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Ear to the Ground

Rep. Emanuel Makes Satirical Mincemeat of White House Salaries

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Posted on Jul 12, 2006

Responding to a recently published list of White House salaries—including $100,000 a year for the “director for lessons learned,” Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) ran through a few “lessons” the White House apparently missed.

  • Money quote: “When you’ve ‘turned the corner’ in Iraq more times than Danica Patrick at the Indy 500, it means you are going in circles.”

  • Chicago Tribune:

    Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) has taken a recent report on White House salaries and turned it into a sharp stick to poke in Republican eyes.

    Here’s a press release on Emanuel’s House floor speech.

    Emanuel on White House Director of Lessons Learned

    WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) released the following statement in advance of delivery on the House floor:

    “Mr. Speaker, yesterday the President said we continue to be wise about how we spend the people’s money.

    “Then why are we paying over $100,000 for a ‘White House Director of Lessons Learned’?

    “Maybe I can save the taxpayers $100,000 by running through a few of the lessons this White House should have learned by now.

    “Lesson 1: When the Army Chief of Staff and the Secretary of State say you are going to war without enough troops, you’re going to war without enough troops.

    “Lesson 2: When 8.8 billion dollars of reconstruction funding disappears from Iraq, and 2 billion dollars disappears from Katrina relief, it’s time to demand a little accountability.

    “Lesson 3: When you’ve ‘turned the corner’ in Iraq more times than Danica Patrick at the Indy 500, it means you are going in circles….”

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    By John Hall, July 12, 2006 at 2:17 pm Link to this comment
    (Unregistered commenter)

    Director of Lessons Learned? If that isn’t proof enough this administration isn’t Orwellian, I don’t know what is.

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    By felicity smith, July 12, 2006 at 1:47 pm Link to this comment
    (Unregistered commenter)

    Then there’s that august body, the Supreme Court.  The justices have cut their number of full decisions by more than half, from over 160 in 1945 to about 80 today.  During the same period they have QUADRUPLED their retinue of clerks - somebody has to write those decisions.  How else could Rehnquist have produced four books, Thomas have time to work on a $1.5 million memoir, or O’Connor who took twenty-eight paid trips in 2004 and published books in 2002, 2003, and 2005. Washington’s trees don’t bloom cherries, they bloom (our) money.

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