The Unreal World of Paul and Shaha

The Paul Wolfowitz saga just continues to get weirder and weirder. I guess once you become a Washington insider, you basically live a charmed, unreal, untouchable life. It is so far removed from the reality most of us face, it astounds me.

I don't even want to go into his Iraq connection. That alone is enough that he should be deported to some lonely hot baren island for the rest of his life. So the White House decides they've got to get rid of him and he lands this sweet gig at the World Bank, despite objections from just about the entire world. They pay him $375,000 a year and he gets to work with his girlfriend, Shaha Riza, again. What does he do? He promotes her and gives her a $6000 raise. All I could think is that she must take all four inches really, really deep to deserve this. Then I took a look at her picture! Sheesh! If he's going to commit political and professional suicide for a woman, you'd think he would at least find himself a trophy babe. Maybe Libyan women know some special "secrets" that really turn Wolfie on!

Of course just today Tony Snow announced that Wolfowotz will has the full backing and support of the Bush Administration. And remember, Donald Rumsfeld was the greatest Secretary of Defense this country has ever seen! They just roll in the bull they spew out.

Everybody else calls for his head and he realizes everyone hates him so much there's really not much reason for him to try and hold onto this job. It turns out his agreement with the world bank guarantees his salary even if he gets fired or resigns. Yep. How many of us have anything close to that in our jobs? You get fired, and you're lucky to get two weeks. You resign, and that's it!

Well, Wolfowitz is now "negotiating" his resignation. What? Again, in the real world you don't negotiate leaving a job. And if you try, heck, they can always just fire your ass. This is exactly what the World Bank should do with Wolfowitz - and forget the money. Let him take them to court. Ridiculous!

Apparently what he's after is some admission from the World Bank that they are somehow also responsible for how screwed up it is. The ultimate hubris is to refuse to admit anything is your fault. And that's just what Wolfowitz is doing. I'll quit, but only if you tell everyone it's not my fault. Your forced me to give my sweetie a raise! I wouldn't have done it if the World Bank wasn't run so poorly. Give me a freakin' break!

Go away, Paul, and take Shaha with you!