This nomination adds insult to incompetence"- Kerry blocks Bush pick

[papau]

Rick Klein of the Boston Globe on Sen. Kerry slamming the ex-Big Dig boss who has been tapped by President Bush to run the Federal Highway Commission.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/03/16/kerry_blocks_bush_pick_for_top_us_highway_job/

"This nomination adds insult to incompetence. I have a bad feeling that Richard Capka could be to highways what George Tenet is to slam dunk intelligence, what Dick Cheney is to visionary energy policy, and what Donald Rumsfeld is to prewar planning.'"

Kerry blocks Bush pick for top US highway job
Ties cost overruns to ex-Big Dig boss
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | March 16, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Senator John F. Kerry is blocking the White House nomination of fired Big Dig project manager J. Richard Capka to head the Federal Highway Administration, calling him a symbol of the Bush administration's ''incompetence" in managing federal agencies.

The Massachusetts Democrat announced yesterday that he was using the Senate custom of placing a ''hold" to block Capka from the post indefinitely. He equated Capka's selection with President Bush's choice of Michael Brown to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency; Brown was roundly criticized and ridiculed for his agency's botched response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

''We can't afford any more mismanagement and incompetence in Washington," Kerry said in a prepared statement. ''Unless we put a stop to this administration's stunning pattern of rewarding people who screw up, I'm afraid Richard Capka could become the 'Brownie' of highways."<snip>

Capka was hired as the Big Dig's project director in December 2000, and was soon criticized for failing to get a handle on spiraling costs at the massive construction project. Others lambasted him for backing million-dollar, six-month severance contracts for three lawyers who were involved with the project -- deals that he later acknowledged were mistakes.<snip>

Capka ''didn't do anything to deal with the then-still-escalating costs," Aloisi said. ''When he was here, he was in my judgment an exceedingly weak and ineffective manager, to the point of incompetence."<snip>

[sharp_stick]

1. Nice Statement by Kerry

"This nomination adds insult to incompetence. I have a bad feeling that Richard Capka could be to highways what George Tenet is to slam dunk intelligence, what Dick Cheney is to visionary energy policy, and what Donald Rumsfeld is to prewar planning.'"

Why, oh why coudn't he talk like this when he was running for President? He tried to be nice to the republican scumbags and look where that got us.

[papau]

4. I agree - this was the best phrase he has put out in 2 years.

Indeed it should be part of the the "incompetance" item on the Dem 06 Contract with America.

:-)

I also liked :

Sen. Harken: "We have a President who likes to break things. He has broken the federal budget, running up $3 trillion in new debt. He has broken the Geneva Conventions, giving the green light to torture. He has repeatedly broken promises – and broken faith – with the American people. And now, worst of all, he has broken the law."

just replace "President" with "Republican Party".

[Demit]

5. Still too wordy. One analogy would've made a great soundbite/meme.

I pick the Rumsfeld one as most damning. Oh well. Wishful thinking. Kerry is what he is.

[FSogol]

2. "to the point of incompetence"? What is the Bush Administration?

:-)

[acmejack]

3. I smell recess appointment!

* will simply say "Fuck you!" as he always does, isn't Congress just about to go on one of it's innumerable breaks?

Perhaps if they actually spent sometime addressing our nations problems, vice renaming post offices, raising their pay and making speeches honoring international whatever day we'd actually address some of the people's problems. No, they would add to them and stack the deck a bit more in the corporation's favor.

Silly me...

[savemefromdumbya]

6. Kerry should pick at Bush at every opportunity

hold Bush accountable for everything