The Failures of the "Conservative Movement" (8)

Yeah, this is the kind of people you want running a country. What's that? The science says the earth is warming? What should we do?

Suppress it, of course. Ah, Conservative leadership.

This was the modus operandi for the Bush Administration, by the way. At the Social Security Administration the career professionals in the press office, who thought it was their job to be as helpful and forthcoming to the press as possible, were pushed to the side by the Bush political appointees. They had an agenda, and they didn't want non-True Believers to get in their way. Commissioner Barnhart lectured the Agency's Public Affairs Specialists, gathered from their local offices around the country, that the press was their enemy, not their friend. This was a surprise to many who had spent 20 years or more cultivating a good and trusting relationship with their local reporters.

From Our Future.org:

In January 2001, when Bush was assuming the presidency, the right-wing Heritage Foundation issued a white paper: Taking Charge of Federal Personnel.

That report effectively counseled Bush to suffocate the ability of our civil servants to provide objective and factual information, making it impossible for the public to make informed decisions and communicate our will to policymakers in Washington.

It sniffed at the "Public Administration Model" of government as "emphasiz[ing] the Progressive ideal--a value-free 'scientific' program of government administration."

Instead, it preferred the "Political Administration Model" which it defined as "providing presidential leadership to committed top political officials...holding them and their subordinates personally accountable for achievement of the President's election-endorsed and value-defined program."

Have you ever read a better recipe for corruption?