Corruption as the source of BushCorp woes

Once upon a time I believed that the Bush administration's greatest failing was its incompetence. (See Brown, Michael)

Recent discoveries have, however made clear that BushCorp's incompetence is a symptom, not the cause of its mis-management of government.

The real problem is the public corruption that has placed political operatives and "loyal Bushies" in positions all throughout the federal bureaucracy to the detriment of every department so afflicted. (See Goodling, Monica)

As I've said before, this is the natural result of an ideology that views government as "the problem, not the solution". If you don't believe that government can be a positive force, then nothing stops you form using it to accomplish narrow parochial aims.

Democratic leader Rahm Emmanuel gives an extensive outline of the way BushCorp has pillaged government to accomplish Republican party goals. If you can stomach it, his speech today to the Brookings Institution should be read in full, if you can stomach it. (H/t to Josh Marshall for posting the text).

The important point to take away from all this is that this sort of corruption is not merely a sin of the Bush administration, but is inherent in the ideology that stands at the core of Republican politics.

The Bush administration is just its logical extreme.