...directly laying the groundwork of mismanagement which allowed terrorist attacks to take place.
Yes, it is easy to blame this on one single cause, isn't it? From the Wikipedia page on Jamie Gorelick you link to:
This assertion was disputed by former senator Slade Gorton (R-WA), a member of the 9/11 Commission, who said, "nothing Jamie Gorelick wrote had the slightest impact on the Department of Defense or its willingness or ability to share intelligence information with other intelligence agencies." Gorton also asserted that "the wall" was a long-standing policy that had resulted from the Church committee in the 1970s, and that the policy only prohibits transfer of certain information from prosecutors to the intelligence services and never prohibited information flowing in the opposite direction.
From there, Gorelick moved to a cushy post as Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae, where she remained from 1997 to 2003. Yep, those were the exact years when sub-prime lending exploded and provided the framework for the current economic crisis.
That "framework" also included things like poor rating systems and Republican efforts at deregulation. But I agree that does not reflect well on her. That said, how do we know how much she had to do with various shenanigans? Also, of course she's going to say positive things regardless of what's actually going on.
But wait, there's more! Following her stint at Fannie Mae, Gorelick went on to write briefs during the Duke University Non-Rape case in 2006....
Aren't you a lawyer yourself, gerrymander? Even if not, do you honestly believe that representing a client is the same as endorsing that client's views or actions? If so, I suspect people like Anthony Griffin would take issue with that belief.
Q: What do you think of western civilization? Gandhi: I think it would be a good idea.
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Re: Failing Upward
Mon Nov 10, 2008 at 10:46:30 AM EST
5.00 (interesting)
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That said, how do we know how much she had to do with various shenanigans?
Let me ask you, DEMachina: would you consider this a valid question if the former corporate vice-president was Enron's Christopher Calger and the president choosing the nominee was Bush? We don't know how much she had to do with what went on at FNMA because there hasn't been an investigation. Do you expect there will ever be an investigation if Gorelick is appointed to the post of Attorney General?
Aren't you a lawyer yourself, gerrymander?
Nope; I work at a law firm, but I am not lawyer.
Even if not, do you honestly believe that representing a client is the same as endorsing that client's views or actions?
I think that regardless of what the university's legal needs are, Gorelick's continued involvement with the debacle shows questionable judgment.
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Re: Failing Upward
Mon Nov 10, 2008 at 10:56:22 AM EST
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Let me ask you, DEMachina: would you consider this a valid question if the former corporate vice-president was Enron's Christopher Calger and the president choosing the nominee was Bush?
That's a legitimate question, and I hope the answer would be "yes."
Do you expect there will ever be an investigation if Gorelick is appointed to the post of Attorney General?
Probably not, to be sure.
I think that regardless of what the university's legal needs are, Gorelick's continued involvement with the debacle shows questionable judgment.
In what way?
I think there're valid reasons to criticize her as possible AG, but let's stick to those, shall we?
Q: What do you think of western civilization? Gandhi: I think it would be a good idea.
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Ah, But You See
Mon Nov 10, 2008 at 08:17:04 AM EST
4.50 (astute, astute)
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None of this matters, because Gorelick has entered the conservative echo chamber, and nothing she said or did can be defended in the slightest. Even if she is less than talented, at least Obama hasn't reached the depths of, say, a Dick Cheney appointment.
Get used to this. I've posited already that Obama is going to be attacked in a way that makes what happened to Bill Clinton look tame-- and at least this story has some substance. I'm predicting a bit more, um, "content free" stories coming down the pike in the next year or so . . .
Ex ignorantia ad sapientiam; e luce ad tenebras
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Re: Ah, But You See
Mon Nov 10, 2008 at 01:58:36 PM EST
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Why should what she's done be defended? There are plenty of people without her baggage that could be appointed.
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Re: Ah, But say can you see
Mon Nov 10, 2008 at 02:26:05 PM EST
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There are plenty of people without her baggage that could be appointed.
And each one will face the shrill cacophony of the right wing echo chamber, so it really doesn't matter. Jesus could be tapped for the job...but it wouldn't matter.
Bill O'Rielly - He may be the savior, but really... how does three days of suffering allow him to claim to be experienced?
Ann Coulter - Come on people...have we forgotten that he's a Jew?
Tucker Carlson - He should really do something with his hair.
It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine
If we buy gerry's analysis of Jamie Gorelick, she is hardly an example of the Peter Principle. The whole point of the peter principle is that people get promoted UNTIL they are incompetent at what they do..from where they stop getting promoted.
This is someone who has had quite a career arc being involved with great issues of the day. If I accept gerry's spin, then she keeps making more and more profound mistakes while becoming a more and more central player to various disaster.
She is an example of Murphy's Law more so than Peter's Principle.
Not quite sure what a lawyer would have to do with an accounting scandal, so her indictment of Fannie Mae reads a bit like blaming a secretary for having past experience working at Enron.
Still while we're bringing out the flawed candidates..I nominate Elliot Spitzer for the post.
Memory is a strange bell, jubilee and knell.
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Re: so ill nitpick
Tue Nov 11, 2008 at 01:34:30 AM EST
5.00 (interesting)
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You want to put someone who couldn't figure out that they were cooking the books of the company she was vice chairman of in charge of US prosecutions at a time when one of the biggest things we need is a white collar crime initiative? The report they refer to concluded that she was kept out of the loop, but it had to be clear to her that she, the vice chairman, was being kept out of the loop. That in itself should have raised huge red flags and caused her to resign, and she was still out there shilling for them.
Just about everything on gerry's list is mischaracterized including the Fannie Mae stuff, but she still doesn't belong anywhere near the position. On the other hand if this is merely being "considered" and not selected for the position, it's not much of a story, as she certainly has the experience that would make her at least mentioned as a candidate. If Obama's really going to choose a record of proven failure like this, then what happened to the "change" he promised?
Obama transcends incompetence.
So it begins, Arkansas Project MKII. What will the next ludicrous assault be?
Especially stupid is the attempt to blame the subprime meltdown on Fannie Mae...but who ever said gerry needed facts? All he needs is a talking point and he's off...way, way off.
