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In the 1970s, there was a late-night television commercial for a correspondence school offering training for an exciting career as a game warden or park ranger. Toward the end of his spiel, the announcer held up a leather badge holder with a gleaming metal badge, and said, “Carry a badge! Enforce the law! Arrest violators!”
Somewhere out in the vast television audience, there were people who were stirred to their very soul by those words—people ravenous for the power to push someone around. These folks are the real-life counterparts of Barney Fife and Eric Cartman, but in real life, they are all mean spirit, not at all cute or funny.
One of the first tasks of good police training is to weed out people like that. I hope it’s tough for them to become game wardens and park rangers, too.
I thought of that old commercial when I saw this:
The State Department’s former intelligence chief yesterday described John R. Bolton, President Bush’s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, as a “bully” who abused his authority and power, intimidated intelligence analysts, and damaged the integrity of the agency.
Bolton’s behavior “brings real question to my mind about his suitability for high office,” said Carl W. Ford Jr. He told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is considering Bolton’s nomination, that he is a loyal Republican, a staunch supporter of Bush and a “huge fan” of Vice President Cheney. “I’m as conservative as John Bolton is,” Ford said. “But the fact is that the collateral damage and the personal hurt that he causes is not worth the price that had to be paid.”
…
Ford called Bolton “a quintessential kiss-up, kick-down kind of guy. He’s got a bigger kick, and it gets bigger and stronger the further down the bureaucracy he’s kicking. And he stands out. I don’t have any other example to give you of someone who acts this way.”
Much of the world thinks all Americans are like this. Only the Bush Administration would think of sending someone like Bolton to the United Nations to prove them right.
3:58:36 PM #
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Some fun George W. Bush videos, found via This Modern World.
1:53:36 AM #
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