What it takes to be shown the door

February 8, 2006

George Deutsch is a quintessential example of what’s wrong with the Bush administration’s cronyism. Deutsch, who is 24 years old, was an intern with the Bush presidential campaign in 2004. He was quickly promoted to an influential role in NASA’s public affairs office, where he put his campaign skills to good use, badgering the agency’s technical staff to refer to the Big Bang as a “theory.”

In October 2005, Mr. Deutsch sent an e-mail message to Flint Wild, a NASA contractor working on a set of Web presentations about Einstein for middle-school students. The message said the word “theory” needed to be added after every mention of the Big Bang.

The Big Bang is “not proven fact; it is opinion,” Mr. Deutsch wrote, adding, “It is not NASA’s place, nor should it be to make a declaration such as this about the existence of the universe that discounts intelligent design by a creator.”

It continued: “This is more than a science issue, it is a religious issue. And I would hate to think that young people would only be getting one-half of this debate from NASA. That would mean we had failed to properly educate the very people who rely on us for factual information the most.”

Yesterday, Deutsch resigned from NASA. Was he forced out because administration officials realized he was an unqualified hack, meddling in science he knows nothing about? No, that’s not really a disqualifying factor with these guys. Deutsch is gone because he lied about getting a college degree.

Mr. Deutsch’s resignation came on the same day that officials at Texas A&M University confirmed that he did not graduate from there, as his resume on file at the agency asserted.

Mr. Deutsch’s educational record was first challenged on Monday by Nick Anthis, who graduated from Texas A&M last year with a biochemistry degree and has been writing a Web log on science policy, scientificactivist.blogspot.com.

After Mr. Anthis read about the problems at NASA, he said in an interview: “It seemed like political figures had really overstepped the line. I was just going to write some commentary on this when somebody tipped me off that George Deutsch might not have graduated.”

I’m glad Deutsch is gone, but just once I’d like to see someone get sacked for being incompetent.

And why is it those who have brains and actually use them should not mock this administration? Please tell me again?

  • Getting sacked for incompetence would be great, going to jail for criminal offenses would be even better. Sigh.

  • Surely, firing him for lying about his degree was just a convenient excuse, along the lines of “I want to spend more time with my family.” The sad part is that he probably wasn’t sacked for incompetence but because he’d become an embarrassing political liability.

    Incompetence just hurts other people; public embarrassment hurts the team.

  • What makes this story even more delicious is that Deutsch was exposed by a blogger. Maybe our Washington friends will begin to take the netroots a little bit more seriously and start to listen to what we are saying.

  • “That would mean we had failed to properly educate the very people who rely on us for factual information the most.”

    Ironies abound…black is white… factual information watchdogs are frauds… where is the sanity..where is the accountablility? Deutsch was fouled out on a technicality and would otherwise still be doing God’s will at NASA. Think of the other Deutsches out there in Bushworld’s Hackorama.

  • “What makes this story even more delicious is that Deutsch was exposed by a blogger. Maybe our Washington friends will begin to take the netroots a little bit more seriously and start to listen to what we are saying.”

    Perhaps by clamping down on bloggers. After all, why solve the problem when all you have to do is eliminate the messenger?

  • Mike makes an excellent point. There are more and more red flags being raised over the possibility of turning the entire Internet from an unrestricted information highway to a censored and controlled corporate entity even in the U.S.

    We’d better keep our eyes open and our powder dry, these people have already shown that they have no scruples in trying to destroy anything that doesn’t further their agenda.

  • This is funny. It kind of ties into something I’ve been thinking about– I’ll probably incorporate it into something I’m going to write for my blog, maybe tonight.

  • Getting sacked for incompetence would be great and going to jail for criminal offenses even better, but at this point, I’d settle for someone doing a proper job of looking into the backgrounds of these partisan, agenda-based hacks BEFORE they get hired.

  • Ah…there’s a glimmer of hope yet in this old Republic! Someone actually got fired for lying on his job application. Now, as I recall, a “job interview” is part of the application process. So—can we get Gonzo the Incredulous fired from his AG job for lying to Congress about the warrantless wiretaps?

    And I’ll agree with Curmudgeon—the time might very well be nigh to “keep the eyes open, and the powder dry.” More and more, those goofs are getting squeezed into a tight corner—and that’s when most “beasties” are at their most dangerous….

  • I went to Scientific Activist and it goes beyond just not having a college degree. Or, it should anyway. Excerpted from Nick Anthis’ blog, emphasis below is mine.

    The idea that NASA let a 24-year-old journalism major, with no experience in science or technology, other than writing a few articles about video games, determine what scientists were able to communicate to the public was pretty bad.

    Not only did he not have the college degree he said he did. The Bush regime, (I’m well past legitimizing it by calling it an administration except maybe in more polite conversation,) appointed someone to NASA who had NO SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND. TO WORK. AT NASA.

  • They should have started blowing whistels when he started saying to put the word theory in front of refrences to the big bang. Theory doesn’t mean that it hasn’t been prooven. At least to people who know what they are talking about.

    And you wouldn’t see him say that in refrence to the theory of gravity or relitivity or atomic theory. In my small experiance anyone who tries using the word theory in a scientific setting to mean hasn’t been prooven false into one of 2 catagorys:

    1) People who don’t know what they are talking about.

    or

    2) Peolpe who don’t want to know what they are talking about past anything that could prove their point.

  • Every time I hear one of these mouth-breathers say “It’s just a theory,” I launch into an explanation of the difference between “hypothesis” (which is what they in their illiterate ignorance are talking about) and “theory.” Of course, their eyes glaze over after the second use of a polysyllabic word.

    It’s interesting to note that the Journalism Department at Texas A&M was closed last year for “incompetence.” (Yes, I know, Aggies going after someone for incompetence does indeed boggle the mind).

    So, does one Nick Anthis overthrow 50 years of Aggie jokes??? (I mean, they’re the one place left where you can subsitute “Aggie” for “polack” on some hoary old groaner and get away with it)

  • When these people get sacked it is meaningless.

    They have earned their thesis, done their doctorate, and for that
    they are members of the elite … that is, they will ressurect, if
    that is not to christian a metaphor.

    Incompetant, criminal, moving on to pillage the country, these
    people on the right move through industry, government, lobbying
    just adding to their resumes and getting more powerful and rich.

    ask oliver north, elliot abrams, dick cheney, … on and on, list
    off nixon, reagan, bush’s cronies.

    does it mean anything?

  • I’m glad Deutsch is gone, but just once I’d like to see someone get sacked for being incompetent.

    Does Doug Feith count?

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