Your Nominees for the Golden Duke Awards!
TPM is pleased to announce that we will be giving away our First Annual Golden Dukes to recognize great accomplishments in muckiness including acts of venal corruption, outstanding self-inflicted losses of dignity, crimes against the republic, bribery, exposed hypocrisy and generally malevolent governance.
The awards are named in honor of Congressman-turned-inmate Randy "Duke" Cunningham. It's been a heady few years for Muckraking, what with the meta-Abramoff scandal and so much more. But here at TPM we still believe that Duke is the iconic modern scandal. Few so well combine outlandish corruption, national security, sex, and sheer cartoonish ridiculousness.
The Nominees
We'll be giving away awards in six categories:
Best Testimonial Trainwreck
John Tanner for his unfortunate performance in front of the House Judiciary Committee
Sara Taylor for her muddled, bumbling, and oh-so-evasive testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee
Kyle Sampson for his own sorry showing in the Senate during the DOJ politicization hearings
Lurita Doan for her unprecedentedly incoherent testimony to Rep. Henry Waxman and his House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Alberto Gonzales for his spectacular series of self-contradictions in regard to the NSA warrentless wiretapping program
Outstanding Achievement in Improbable Forgetfulness
Alberto Gonzales for spouting more I-don't-recalls than we care to count
Sara Taylor for forgetting what she had for breakfast last week
Bradley Schlozman for generalized phony forgetfulness
Lurita Doan also for generalized phony forgetfulness
Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) for not recalling what he did that fateful day in the Minneapolis airport
Outstanding Achievement in Corruption-based Chutzpah
Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) for his phony resignation and brazenly inventive interpretation of the American legal code
Scott Bloch for commissioning private company Geeks on Call to purge his government-issued laptop of possibly incriminating documents
Rudy Giuliani for his astoundingly audacious use of public dollars in the now infamous Shag Fund scandal
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) for her undisclosed purchase of some prime real estate at half the market price from friend and campaign contributor Bob Penney
Ginger Cruz for her generally outlandish behavior, including but not limited to making "inappropriate sexual remarks" and threatening employees with supernatural retribution
Best Scandal -- Local Venue
Vincent J. Fumo for his impressive 139 counts of fraud and obstruction of justice in addition to the bamboozling of two state-funded charities for the purpose of personal purchases
Michael Carona for using his position as Sheriff of Orange County to enrich himself, his wife, and his mistress
Rachel Paulose for her bigoted and hostile management style following the publicly funded coronation extravaganza that she held for herself
Richard Roberts for his use of funds from Oral Roberts University, over which he presides, to support his own lavish spending habits as well as the campaign of a local official for the Tulsa mayoral office
State Rep. Bob Allen (R-Merrit Island) for soliciting sex from and undercover officer, then attributing his decision to a fear of black men in public places
Best Scandal -- Sex and Generalized Carnality
Glenn Murphy for sexually assaulting an unconscious man at a Young Republicans get-together
State Rep. Richard Curtis (R-Vancouver) for soliciting a gay prostitute and then starting an argument over the fee
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) for generalized whore-mongering in multiple jurisdictions
Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) for poorly executed bathroom sex
State Rep. Bob Allen (R-Merrit Island) also for poorly executed bathroom sex
Best Scandal -- General Interest
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) for multiple counts of backroom wheeling and dealing for personal gain
Rep. Don Young (R-AK) for using the US Treasury to pay off a campaign contributor
Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) for poorly executed bathroom sex followed, of course, by some ballsy legal acrobatics
Alberto Gonzales for the politicization of the DOJ, boldfaced lying, and refusal to resign
President George W. Bush for the general politicization of the US government
It's in the judges' hands now. The winners in all six categories will be announced on December 31, 2007.
In case you missed it, check out this episode of TPMtv in which Josh Marshall explains the choice of nominees:
The Judges
We're happy to have a very distinguished panel of expert judges to sort through your nominations and choose the ultimate winners. They are:
Susie Bright, author, sexologist, analyst of erotic endeavors
John Dean, former Nixon White House Counsel, author, critic, columnist, muckster-turned-muckraker
Hendrik Hertzberg, essayist, political reporter, general TPM hero
Matthew Yglesias, blogger, representative of the rising generation, advocate of the typo-challenged
Dahlia Lithwick, law and legal affairs writer
The E-mails
Here are the e-mails that selected our lucky nominees:
Best Testimonial Trainwreck
I think that John Tanner's whoopin' at the hands of Rep. Arthur Davis deserves to win the 2007 Golden Duke Nomination for best Testimonial Meltdown. While some may say that this entry should be disqualified, as Tanner's meltdown is due more to Davis' evisceration rather than Tanner's own stupidity, I say that a meltdown is a two-person process; after all, you don't get anyone to shift that uncomfortably without some help (check out, oh, say 5:30 from the end for just one of many examples). And while watching Gonzales repeat "I do not recall" has a certain sideshow attraction, I think the main event-type thrills come from watching Tanner implode.
This year's pool of contenders is extraordinarily strong, but I submit that the most superbly off-the-rails, crash-and-burn performance under oath was that of Sara Taylor.
Let's begin with the fact that Taylor's testimony was virtually content-free save for demonstrable lies. Asked about the briefings she and others in Karl Rove's shop gave to Executive Branch officials (including Lurita Doan of GSA) -- briefings clearly designed to leverage government agency activities for GOP electoral advantage -- Taylor robotically repeated ad nauseam that the briefings were merely "informative." When challenged by Sheldon Whitehouse on her claim that the US Attorney firings paralleled those under President Clinton, Taylor crumbled and confessed she was engaging in rank speculation.
What truly sets her apart, though, was Taylor's fumbling, halting, fits-and-starts inability to lie with a straight face. Her hangdog look, her hunched posture, and her downcast eyes complete the picture of a political operative deeply unhappy at being dragged under the klieg lights and even unhappier at being asked to come clean about her misdeeds. And that grating Midwestern twang!
Members of the judging panel, I give you a squirming evader, a modern Screwtape under the diabolical tutelage of Karl Rove, and this year's most deserving Testimonial Trainwreck, Sara Taylor.
"If I had to do it over. . ."
Lurita Doan. Lurita, Lurita, Lurita.....Wow. What an imbecile! I have a goldfish that is smarter than this lady. Watching her go before Waxman's committee and dissolve into a blubbering mass of incompetence as efluvia boiled out of her mouth was actually satisfying to those of us that have been longing for some government oversite (back when we thought the democrats would do something with it).
When someone tells an aid to take the water glass away because she is afraid they are going to lift her fingerprints, one wonders how many cats live in her house with her. I think she personifies the cronyism within the Bush administration- the juvenile pettiness, the vindictiveness, the ability to justify or rationalize anything if it gives her what she wants. The thing is she had the audacity to think she would never be called on the carpet, but she was.
Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will undoubtedly be to the Golden Dukes what Kanye West is to this year's Grammys: a blockbuster multi-nomination sensation. Instead of dwelling on the outright Big Story lies, or the patent evasions, or even the endless don't-recalls, I'd like to focus the judging panel's attention on one detail, small in itself, that best captures the man's fecklessness.
In his July 24 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the AG faced blistering questioning from the members, especially Senator Schumer, over his prior statements to the panel about the NSA surveillance program. Gonzales had claimed that there was no dissent wihtin DOJ over the program; faced with Jim Comey's contrary testimony, Gonzales tried to claim that there were multiple programs and that Comey was talking about a different one. Alas, Senator Schumer cited Gonzales's own statement (at his June press conference) that there was but one program.
Faced with this blatant contradiction, the AG insisted that he had misspoken in June, and that he had followed up with a reporter to correct his error. Nothing can compare to the sight of Gonzales leaning back in his chair (1:20 in) so his aides could -- one tiny fact at a time -- feed him the name of the paper and the reporter, along with the timing of the "clarification". Nothing, that is, except the moment a few minutes later (4:41 in) when Schumer asks Gonzales what he said to the reporter, and the AG can't say because he himself didn't make the contact and has no idea what was said.
Priceless.
Outstanding Achievement in Improbable Forgetfulness
Yes, there were some better battles, but I give the nod to Fredo in both categories. I mean, really, who else fits these categories better. The fact that he survived it for so long, and even forced Slate to dismantle their Gonzo-meter makes it even better.
Gonzales is true Dukey, and deserves both awards.
For Outstanding Achievement in Improbable Forgetfulness, I nominate former White House political director Sara Taylor. From Paul Kane's column in the Washington Post:
"She doesn't recall any communications from political operatives in any of the states of the fired prosecutors, which has been cited as a central accusation connected to the firings of at least two prosecutors. 'Senator, I don't remember what I had for breakfast last week,' she told Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.)."
Well, Sara, the cereal/fruit/pancakes memories may fade quickly, but if I were in the middle of a first-time-in-history cleansing of the Justice Department, I think I would remember the details.
Bradley Schlossman [Sic.], for not remembering whether it was improper to launch an investigation of a public official on the eve of an election.
After due consideration:
Outstanding Achievement in Improbable Forgetfulness --- Lurita Doan
How can you not give props and all of the awards to toe-tappin Larry Craig? He is clearly one of a select few (and probably the one only one outside of the Executive Branch) who has a chance to clearly sweep all six categories. That is talent. He is to the GOP what the New England Patriots are to the NFL. SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP!
[. . .]
A 60 something year old man forgets common etiquette in a public men's room? This wasn't Thailand, this was Minnesota!
Outstanding Achievement in Corruption-based Chutzpah
Another Chutzpah nomination goes to Larry Craig for his "intent" to resign and eventual reversal. Not much more needs to be said of that fiasco.
Using a government credit card, U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch hired Geeks on Call to scrub the hard drives on his government issued laptop and those of two deputies, after the Inspector General, Office of Personnel Management requested access to them. By the time this obstruction of justice came to light, Bloch had already established his bona fides as a shameless hypocrite by instigating a widely publicized investigation of Karl Rove and other Bush Administration officials in an effort to neutralize the OPM IG’s ongoing investigation of Bloch himself. The latter investigation was looking into allegations by OSC staff that Bloch had purged career employees to replace them with his cronies; dumped thousands of whistleblower disclosures without adequate review; lied to Congress; and engaged in other misconduct directly contrary to OSC’s mission (which is to protect the merit–based civil service).
Bloch’s latest ploy—wiping computer files on government laptops to avoid review by the OPM IG—while simultaneously demanding access to Karl Rove’s emails--clearly makes him a frontrunner for the Golden Duke for “outstanding achievements in corruption based chutzpah.” But what really seals the deal is Bloch’s completely implausible explanation for the scrubs: that he commissioned a DOD-level security wipe to kill a “virus” on his laptop. Missing, of course, is any explanation for bypassing OSC’s own IT staff to address the “virus” or for scrubbing his deputies’ laptops. Wonder if Karl Rove has the 800 number for Geeks....
Nobody does chutzpah like a New Yorker, and Rudy Giulianni has offered up a late-breaking example that I think is clearly deserving of the 2007 Golden Duke award for "Outstanding Achievement in Corruption-based Chutzpah."
Pressed in the recent Iowa debate about billing security detail expenses for his mistress, Judith Nathan, to obscure city agencies during his term as mayor of New York, Giuliani reached deep inside himself and brought forth an explanation breathtaking in its chutzpah-tude. Billing those expenses to agencies like the Loft Board, he said, actually made them more visible, more transparent than they would have been had they been billed directly to the police department. How could anyone even think he was trying to hide anything?
If that is not the sort of "presumption plus arrogance" Leo Rosten spoke of in The Joys of Yiddish, I don't know what would be.
Since Don Young and Ted Stevens seem to have the "Best Picture" Dukey locked up, I'm going to spread the wealth around a bit in Alaska and nominate Lisa Murkowski in the Outstanding Chutzpah category for her house deal on the Kenai River. She should have known that it was worth far more than she paied for it. Indeed, she admitted as much when she was found out.
A late, Friday of the deadline nomination for the Outstanding Achievement in Corruption-based Chutzpah section. As outlined by the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7152378), Ginger Cruz, an deputy at the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) and a wiccan has gone beyond earthly realms in her bid for a Golden Duke. Besides, and I quote, a "sustained patterns of inappropriate behavior", she threatened to "put hexes on employees". Add in a dash of "inappropriate sexual remarks" and "access(ing) without authorization employee e-mail messages stored on computers maintained by the U.S. Army", and you've got a lovely little Bush employee disaster in the works. Outstanding work Ginger!
Oh, did I mention there's an investigation of overspending and mismanagement on top of it?
Best Scandal -- Local Venue
Nominated for the Crooked Pol Hall of Fame by Peter Carlson of the Washington Post, Pennsylvania State Senator Vince Fumo is "a millionaire pol whose over-the-top greed makes recently convicted ex-congressmen Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney seem like penny-ante pikers."
On February 6, 2007, Fumo was indicted on 139 counts of fraud and obstruction of justice in an extremely entertaining 267 page federal indictment. According to authorities, Fumo hired staffers on the taxpayer's dime to clean his 33-room mansion, fix leaky toilets, work as a farmhand on his 100-acre hobby farm, pay his personal bills, organize fund raisers, and wrap 150 Vince Fumo bobble head dolls. He also allegedly used taxpayer money to hire private investigators to spy on his political rivals, his ex-wife, former girlfriends, and their new boyfriends.
But the fun doesn't stop there. Fumo is also accused of defrauding two state-funded charities out of more than $1 million, which included the purchase of a $36,000 minivan, $250,000 for political pols, a bulldozer for his farm, $3,929 worth of "mosquito magnets", $171 worth of tiki torches and, $6,500 for 19 Oreck vacuum cleaners (one for each floor of his 3 homes).
This isn't the first time that Fumo has run afoul of the law. In 1974 he was convicted (though later acquitted) of helping his predecessor, Senator Buddy Cianfrani, add 33 ghost employees to the state payroll.
For the Best Scandal - Local Venue category, I nominate Sheriff Michael Carona of Orange County, CA. As the top lawman in America's fifth largest county, and as a self-described, Christian conservative, one might expect Sheriff Mike to set a peerless example.
And one would be right. As spelled out in a federal indictment unsealed last month, Carona allegedly ran for sheriff in 1998 to enrich himself and his buddies. His two top aides already have pleaded guilty to federal felonies. Now the feds are pursuing Sheriff Mike, his wife Deborah (Debbie 1) and the woman the feds describe as his longtime mistress, Debra Hoffman (Debbie 2). Sheriff Mike, who supposedly has described his penis to female companions as "Little Sheriff," has pleaded not guilty. He also points out that the charges emanate from "admitted felons." Of course they're admitted felons who used to be his closest friends, but, uh, never mind.
I’d like to nominate Rachel Paulose in the Best Scandal Local Venue Category.
We have no royalty in the United States of America, but that didn’t stop former United States Attorney Rachel Paulose from throwing herself a coronation at taxpayer expense, complete with a processional, a professional photographer, a color guard and a choir.
The circumstances of her hiring are still murky at best, Tom Heffelfinger was on the list to be fired, then he wasn’t, but resigned anyway. Rachel was meant to be a USA PATRIOT Act appointment but received the support of local senator Norm Coleman and benefited from her friendship with Monica Goodling.
Shortly after, her top four assistants demoted themselves due to her overbearing, overly religious management style. Later there were formal complaints filed about how she treated employees, including allegations of bigotry that, along with mishandling classified information, resulted in a formal investigation by the Department of Justice. She was finally removed, less than two years into her “reign” when a new crop of top assistants were threatening to resign.
The kicker for her nomination, though, has to be the defenders who claimed that she was forced from office because she was too aggressive pursuing human trafficking cases.
Jesus. A stable. Extravagant gifts. And three wise men -- OK, two men and a woman -- on a quest.
No, it's not the Story of Christmas. It's the tale of disgraced university president Richard Roberts, his wife Lindsay, and the evangelical Christian school founded in Tulsa by Richard's father, Oral Roberts.
Unlike his father, Richard has never had a midnight visitation from a 900-foot-tall Jesus. But according to the lawsuit filed by three recently dismissed ORU professors, Richard and his wife have been laying up worldly treasures for themselves. The allegations include misuse of ORU property for home remodeling projects (11 times in 14 years), use of the university jet for their daughter's senior trip to the Bahamas, a Mercedes convertible and Lexus SUV for Lindsay, and a stable of horses for their children.
It's not just about the benjamins. In 2005 Richard asked a professor to use university resources to aid a county commissioner's bid for Tulsa mayor. Up to 50 students allegedly worked on the campaign at Roberts' insistence, in violation of non-profit rules.
Dirty money and political muck, but no sex? Fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings that Lindsay Roberts, a member of ORU’s board of regents, “frequently had cell-phone bills of more than $800 per month, with hundreds of text messages sent between 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. to ‘underage males who had been provided phones at university expense.’" Blessed, it seems, is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
My nominee for best scandal-local venue is Florida State representative Bob Allen (R-Merrit Island).
In July Mr. Allen was arrested in a public bathroom in a park for offering a police officer $20 to allow him to fellatio him.
This is a man that lobbied for stronger penalties for public sex. In his defense, this was the statement he gave police:
”This was a pretty stocky black guy, and there was nothing but other black guys around in the park,” Allen, who is white, told police in a taped statement after his arrest. Allen said he feared he “was about to be a statistic” and would have said anything just to get away.
So in his defense he also manages to prove he is a racist, because after all hypocrisy is just not enough.
Best Scandal -- Sex and Generalized Carnality
I nominate former Young Republican National Federation Chairman Glenn Murphy for Best Scandal - Sex and Generalized Carnality. While most of his competition in this category was able to find (or pay for) willing sexual partners, this rising GOP star preferred to sexually assault unconscious acquaintances. After a night of drinking at a Young Republicans party, a 22-year old man awoke to find Mr. Murphy "doing things to his penis," according to the police report. Murphy - who was a major proponent of a proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage in Indiana - has not denied the allegations, but his lawyer insisted the sex was consensual. The victim and his sister told the police that Mr. Murphy had tried to dissuade them from reporting the incident. Mr. Murphy was charged with criminal deviate conduct, a class B felony; the trial will begin early next year. If convicted, Mr. Murphy could face a 20-year prison sentence.
Mr. Murphy resigned from his position with the Young Republican National Federation and stepped down from his role as chair of the Clark County (Indiana) GOP shortly after the investigation began. In his emails, he cited a special business opportunity that required him to resign from his partisan GOP positions.
The details of this case are shockingly similar to a similar report filed in 1998, when a 21-year old man reported that Mr. Murphy attempted to fellate him while he was sleeping. No charges were filed in the 1998 case.
I respectfully nominate the scandal surrounding former Washington state Rep. Richard Curtis, R-Vancouver, for Category 5, "Best Sex Scandal."
This scandal had a bit of everything: a hypocritical GOP legislator who had voted against gay marriage and civil rights, a low-life porn actor/hustler by the name of Cody Castagna, claims of extortion and a real life police sting, bizarre props (stethoscope?) and a flat out denial by Curtis to his local newspaper that was obliterated overnight by graphically detailed police reports.
I don't doubt that Senator Vitter has already been proposed for Dukes in Sex and Generalized Carnality and General Interest. His admission that he was a long-term patron of a DC bordello and response to allegations of patronizing others in Louisiana could even put him in the running for the Testimonial Trainwreck Duke. The segue from denying a multi-year dalliance in New Orleans to the water bill is priceless.
Then there was Vitter's attempt to pacify his religious base by earmarking $100,000 for a creationist group in Louisiana "to develop a plan to promote better science education." The group in question sends around an "addendum" to science textbooks which promotes the view that "the fossilization process requires a violent burial. …When the billions of fossils that are everywhere are considered in this light, the earth's history had some very violent floods in its past." Or just the one big flood, perhaps. He ultimately withdrew that earmark, denying "that its intention was to mandate and push creationism within the public schools" but withdrawing the earmark "to avoid more hysterics."
I have taken to thinking of Sen. Vitter as the "Vitteruvian man," one hand on the Bible, one in the public till, two arms draped over the shoulders of prostitutes, while under the table, his four legs are playing footsies with the girls and the religious right. I think he richly deserves his own Golden Duke.
The obvious choice has to be Larry Craig. If there where outstanding hypocrite of the year, he'd win that too (with Viter not too bar behind). The act itself is no big deal of course, two consenting adults, blah blah blah. But the fact that it comes from one of the driving forces of the anti-gay movement, plus his outspokenness during the Lewinsky era, plus his decision to back down from his resignation to the befuddlement of the GOP, qualifies for the best sex scandal of the year.
I humbly recommend recommend Florida State Representative Bob Allen for Best Scandal-Sex and Generalized Carnality division.
As you may remember, Rep. Bob Allen was arrested over the summer for offering a police officer $20, in return for which Rep. Allen would perform oral sex on the officer. Now, this alone is not worthy of a Golden Duke. But, what made this scandal so memorable was that Rep. Allen 1)asked the officer if it would make a difference that he was a state congressman, and 2) defended himself by saying, "This was a pretty stocky black guy, and there was nothing but other black guys around in the park," Allen, who is white, told police in a taped statement after his arrest. Allen said he feared he "was about to be a statistic" and would have said anything just to get away.Ihttp://thenewshole.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/08/04/304236.aspx
Anyone who either thinks that offering to pay for sexual favors is an appropriate response to fear of mugging, or thinks that saying you were merely overwhelmed by racist fears is an appropriate response to being arrrested in a sex scandal, certainly deserves an award for something.
Best Scandal -- General Interest
I think the General Interest Dukey should go to Ted Stephens [Sic.] and not Gonzalez. While Gonzalez has performed sterling work in the line of public corruption he has resigned without facing an imminent indictment or impeachment and thus disqualified himself for the top prize in such a highly contested year.
Ted Stephens [Sic.] on the other hand has continued despite a very strong probability of criminal indictment.
I think Ted Stevens’ fellow Alaskan Don Young is even more worthy of the ultimate prize.
Consider, while Stevens worked the system to his own benefit, he did so within the legislative process. Don’t get me wrong. What he did was wrong and probably illegal, but the government largesse paid to his contributors was, at least, a result of bona fide congressional action. Also, if I’m not mistaken, the beneficiaries where Stevens’ constituents in the formal sense of the word (i.e., they were also Alaskans). So, at least, he was serving people who sent him to the Senate.
Meanwhile, Young used his position as Chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee from 2000-2006 to procure an appropriation outside of the legislative process. That’s right, after a bill was voted on by both houses of congress, but before it hit the president’s desk, Young unilaterally inserted into the legislation a multi million dollar payoff to a campaign contributor. It’s as if Young thinks of the US Treasury as his personal checking account and already passed legislation as his blank checks. Further, the recipient of this extra legal action wasn’t nominally a constituent and the appropriation itself had nothing what so ever to do with the well being of Alaskans (even corrupt, big money Alaskans like Bob Penney).
I think these facts make Young’s corruption an order of magnitude more malodorous than Stevens’ and I urge the judges to weigh them carefully.
Best Scandal -- General Interest: Senator Larry Craig. Accused of soliciting a cop in the Minnopolis mensroom stall. He has become the joke among the comedians and TV shows. He has certainly educated the public to the words "wide stance" and "foot tapping."
I'm sorry, but Alberto Gonzales wins here - hands down. This was the Big Bush Scandal with the face of Gonzales. He personifies all that is wrong with this administration. Personifies is the wrong word, as he became a caricature, a cartoon, of himself the longer this thing went on. And go on and on it did. Where else do you get a nickname like "Fredo"? The "I don't recall" moments and the perplexed, angry looks of the Committee were there for the world to see. What makes him so great is that he was so inept, so shallow and transparent. Think of the cast of characters that backed him up - Lurita Doan, that blond woman, whose name I can't recall and the rest of the Department liars. The whole cast of lying liars, all for the benefit of the Cartoon General.
I understand wanting to deflect responsibility down to underlings, especially if you're a loyal Bushie. However, for the purpose of this contest, the jury should not be distracted by shiny things. Indeed, it is not only that the testimonial trainwrecks and improbable forgetfulnesses were enabled by George W. Bush, but rather, George W. Bush commanded his underlings to behave in this way on his behalf.
In fact, George W. Bush ought to win every category. Is there anything more improbable than Bush "forgetting" about the NIE? But if, as with the Canne Film Festival, you have some rule about not giving more than one prize to a candidate, I would have to say that George W. Bush deserves the highest possible accolades.
