The Grand Old Party of Death

At firedoglake, Jane Hamsher points us to this very important article on the mother of all clusterfucks that was the Coalition Provisional Authority (the O'Beirne in question is Snaggletooth's better half):

O'Beirne's staff posed blunt questions to some candidates [for CPA positions] about domestic politics: Did you vote for George W. Bush in 2000? Do you support the way the president is fighting the war on terror? Two people who sought jobs with the U.S. occupation authority said they were even asked their views on Roe v. Wade.

Cronyism thrived; people died.

To recruit the people he wanted, O'Beirne sought resumes from the offices of Republican congressmen, conservative think tanks and GOP activists. He discarded applications from those his staff deemed ideologically suspect, even if the applicants possessed Arabic language skills or postwar rebuilding experience.

Smith said O'Beirne once pointed to a young man's resume and pronounced him "an ideal candidate." His chief qualification was that he had worked for the Republican Party in Florida during the presidential election recount in 2000.

Partisanship thrived; people died.

On the plus side, all those girls killed in the bombing of Baghdad were prevented from growing up and having abortions.

By the way, I don't recall ever seeing a disclosure of Snaggletooth's conflict of interest on any of her many appearances on CNN and Meet the Press. I must be getting forgetful.

More here.