Where do they FIND these idiots? Honestly, you don't get that kind of stupidity off-the-rack. The must be scraping the bottom with a hammer and cold chisel!

If you are a contractor who has been turned down after meeting with the Secretary of HUD...

COME FORWARD NOW!!!!

Although if HUD is at all smart, the secretary was on the phone all day yesterday offering him so many contracts, that he cannot find the time to talk to reporters.

Much like Bush's plan to reduce our dependence on foreign oil in the SotU was "just an example".

They don't sell a pair of waders big enough for how deep it's starting to get. Why is it that, no matter how bad things get, the mainstream media still can't seem to utter the word "liar"?

Why don't the members of the main stream media ever utter the word "liar?"

Because it would be intemperate. Genteel people simply don't do such things.

Besides, we're a nation at war.

And 9/11 changed everything!

According to Republicans it was the lying that should have gotten Clinton removed from his office. This guys just lied so using their logic, shouldn't he be removed from office?

The thing that amazed me the most about the original DBJ article was the number of highly-placed idiots who felt that Jackson's actions were not only defensible, but legitimate.

"Jackson is right; what possessed the contractor to criticize the president in a business setting? But what possessed Jackson to say he's not going to complete the business transaction?" Jillson said.

"Jillson" being Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, which apparently doesn't include the First Amendment in its curricula. Perhaps it was removed to make room for Blame the Victim 101.

Rod Bailey with The Staubach Co., who put the REEC event together, said Jackson was simply telling it like it is.

"It's politics at its finest," he said. "If you talk to other government officials, they would have similar stories. The same thing holds true in business. If you don't like Roger Staubach, you're not going to work at The Staubach Co."

The difference being that the Staubach Co. is presumably owned by Roger Staubach, serves its stockholders or owner(s) rather than the general public, and doesn't have a charter specifically enshining freedom of speech for its members.

Which, of course, the USA does.

Unless this country turned into the United States of Bush (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bush family) when I wasn't looking, of course. In which case I am totally in the wrong, and may expect to be righteously and legally "disappeared" for lèse majesté at any moment.

Sounds like Jackson is testing the waters for a new policy. "Loyalty oaths must accompany all request for government grants."

Whether or not Jackson's cautionary tale is based on a true incident really doesn't matter; his message is clearly directed toward anyone hoping to do business with HUD in the future: they had better have proof of "loyalty" to the Republican Party, preferably in the form of a big, fat check.

You know times are bad for our government when spokespeople, the ones paid to paint things in the best light, believe the lesser of two evils is lying [knowingly and without cause or prompting].