A class isn’t enough

November 7, 2005

The White House counsel’s office told presidential aides on Friday afternoon (when else?) that they’ll be getting a little “refresher” course on government ethics.

President Bush has ordered White House staff to attend mandatory briefings beginning next week on ethical behavior and the handling of classified material after the indictment last week of a senior administration official in the CIA leak probe.

According to a memo sent to aides yesterday, Bush expects all White House staff to adhere to the “spirit as well as the letter” of all ethics laws and rules. As a result, “the White House counsel’s office will conduct a series of presentations next week that will provide refresher lectures on general ethics rules, including the rules of governing the protection of classified information,” according to the memo, a copy of which was provided to The Washington Post by a senior White House aide.

The obvious joke is to point out that if the White House had only bothered to do this in 2002, they could have saved themselves a world of trouble.

But I’m afraid that would give the Bush gang far too much credit. It presumes that these officials once knew the rules, but somehow forgot them.

That isn’t what’s happened. The Bush gang is well aware of legal and ethical limits, but feels compelled to disregard those boundaries when they stand in the way of the White House’s political objectives.

These guys don’t need a class to remind them of the rules; they need some accountability for those who’ve violated the rules.

The class won’t be about better ethics. It’ll be about improved methods for not getting caught. Adopting truly ethical behavior within the Shrub admin would be like taking Valium. They wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the morning. What would be the point?

  • More to the point, what this shows is that Bush laughs at this concern over ethics. Now that people on his staff have been indicted, he has them watch some presentations?

    The only purpose for this is to act as though he’s taking action without taking action. This is the kind of thing you do because you’re forced to make empty gestures, not because you want to. With these classes Bush has show precisely how concerned he is about ethics.

  • This is such a joke. As if they don’t know when they are not being ethical. They know, they just don’t care! Bush could take this class 365 days a year and he would still have NO ethics. Bush is a TYRANT and tyrants don’t have ethics.

  • The 45 minute class will be followed by a 15 minute ‘quiet time’. This will be followed by a full 1/2 hour with crayons and coloring books. Recess will be on the south lawn (weather permitting) and lunch served in the cafeteria. Students who are unable to attend must bring a note from a parent.

  • The obvious joke is to point out that if the White House had only bothered to do this in 2002, they could have saved themselves a world of trouble

    If they’d have taken these classes in 2002, John Kerry would have been president.

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