren't only corrupt, but they feel no need to hide it anymore.
"Did I feel he was guilty? I was not even entertaining the fact that he was guilty because he assured me that he was not. You can sometimes tell when someone's lying because they fidget or change the subject. I never saw that with Bob."
Coshocton County, Ohio, GOP Chairman David Burns, on Rep. Bob Ney admitting taking bribes. Ney's lips were moving -- wasn't that enough to know he was lying?
"It didn't kill the candidate it had just stabbed to death, the party said. And if it did stab the candidate, it didn't know it was stabbing him. Most assuredly, the party protested, it would never condone stabbing the candidate it had just stabbed."
Columbus Dispatch Editor Joe Hallet, describing the Republican party's response to getting caught smearing Ohio Democratic candidate Ted Strickland.
"Commission staff believes that there is significant evidence that the false statements made to the commission were deliberately false."
John Farmer Jr., senior counsel to the 911 commission, in a memo explaining why the commission made referrals to the Defense Department and Transportation Department inspectors general.
"When I have funding, I will ask Karl Rove for a date with the president. Karl has already said 'yes' in principle and knows you organized this last time and hope to this year."
Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform, who arranged meetings with Karl Rove and the acting president in exchange for big donations from Jack Abramoff's clients.
"The extent to which not just state legislatures but the Congress of the United States are now run by large corporate special interests is beyond mere recognition as fact. The takeover is complete. Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay put in place a system in which it's not a question of letting the head of the camel into the tent—the camels run the place."
Molly Ivins on the corruption that let corporate special interests like Enron not merely break the rules, but change them.
"Lay was talking out of both sides of his mouth. Then Skilling came in and he was the epitome of arrogance and condescension. I also think it was pretty evident to the degree to which they had an extensive lobbying power force in Washington. They needed that umbrella to carry on their nefarious business.''
Raymond Plank, Chairman of Apache Corp., on the difficulty of doing business with the lead villains of Enron.
"I don't have a machine like that. This is the federal government, we have a very limited budget."
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake giving an omen that Ken Lay's autosignature defense in his bank fraud trail might not be helping.
"In other words, Vice President Cheney could retire from politics and terminate the gift agreement with the consent of Mr. Ward and keep all of his stock options."
givieitupcheney.org describing how Cheney still holds stock options he promised to charity, and is contractually free to renounce the donation when he is out of office. He gets both the good PR for giving up his options and the the money for helping Halliburton get government contracts. This is the contract.
"In challenging times, character matters -- more than ever."
UnitedHealth CEO William McGuire, trying to reassure shareholders about the bad publicity and SEC investigation resulting from his $1.6 billion in questionable options and smaller amounts to board members. Apparently the hundreds of millions in other pay doesn't trouble him.
"This is why DeLay's professions of Christianity make me sick. He was there. He could have talked to the workers. Instead, he chose to walk with the powerful and do real harm to the very people Jesus mandated we especially care for."
Molly Ivins on DeLay's support for sweatshop owners in the Marianas Islands and the religious patina on his and Abramoff's corruption.
"First, there are now 36,000 registered lobbyists in and around the famous K Street in Washington. This is close to a four-fold increase since 1994 when DeLay, then Majority Whip, launched what he called the "K Street Project" to increase the number of pro-Republican lobbyists."
Richard Gwynn explaining how the GOP created a boom in both government spending and corruption.
"Listen, I know of nobody -- I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action. And this investigation is a good thing."
Acting President Bush Jr. who didn't leave an exception for politically convenient leaks he authorized according to Scooter "The Leaker" Libby.
"WWL-TV introduced us to Korean War veteran Paul Morris, 74, and his wife Yvonne, 66. They have been sleeping in their 2 door sedan since January. They have been waiting that long for FEMA contractors to unlock the 240 square foot trailer in their yard and connect the power so they can sleep inside it in front of their devastated home."
Loyola Professor Bill Quigley on the consequences of corrupt government in terms not so abstract as lobbying rules.
"What is he selling other than connections and knowledge of how to game the system from being attorney general?"
Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, on John Ashcroft putting his vaunted integrity and religious piety up for sale.
"And that this is emblematic of what so many reporters have found in their stories, is what happens when they try to get straight information, or the people of the country want straight information out of this presidency. And so often what we get, particularly when they're not under oath, is questionable fact."
Carl Bernstein in response to a question about Scooter Libby and the Plame scandal.
"Between 2001 and 2004, Abramoff gave more than $127,000 to Republican candidates and committees and nothing to Democrats, federal records show. At the same time, his Indian clients were the only ones among the top 10 tribal donors in the U.S. to donate more money to Republicans than Democrats."
Bloomberg News showing that the GOP claim that Democrats are equally culpable in the lobbying scandal is nonsense.
"That's a great GOP talking point: Some Democrats are so sleazy, they get involved with the likes of us."
David Brooks on his party's weak position on congressional corruption.
"Believe it or not, there are nonprofit organizations in this country where the CEO barely makes more than the janitor, where nickels and pennies are saved so the clients or the cause can get a little more. ... While Jack Abramoff padded his bills and falsified expenses to tribal clients, there are people who work for minimum wages on Indian reservations to help some of the poorest people in America get a minimally decent chance at life."
Molly Ivins on the Republicans' use of charities to launder money.
"As for this administration, can the same people who leaked the name of a CIA agent for political gain be trusted not to use other secrets for political gain?"
Columnist Paul Mulshine asking how people who identified Valerie Wilson (Plame) for political revenge can trusted with information gained from warrantless surveillance.
"This is more than just a fund-raiser. It's a way of saying that an important part of the Republican establishment supports Tom DeLay now and will continue to support him in the future."
Wayne Berman of the Federalist Group, a lobbying firm, and the important part of the GOP establishment he's referring to is lobbyists, and that's maybe all you need to know about Republican corruption.
"Republicans should stop holding back and go on the offense: fire enough bullets the other way until the Supreme Court overtakes."
Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) giving away the strategy to obfuscate the revelations about Karl Rove until they can distract us with a supreme court nominee. A consensus nominee won't distract, so watch for Bush to nominate a nutjob.
"Karl Rove is in my experience with him the brightest and most affable of companions; perhaps I have been coopted, for I genuinely treasure his friendship. But neither charm nor political power should be permitted to subvert the First Amendment, which is intended to insure that reporters and citizens burrow fully and publicly into government, not insulate its players from felony, or reality."
Bill Israel, who taught a class on Politics and the Press with Karl Rove, on how protections for journalists under the First Amendment is being used to commit crime rather than expose it.
"Why did they do it that way? Because they could."
A representative identified as "one exasperated GOP congressman" explaining why the House Ethics Committee rules were changed to protect DeLay.
"Basically, I don't believe that our forbearers fought and died for the right of the few to bully the many. It's the job of the citizens to safeguard the democracy, and it's hard work. It's not easy."
Ronnie Earl, Austin District Attorney who is pursuing Tom DeLay on campaign finance law violations and has already indicted some Delay associates.
"It took Democrats 40 years to get as arrogant as we have become in 10."
Anonymous Republican House leadership aide
