Novak Decries Criticisms Against Wolfowitz As ‘A Left-Wing Conspiracy’
Novak Decries Criticisms Against Wolfowitz As ‘A Left-Wing Conspiracy’
The right-wing is rallying around World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz by claiming that his critics disagreed with his anti-corruption agenda. Today, American Enterprise Institute scholar Kevin Hassett writes, “Wolfowitz’s One Sin Was Waging War on Corruption.”
This weekend on Bloomberg Television, conservative pundit Robert Novak went further, saying it was “a left-wing conspiracy to get rid of him.” Novak argued that critics simply want to replace an American with a European. He then chided columnist Margaret Carlson, telling her, “I bet you you want to get the Americans out too, so your European buddies can be as corrupt as they wanna be.” Watch it:
Countering public corruption is a serious issue that unites progressives and conservatives. Fighting it requires moral, competent leaders — qualities which Wolfowitz lacks.
The question hanging over Wolfowitz’s head is whether a man who has made countering public corruption his top agenda item can continue effectively in his post when it has been revealed that he engaged in the type of act he is seeking to end. “Your credibility as a leader in the fight against corruption…is certainly harmed if there’s a perception” of actions inconsistent with good governance, said Frank Vogl, cofounder of the watchdog group Transparency International.
This weekend, a group of 42 former top World Bank executives wrote:
For the Bank to succeed, it must be effective, especially on matters of good governance which Mr. Wolfowitz rightly emphasized as crucial to poverty reduction. What staff objected to was not the principle — which they applauded. Rather it was that the policy was implemented with no consultation, and little transparency or apparent consistency.
Nobody faults Wolfowitz for trying to fight corruption. They have issues with him engaging in it.
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Oh no, not another conspiracy theory!
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:24 pmNovack, dude, the left wing ain’t f*cking Ms Riza and get her a ridiculous salary, Wolfie is.
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:25 pmSo, when the guy who is targeting corruption is, himself, corrupt-when he is caught being corrupt and can not explain away his corruption as something not-corrupt and misunderstood-how successful will he be in fighting corruption?
I hope I’m wrong, but I’m assuming nobody asked Novakua that question.
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:27 pmSo we know how Rove spent the weekend now that all the mouthpieces are out with the latest, looney talking points. Novak, Broder, Bush, etc.
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:27 pmNovak is absolutely correct.
Reality, as Steven Colbert famously observed, has a pronounced liberal bias. No doubt there are many people out there who wish Wolfowitz to pay for his misdeeds. As these people are corroborating on a shared goal, it is, by definition, a conspiracy. As these people are not rabid neocon pukes, labeling them as ‘left-wing’ is entirely accurate.
Thanks, Robbie, for making that clear.
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:27 pmlet’s jump in mr. peabody’s wayback machine and look at the reaction when bush announced wolfie’s nomination on 16 march 2005… there wasn’t exactly dancing in the streets…
go away, wolfie… nobody wanted you two years ago and nobody wants you now – except george, that is…
And, yes, I DO take it personally
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:28 pmBUT…BUT…CLINTON!
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:28 pmconspiracy
1 : the act of conspiring together.
conspire
1 : to join in a secret agreement to do an unlawful or wrongful act or an act which becomes unlawful as a result of the secret agreement.
Hmm, that sounds like PNAC. Pointing out Wolfowitz’s unethical behavior is a “secret agreement”? How is sweet angel Wolfowitz ridding the World Bank of corruption if he is corrupt? I see a bunch of liberals with individual initiative who are sick of unethical and corrupt neocons. It’s all out in the open.
Try again, Novakula.
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:29 pmOkay, so this is really a Liberal “Mission Impossible” to get Wolfowitz who was cleaning up the World Bank and ruining the liberals’ access to untold and unaccountable funds. Wow, they are good! Convincing him to promote his girlfriend and force him to give her a big honking pay raise. . . . obviously, “I’m willing to pimp for the GOP” Novak is on to a REALLY big story. How does he do it?
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:35 pmLet me get this straight … when Liberals proclaim the great Right Wing Conspiracy, they’re laughed at …
When Conservatives proclaim the great Left Wing Conspiracy, they get air time …..
Liberal Media indeed
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:36 pmNote to Novak. RE: Left-wing conspiracy:
Yup – the left is conspiring to end the corrupt, damaging, expensive career of an ineffective and incompetent right-wing facist. And your point is..?
Sheesh.
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:37 pmScrew the salary. Why does wolfie’s best girl, a lybian born saudi raised British subject have a Top Secret US security clearance?
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:40 pmNo, his critics are against his corruption.
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:42 pmI saw a video of Wolfowitz at a WB function. He was just another weak sister as are all the members of the Bush administration. He was so unimpressive as a speaker/person that I couldn’t help but speculate as to the number of cocks he sucked to get where he is today.
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:44 pms–t—r—-e—–t——-c———h, *snap*
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:45 pmIs it a fair assessment that by insisting that all of the crtiticism of Wolfowitz is driven by bizarre and irrational motives, and NOT by a genuine concern for corruption in public officials, that Novak condones the favortism shown to Wolfowitz’s girlfirend?
I think that’s a fair assessment.
WHY does anybody still pay attention to this guy? What exactly does a right-wing pundit have to do to lose credibility?
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:46 pm“I bet you you want to get the Americans out too, so your European buddies can be as corrupt as they wanna be.â€
That’s it. I’m moving to France.
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:47 pmFools attract fools.Corrupt people attract corrupt people.Novak supporting a corrupt attorney is nothing new.
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:48 pmWe need strong leaders especially in area of poverty reduction. If the system itself is corrupt, how on earth can we expect those receiving advice from leaders that are corrupt, to not be? Eliminating global poverty should be a primary goal for the US, as a measure of national security and as a humanitarian. Get this john out of here, this is prostitution.
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:48 pmSo the scandal of passing big salary to his girl started with ‘Liberals’.!!!
What world these people living in?!!
The scandal is nobody’s work by Wolfowitz..and the punishment should be paid by him,as a result of his own act.
And what Liberals has to do with him passing the buck to his girl?!
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:56 pmWrong! Critics AGREE with his anticorruption agenda. He is corrupt and should be FIRED!!!
April 23rd, 2007 at 1:08 pmDon’t you people understand Wolfowitz’s job is to eliminate poverty…he just started with his girlfriend.
The rabid zionist over at AEI want Wolfowitz in as president of the WB so he can fund projects in Israel. Hell, it’s expensive to build a wall around a country!
April 23rd, 2007 at 1:15 pmWhy isn’t Novac in jail for outing an undercover CIA operative?
Who cares what that TRAITOR says?
Tool
April 23rd, 2007 at 1:18 pmInteresting articles regarding other factors, other than Riza, why World Bank staff want Wolfowitz to be done.
Over time, Wolfowitz created an impression that at key moments, he was putting U.S. foreign policy interests first, most notably when he suspended a program in Uzbekistan after the country denied landing rights to U.S. military aircraft, and when he directed huge amounts of aid to countries he once recruited for the Bush administration’s counterterrorism agenda.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/14/MNGHNP8M941.DTL&feed=rss.news
Under beleaguered President Paul D. Wolfowitz, the World Bank may be scaling back its long-standing support for family planning, which many countries consider essential to women’s health and the fight against AIDS.
In an internal e-mail, the bank’s team leader for Madagascar indicated that one of two managing directors appointed by Wolfowitz ordered the removal of all references to family planning from a document laying out strategy for the African nation. And a draft of the bank’s long-term health program strategy overseen by the same official makes almost no mention of family planning, suggesting a wider rollback may be underway.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-worldbank19apr19,1,1317976.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
April 23rd, 2007 at 1:19 pm“Screw the salary. Why does wolfie’s best girl, a lybian born saudi raised British subject have a Top Secret US security clearance?
Comment by Klyde — April 23, 2007 @ 12:40 pm”
Because in truth she is an Israeli agent and when she gets caught we can blame Libya (she was born there) and bomb them to get to their oil, ala Iraq.
April 23rd, 2007 at 1:44 pm“a left-wing conspiracy to get rid of him.†…
It’s a “left-wing conspiracy” to you because you’re a right-wing nut.
April 23rd, 2007 at 1:54 pmWith the exploding scandals at the Justice Department and the World Bank enveloping his administration, President Bush voiced “full confidence” in Alberto Gonzales and Paul Wolfowitz this week. But as history has shown, there is no more certain confirmation of the criminality, ethical-wrong doing or imminent departure of a Bush team player than the President’s expression of confidence in him.
For the details, see:
April 23rd, 2007 at 2:16 pm“President Bush, Confidence Man.”
Strong words coming from someone so irrelevent.
April 23rd, 2007 at 2:20 pmAnd I suppose the current and former World Bank executives are also part of this vast “left-wing conspiracy to get rid of him”?
As usual, there is no actual defending Wolfowitz on his merits, or denying the allegations, but smears on his critics.
Novak is an idiot. Not that it’s news…
April 23rd, 2007 at 2:22 pmIs Novak for real? Why does anyone listen to him He is a Right Wing Nut. Wolfie should be fired and his girlfriend should have to give that $61,000 raise back. END OF STORY.
April 23rd, 2007 at 2:23 pmIdiot, liar, traitor, freak…can Bob Novak even be considered human?
April 23rd, 2007 at 2:43 pmNovak = Retarded, stoned Bullfrog.
CROAK!
April 23rd, 2007 at 2:50 pmThe classic neo-con dodge. Announce loudly that you are attacking corruption – when your own corruption is exposed, yell that you are being attacked because of your anti-corruption campaign, conveniently ignoring the log in your own eye. Then when you’re in so deep that you can’t get out, claim that everyone does it.
Finally, blame Bill Clinton and threaten to blackmail Karl and/or George to keep your job.
April 23rd, 2007 at 3:12 pmYep, I’ll bet all those World Bank employees (the ones wearing the blue ribbons) are all left wingers who are trying to get old Wolf out of his office because he’s so effective on combatting corruption in the World Bank. I would be willing to bet that old Wolf is probably at the center of any corruption in the World Bank.
I weep for what we have become.
April 23rd, 2007 at 4:06 pmDrug-test these pundits!!!!
April 23rd, 2007 at 4:51 pmFrom the article
“American Enterprise Institute scholar?”
Is this even possible?
April 23rd, 2007 at 6:55 pmHow did Wolfie get to be President of the World Bank?
April 23rd, 2007 at 7:56 pmBy flying $9 billion in $100 bills over to Iraq on pallets so he could “jump start” the Iraq economy. Nearly all of the $9 billion went missing, and Wolfie single handedly funded the insurgency.
His reward? President of the World Bank courtesy of George Bush.
How does a technical incompetent, an idiot beyond belief get fat cat jobs?
Hey out there, is anybody awake?
Is exposing and irrational incompetent a conspiracy?
NOVAK IS FRUITCAKE PERSONIFIED.
Time to move on Mr. Wolfowitz, time to move on; can anyone say neocon pond …
April 23rd, 2007 at 8:49 pmBush Administration is corrupt. Bush says he has full confidence in Gonzales and that Gonzales never testified/admitted any wrong doing. Now that in a nutshell says alot. Translatted Gonzales did some wrongdoing he just never addmitted. Whats worse, Bush didn’t see Gonzales testify so he didnt see all of the “I don’t recalls.”
Actually as long as Gonzales stay in office, he will remind the American public of the stench coming from the White House. I am ashamed i ever voted for Bush
He needs to be IMPEACHED now rather than later. Dont forget Shotgun Cheney.
April 23rd, 2007 at 9:54 pmNovak is the mummified remains of…
…Goebbels…
…when the sun shines down on him…
…he’ll disintegrate into dust…
…again…
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