Wolfowitz Broke The Rules

Something that will always boggle me is how some public officials will do something blatantly wrong, and then cling to the slimmest of technicalities in order to defend themselves. In retrospect, sure, this may be one’s only defense, but if you knew about it before hand…

Just days after the White House went against the grain and gave its support to Wolfowitz, it now seems as though the board members of the World Bank have concluded that the former number two man at the Pentagon did in fact break the rules. Which leads me to conclude that should President Bush back me on anything, I’m pretty much just gonna go ahead and tender my resignation for whatever the hell it is I’m doing at the time.

As a result, the board will convene today on whether Wolfie is capable of continuing his leadership at the World Bank, the entire time Wolf is pointing to the ethics committee and saying it was their fault.

But, Paul, I got a pretty simple question for ya. You’re the head of a vast, multi-national organization, a pretty good chunk of which is kinda not happy with the fact that the US has pretty much had kingmaker rights on who heads it. What the hell was going on in your head that made you think that it was cool to give your girlfriend a raise? I mean, let’s step on the ol’ logic train for just a minute. What kind of technicality could you imagine would not make people think you just screwed up?

I’m just saying.

UPDATE: Or, per the Washington Post, Wolfie could blame the girlfriend, yeah, it’s her fault… That’s the ticket:

“Wolfowitz effectively blamed Riza for his predicament as well, saying that her “intractable position” in demanding a salary increase as compensation for her career disruption forced him to grant one to pre-empt a lawsuit. He is scheduled to appear before the board this afternoon. The board is expected to begin deliberating on how to respond as soon as tonight. Board members are inclined to issue a resolution expressing a lack of confidence in Wolfowitz’s leadership, senior bank officials said.”