Firedoglake hosted a blog chat yesterday with Andrew Cockburn, author of Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall and Catastrophic Legacy. Here are some quotes:I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what, if anything, Rumsfeld believes in. The answer seems to be: very little, apart from an overriding desire to dominate each and every human encounter. Otherwise it has been hard to detect any thread of principle. And:
Well of course there was no transformation [of the military], at least not in any positive sense. His major legacy, apart of course from the wreckage inflicted on the army and marines thanks to Iraq, has been to let the budget spiral completely out of control, so that at a time when the Social Security and Medicare bills come due in a big way, we will find ourselves committed to footing the bill for defense obligations -- i.e., weapons programs -- that are militarily irrelevant and years late in entering service. Cockburn also suggests that it might not be wise for Dapper Don to visit Europe any time soon.
And the problem isn’t easily controlled. Dysfunction at the top tends to infect an organization. When the boss is disagreeable, disagreeableness spreads. Sutton and others see assholicness as a disease vector. “There’s powerful evidence from longitudinal studies that if you’re around jerky people you’ll become like them if you don’t leave,” Sutton tells me. “Specifically, studies show that if you work for a bully boss, you will become a bully.
“Being an asshole,” he says flatly, “is a contagious disease.”
more firedoglake -
"Yes, indeed, nothing like having a President who thinks physical abasement of the press is amusing, and a press corps that sees nothing wrong with being the butt of his jokes over and over again. It's an odd dynamic, isn't it?"
|
Firedoglake hosted a blog chat yesterday with Andrew Cockburn, author of Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall and Catastrophic Legacy. Here are some quotes:And:Cockburn also suggests that it might not be wise for Dapper Don to visit Europe any time soon.
- tom moody 4-09-2007 4:49 pm
And the problem isn’t easily controlled. Dysfunction at the top tends to infect an organization. When the boss is disagreeable, disagreeableness spreads. Sutton and others see assholicness as a disease vector. “There’s powerful evidence from longitudinal studies that if you’re around jerky people you’ll become like them if you don’t leave,” Sutton tells me. “Specifically, studies show that if you work for a bully boss, you will become a bully.
“Being an asshole,” he says flatly, “is a contagious disease.”
- dave 4-09-2007 5:03 pm
more firedoglake -
"Yes, indeed, nothing like having a President who thinks physical abasement of the press is amusing, and a press corps that sees nothing wrong with being the butt of his jokes over and over again. It's an odd dynamic, isn't it?"
- dave 4-09-2007 5:06 pm