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Steve Chapman knows why Alberto Gonzales has a job - and why other high-ranking actors who screw up keep their jobs, too.
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|4.26.07 @ 7:39AM|#
I used to think that Laurence Peter reached his level of incompetence as an author, but DAMN, there seems to be a lot of insight in The Peter Principle.
CB
Jim Bob|4.26.07 @ 7:59AM|#
Is this article some sort of joke? Gonzales has a job because he's a lackey and a yes-man, not because he was such a fucking superstar it was "inevitable" he'd find himself in over his head.
Untermensch|4.26.07 @ 8:22AM|#
The military exemplifies this principle. Take a guy who would be a good truck driver for the military and be happy doing it, but he has to be promoted or kicked out, so he's raised into a position he hates and is lousy at...
|4.26.07 @ 9:38AM|#
I fail to see Gonzales' incompetence- he's purposefully lying to derail the ongoing investigation(s). he's trying to appear incompetent to cover it up.
|4.26.07 @ 9:42AM|#
The problem with this thesis is that Gonzo was manifestly incompetent in his previous job as White House Counsel, too.
|4.26.07 @ 9:44AM|#
I always knew that US Senators were nothin' but a bunch of used car salesmen.
….on another note:
If the Peter's theory of failure is to be true, then how did Bush ever make it beyond the level of line-cook?
|4.26.07 @ 9:47AM|#
Grammer note:
Wrong use of 's. Should have read "Peters". or "Petersian", or whatever.
Looks like we know how high this spaceship is going to fly. :)
|4.26.07 @ 9:48AM|#
...also meant grammar
|4.26.07 @ 9:52AM|#
I heard this supremely bizarre (considering the source, not the content) commentary about Gonzo from Robert Reich on NPR yesterday in which he says something very like:
"You know, companies have a lot more accountability to shareholders and customers than public office holders have to the public at large. You may get a golden parachute, but if you are incompetent or harmful to either shareholders or customers, you are gone."
I was flabbergasted.
thoreau|4.26.07 @ 10:14AM|#
I confess, I thought the Peter principle was about the Apostle Peter, who didn't seem to be the most impressive of the Apostles in the Gospels yet got promoted to Pope.
Come to think of it, none of those Apostles were terribly impressive. They were usually kind of clueless about what Jesus was up to, and the only one of them who showed any initiative got a mere 30 pieces of silver for his trouble.
Lichtenberg|4.26.07 @ 10:33AM|#
thoreau
Peter, of course, was never aware that he was the first pope.
uncle sam|4.26.07 @ 11:27AM|#
There must be a variation about people who are successful at starting and growing a busines until it grows to a point where the owner is no longer able to deal with it.
thoreau|4.26.07 @ 12:28PM|#
Peter, of course, was never aware that he was the first pope.
See what I mean? The man was clueless!
Brian Sorgatz|4.26.07 @ 12:41PM|#
I confess, I thought the Peter principle was about the Apostle Peter, who didn't seem to be the most impressive of the Apostles in the Gospels yet got promoted to Pope.
I thought it was about Peter Tork, who never should have quit his day job to become a Monkee.
Some crank|4.26.07 @ 12:58PM|#
I thought it was about Peter, Paul and Mary.
Hey Mary, you're not 19 any more. Lose the Dutch Boy haircut.
|4.26.07 @ 2:53PM|#
"You might have taken the attorney general for a fellow of feeble mind. But that can't be it. Gonzales, after all, graduated from Harvard Law School, made partner at a distinguished Texas law firm, and eventually became a justice of the Texas Supreme Court -- where, the Los Angeles Times noted in 2001, "he developed a reputation as a thoughtful and ideologically moderate justice." If Gonzales is a dummy, then Gwyneth Paltrow is fat."
Either that, or no one was or is willing (Steve Chapman included) to call Gonzales a fool for fear of being accused of racism. Now, like Steven Colbert, I don't see color. But, trust me, lots of us mediocre folks have graduated from Harvard College and Law School. Lots of mediocre lawyers made partner at V&E, esp. back when said lily-white Texas firm was desperate for brown faces. Texas SC judges are elected by popular vote, not selected on the basis of intellectual merit. And the LA Times hasn't often ripped the intellectual capacity of liberal (by wacko Texas Supreme Court standards)Hispanic justices.
IMO, Chapman knows all this. It's evident from the way he avoids saying *directly* that AG is bright. At most, he implies that AG is "no dummy," hardly the minimum requisite for appointment as the nation's top lawyer. Consider the line: "You might have taken the attorney general for a fellow of feeble mind. But that can't be it." LOL. Oh gosh no. It just can't be.
|4.26.07 @ 3:00PM|#
You know, when the gasfitter blows up my house, reciting his resume doesn't do a whole lot to convince me that he's a good gasfitter.
Have you ever read the memo Gonzo wrote defining torture? Did you see him testify before the Judiciary Committee?
If we didn't have evidence one way or the other about his intelligence and ability, his resume might be helpful in coming to a conclusion. But we do.
Ditto for his boss.
|4.26.07 @ 7:47PM|#
"""I fail to see Gonzales' incompetence- he's purposefully lying to derail the ongoing investigation(s). he's trying to appear incompetent to cover it up.""""
Bingo