The ugly Bush stain: Burrowing edition

By GottaLaff

I hadn't planned on posting about another sulferous BushCo stinkbomb so soon, but it was unavoidable. Put on your gas masks:

With only 44 days left in office, President Bush continues to “burrow” people into government positions that will continue long after President-elect Obama is sworn in. “All told, Mr. Bush has made roughly 30 personnel moves since the November election, some in nominations that will require Senate approval, and others in direct appointments that will last well into President-elect Barack Obama’s term and beyond.” The New York Times reports that on Tuesday of last week alone, Bush hired 18 people for administration jobs.

On Tuesday. He hired 18 additional skunks to stink up our country in just one day.

Yet, unlike some of the contentious, late regulatory moves by the president, none of the appointments, and reappointments, have raised a peep of protest from the Democrats, Mr. Obama, or even the liberal interest groups that have so closely monitored his personnel decisions. [...]

For the last year or so, the majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, has sought to keep the Senate in session to prevent such appointments. [...] But there are some areas of cooperation that would preclude the need for recess appointments. [For example, if the Dems support them] [...]

There are also appointments that require no Congressional approval but have terms that run for years. None of those have created much of a stir, either. [They may be bipartisan, or may not be binding] [...]

Mr. Fratto [Bush spokesperson] pointed out that Mr. Bush’s term is a full four years — not 3 years, 10 months and 4 days — and the president will not pull punches as he makes potentially still more appointments. “We actually do have not just the authority,” he said, “we have an obligation to do what we think is best for the country up until 11:59 a.m. on January 20.”

These are the kinds of noxious odors that nobody can blame on the First Dogs.