Recesspool

[babylonsister]

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/04/06/recesspool.php

Recesspool
Bill Scher



The abuse of the recess appointment perhaps isn't President Bush's most egregious attack on our Founders' carefully crafted system of checks and balances, since others before him have exploited this constitutional loophole. But the implicit reasons behind each of the three significant recess appointments he made this week —installing the officials without Senate confirmation during the congressional recess—are quite egregious, and each in their own way.

The one that's gotten the most attention is Sam Fox, our new ambassador to Belgium.

It's typical, if still highly inappropriate, for cronies of the president to get cushy ambassador gigs. But Sam Fox wasn't just a big donor of Bush. He gave $50,000 to the Swift Boat liars that smeared Sen. John Kerry's war record during his 2004 presidential bid.

Of course, the Bush campaign always insisted it had nothing to do with the smear merchants, even though the group had ties to Karl Rove. But to go the extra mile after being stiff-armed by the Senate, to appoint a major backer of filthy politics to a major post, shows how politics are played in the conservative movement.

Get dirty now, get rewarded later. No consequences for your actions. No disincentive to smear again.

The second is Andrew Biggs, to become the No. 2 man at the Social Security Administration.

Biggs is not only committed to the dismantling of Social Security via privatization. As associate commissioner of SSA, he was behind an effort to use the agency to pump out misinformation and undermine support for the program.

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