Bill Maher 4/13/2006 - Bush appoints lawyers from Pat Robertson's Law School

[wolf_meister]

I wish I could say this is a joke but it is for real:

whenever there’s a Bush Administration scandal, it always traces back to some incompetent political hack appointment, and you think to yourself, where are they getting these screw-ups from? Well, now we know. From Pat Robertson. I’m not kidding.

Take Monica Goodling, who, before she resigned last week, because she’s smack in the middle of the U.S. Attorneys scandal, was the third-ranking official in the Justice Department of the United States. She’s 33 years old. And though she never even worked as a prosecutor, she was tasked with overseeing the job performance of all 93 U.S. Attorneys.

How do you get to the top that fast? Harvard? Princeton? No, Goodling did her undergraduate work at Messiah College. You know, Messiah, home of the Fighting Christ-ies? And then went on to attend Pat Robertson’s law school. Yes, Pat Robertson, the man who said that the presence of gay people at Disney World would cause earthquakes, tornadoes and possibly a meteor, has a law school.
And what kid wouldn’t want to attend? It’s three years, and you only have to read one book. U.S. News & World Report, which does the definitive ranking of colleges, lists Regent as a Tier Four school, which is the lowest score it gives. It’s not a hard school to get into. You have to renounce Satan and draw a pirate on a matchbook.
This is for people who couldn’t get into the University of Phoenix.

Now, would you care to guess how many graduates of this televangelist’s diploma mill work in the Bush Administration? 150. And you wonder why things are so messed up. We’re talking about a top Justice Department official who went to a college funded by a TV host. Would you send your daughter to Maury Povich U.? And if you did, would you expect her to get a job at the White House?
In 200 years, we’ve gone from “We, the people,” to “Up With People.” From “the best and the brightest” to “dumb and dumber.”

And where better to find people dumb enough to believe in George Bush than Pat Robertson’s law school?
The problem here in America isn’t that the country is being run by “elites.” It’s that it’s being run by a bunch of hayseeds. And, by the way, the lawyer Monica Goodling just hired to keep her ass out of jail, went to a real law school.

Emphasis mine.
Here’s the link: http://www.hbo.com/billmaher/new_rules/20070413.html

Kind of scary that not only is “Dubya” running this country, but he wants to surround himself with equally inept and unqualified people.

[Voyager]

Good managers recruit people smarter than they are, in order to maximize the performance of their groups. Bad managers look for people dumber than they are, so they can feel good about themselves. Where else are you going to find people dumber than Dubya and Gonzalez?

I do have to give them one thing - they are for Affirmative Action for morons.

[Gangster_Octopus]

I was watching a Jackie Chan movie and as usual he is taking on a group of bad guys, something like ten at one time. Of course, jackie prevails. Well I kind of feel like Jackie when I see scandal after scandal coming out of the woodwork. Unfortuantely I have none of the athleticism, quickness or choreography that Jackie has and this isn’t the movies. So I am getting beaten and I basiclally throw my hands up and give up. Bush you win. You are evil and dangerous, but you have too much bad stuff from me to deal with and I am a beaten man.

[drm]

I went to the Regent University website to be sure they had a gay/straight alliance and, strangely, I didn’t find any sign of it.

It must be some sort of oversight.

[RTFirefly]

And the Office of the Deputy Attorney General (ODAG) has apparently been screening entry-level applicants on the basis of political affiliation.

Charming, huh?

I can’t imagine that that’s legal.

[elucidator]

That’s why you’re not the AG, lack of imagination. Gonzo got imagination! Little short on memory, but hey!..

[Wee_Bairn]

@wolf_meister

but he wants to surround himself with equally inept and unqualified people.

equally inept and unqualified die-hard God-fearing Chrisitian people no less. Seriously, has he appointed anybody to anything who wasn’t a good Christian?

[MovieMogul]

Here’s Paul Krugman’s take on the issue:

Kay Cole James, who had extensive connections to the religious right and was the dean of Regent’s government school, was the federal government’s chief personnel officer from 2001 to 2005. (Curious fact: She then took a job with Mitchell Wade, the businessman who bribed Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham.) And it’s clear that unqualified people were hired throughout the administration because of their religious connections.

For example, The Boston Globe reports on one Regent law school graduate who was interviewed by the Justice Department’s civil rights division. Asked what Supreme Court decision of the past 20 years he most disagreed with, he named the decision to strike down a Texas anti-sodomy law. When he was hired, it was his only job offer.

[Labdad]

And another take from slate.com :

The law school’s dean, Jeffrey A. Brauch, urges in his “vision” statement that students reflect upon “the critical role the Christian faith should play in our legal system.” Jason Eige ('99), senior assistant to Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell, puts it pithily in the alumni newsletter, Regent Remark: “Your Résumé Is God’s Instrument.”

[Voyager]

@RTFirefly

And the Office of the Deputy Attorney General (ODAG) has apparently been screening entry-level applicants on the basis of political affiliation.

Charming, huh?

I can’t imagine that that’s legal.

Now, be fair. I’m sure they’d reject intelligent Republicans also. Not that an intelligent Republican would want to be anywhere near these idiots.

[you_with_the_face]

I’m sure I could look this up myself if I wasn’t lazy, but is Regent even accredited?

[MovieMogul]

I don’t think USN&WR would even consider putting it in its rankings if it wasn’t, so I suspect so (though it wouldn’t surprise me at all if this was a fairly recent development).

[you_with_the_face]

So I got off my electronic duff and looked it up. According to wikipedia, it is indeed accredited.

Regent University

[RTFirefly]

@Voyager

Now, be fair. I’m sure they’d reject intelligent Republicans also. Not that an intelligent Republican would want to be anywhere near these idiots.

I’m willing to believe in intelligent former Republicans. But anyone who’s still a Republican, given the nature of not only this President and Administration, but the GOP component of this Congress (as well as the past few Congresses)…

[Revtim]

I saw somewhere that the school used to boast on one of its web pages that 150 of its graduates worked in the Bush administration, but the statement or page got removed.

The question is, who was embarrassed by whom? Could go either way…

[tomndebb]

@Wee Bairn

equally inept and unqualified die-hard God-fearing Chrisitian people no less. Seriously, has he appointed anybody to anything who wasn’t a good Christian?

I would be hard-pressed to call most of them “good.” Whatever else Christianity has done about shrugging off the Covenant of the Torah, it has held onto that little list that includes “Thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” and most of that crew has (and continues) to lie about other people with constancy and regularity. (Then there is the argument about worshipping false gods–such as power.)

[stolichnaya]

@Wee Bairn

equally inept and unqualified die-hard God-fearing Chrisitian people no less. Seriously, has he appointed anybody to anything who wasn’t a good Christian?

Well… there was this one guy…

Paul Wolfowitz

[guppy]

@tomndebb

Covenant of the Torah, it has held onto that little list that includes “Thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” and most of that crew has (and continues) to lie about other people with constancy and regularity.

Well it they are noble lies so it makes it ok.

For those not familiar with Strauss, he is the intellectual father of neo-conservatism.

[Captain_Amazing]

@guppy

Well it they are noble lies so it makes it ok.

For those not familiar with Strauss, he is the intellectual father of neo-conservatism.

Except they’re not and he’s not.

[guppy]

@Captain Amazing

Except they’re not and he’s not.

Perhaps “father” was a bad choice of words. Are saying his philosophy wasn’t instrumental in the neo-conservative movement?

From the article:

The Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans, which worked under Wolfowitz to gather intelligence for the Iraq War, was headed by Abram Shulsky, another of Strauss’s students.[8] Harvey C. Mansfield, though never a student of Strauss, is a noted Straussian (as followers of Strauss frequently identify themselves) and prominent neoconservative whose notable students include Andrew Sullivan, Elliott Abrams, Alan Keyes, Richard Perle, Bill Kristol, and Irving Kristol.

Also, are saying there were no lies or that they were not noble?