Another Predictable Republican...
April 27, 2007 4:35 PM Subscribe
Ambassador Randall Tobias informed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today that he must step down as Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and US Agency for International Development Administrator. The personal reason: "The director of US Foreign Assistance and USAID administrator, Ambassador Randall L. Tobias resigned today after his name showed up on prostitution client list. "
I'm having a hard time keeping it all straight: there's the Republicans sleeping with hookers, there's the ones texting teenage boys, there's the ones who are secretly gay, there's the ones with the three wives, there's the one who married his cousin, there's the ones who are blatantly corrupt, there's the ones who are undermining the principles of justice and separation of powers, and there's the ones who are driving the US bankrupt in a crazy war.
This post was deleted for the following reason: this is not what metafilter is for, gyob, please. -- jessamyn
Republicans = bad. Ok, got it.
posted by basicchannel at 4:42 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by basicchannel at 4:42 PM on April 27, 2007
We're all human regardless of political affiliation, and humans are into hookers, boys, polygamy, corruption, etc.. The Onion said it best.
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot at 4:42 PM on April 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot at 4:42 PM on April 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
Firas, are you suggesting that Clinton was impeached for being too vanilla? I think you could be on to something.
posted by nowonmai at 4:42 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by nowonmai at 4:42 PM on April 27, 2007
Yeah, that's the thing about Republicans, when they do something, they do it big. They are always raising the bar.
Corruption for example. Indiscretions for another.
They are very competitive that way. I expect the next one will be someone being caught with the dead body of their gay teenage prostitute in the trunk of his car.
posted by quin at 4:42 PM on April 27, 2007
Corruption for example. Indiscretions for another.
They are very competitive that way. I expect the next one will be someone being caught with the dead body of their gay teenage prostitute in the trunk of his car.
posted by quin at 4:42 PM on April 27, 2007
Editorialize much? Or just read about it in books? In other news, the weather is just grand.
posted by Eekacat at 4:43 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by Eekacat at 4:43 PM on April 27, 2007
Chinese Jet Pilot writes "humans are into hookers, boys, polygamy, corruption, etc."
I know I am...
What?
posted by brundlefly at 4:44 PM on April 27, 2007
I know I am...
What?
posted by brundlefly at 4:44 PM on April 27, 2007
As much as I think Republicans are the spawn of the devil, this would have probably made a better post on your blog.
posted by HuronBob at 4:44 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by HuronBob at 4:44 PM on April 27, 2007
GYOFB
posted by TungstenChef at 4:44 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by TungstenChef at 4:44 PM on April 27, 2007
I wish everyone would say "Who cares"? It would be nice if he'd decided to quit because he though he wasn't doing a good enough job.
I guess that's the divide in this country today: some of us don't care if politicians fuck consenting adults; others don't care if they fuck the country.
posted by phliar at 4:45 PM on April 27, 2007 [2 favorites]
I guess that's the divide in this country today: some of us don't care if politicians fuck consenting adults; others don't care if they fuck the country.
posted by phliar at 4:45 PM on April 27, 2007 [2 favorites]
"humans are into hookers, boys, polygamy, corruption, etc."
all at once?
posted by jonmc at 4:45 PM on April 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
all at once?
posted by jonmc at 4:45 PM on April 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
(also this is a shitty post. you're docked extra points for soiling the name of my favorite fictional character and role model)
posted by jonmc at 4:47 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by jonmc at 4:47 PM on April 27, 2007
I'm having a hard time keeping it all straight
You're not alone.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:48 PM on April 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
You're not alone.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:48 PM on April 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
all at once?
Whenever possible. Go big or go home.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 4:48 PM on April 27, 2007 [2 favorites]
Whenever possible. Go big or go home.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 4:48 PM on April 27, 2007 [2 favorites]
Any other sources besides some dude's blog?
posted by monju_bosatsu at 4:49 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by monju_bosatsu at 4:49 PM on April 27, 2007
monjo_bosatsu, get your head out of the sand, bloggers are the NEW MEDIA. What makes you think he wouldn't be totally and completely unbiased and ethical and accurate, relying only on first-hand accounts and original sources?
Also, LOL if this is true.
posted by Jimbob at 4:52 PM on April 27, 2007
Also, LOL if this is true.
posted by Jimbob at 4:52 PM on April 27, 2007
I think some context would've helped a LOT. Ironic quotes from GOP stalwarts right before they fell from grace... that sort of thing. Fuck, just watch Stewart...
posted by chuckdarwin at 4:54 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by chuckdarwin at 4:54 PM on April 27, 2007
That's it? I was hoping we'd see some more interesting people caught up in this when the list came out.
Plus, crap post. How do you even know if this guy is a republican? He sounds like a standard carrier diplomat. He also won an award for his work on AIDS. It's not like everyone in the government is a republican, you know.
Yeah, that's the thing about Republicans, when they do something, they do it big. They are always raising the bar.
How is this "big" He slept with a hooker. It's not that uncommon.
posted by delmoi at 4:58 PM on April 27, 2007
Plus, crap post. How do you even know if this guy is a republican? He sounds like a standard carrier diplomat. He also won an award for his work on AIDS. It's not like everyone in the government is a republican, you know.
Yeah, that's the thing about Republicans, when they do something, they do it big. They are always raising the bar.
How is this "big" He slept with a hooker. It's not that uncommon.
posted by delmoi at 4:58 PM on April 27, 2007
We're all human regardless of political affiliation
Uh yes, but some human is more human then others. If you do that, you get indicted, shown on front page as nazilesbianpedonurse, land in jail , lose affection of your friends and relatives .. in other words, you are a nice expendable example.
If a Rep/Dem/Younameit you had an "unfortunate accident", a slip of tongue you had when staying the course , check in some expensive hotel disguised as a clinic, find Christ again, write a book about how bad it was and another on how gullible people are...and with some luck you get voted up to President.
Double standards ?
posted by elpapacito at 4:58 PM on April 27, 2007
Uh yes, but some human is more human then others. If you do that, you get indicted, shown on front page as nazilesbianpedonurse, land in jail , lose affection of your friends and relatives .. in other words, you are a nice expendable example.
If a Rep/Dem/Younameit you had an "unfortunate accident", a slip of tongue you had when staying the course , check in some expensive hotel disguised as a clinic, find Christ again, write a book about how bad it was and another on how gullible people are...and with some luck you get voted up to President.
Double standards ?
posted by elpapacito at 4:58 PM on April 27, 2007
I wish everyone would say "Who cares"? It would be nice if he'd decided to quit because he though he wasn't doing a good enough job.
No matter how much I'd like to see the whole administration twist in the wind, I think this needs to be repeated.
posted by lekvar at 4:59 PM on April 27, 2007
No matter how much I'd like to see the whole administration twist in the wind, I think this needs to be repeated.
posted by lekvar at 4:59 PM on April 27, 2007
monju_bosatsu: Any other sources besides some dude's blog?
Exactly. So far this is just a rumor. (Although the resignation does seem pretty sudden.) Like others, my reaction is, "So what?" If the rumor is correct, that's between him and his wife.
I hadn't heard of Randall Tobias. It turns out he's the one who came up with the phrase putting the moose on the table. He's a former AT&T executive and Eli Lilly CEO. He is indeed a major Republican donor:
Exactly. So far this is just a rumor. (Although the resignation does seem pretty sudden.) Like others, my reaction is, "So what?" If the rumor is correct, that's between him and his wife.
I hadn't heard of Randall Tobias. It turns out he's the one who came up with the phrase putting the moose on the table. He's a former AT&T executive and Eli Lilly CEO. He is indeed a major Republican donor:
He and [Eli] Lilly have been major donors to the Republican Party. He gave $4,000 to Bush from 1999 to 2001, and he and his wife donated a total of $37,000 to the GOP and its state elections committee during that period. Lilly, meanwhile, gave another $23,000 to Bush's campaign in 2000 and spent $234,000 on direct mail to its stockholders on Bush's behalf, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.From a Washington Post story in 2003, when Tobias was selected to run Bush's AIDS initiative. Also includes the following quote:
More recently, he has endorsed another former senior Lilly executive, the White House's recently departed budget director, Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., for governor of Indiana, and is scheduled to host a $5,000-per-person dinner for him this month.
Sandra L. Thurman, who was director of the White House AIDS office in the Clinton administration and now is president of the International AIDS Trust, called Tobias's selection "good news." "This is clearly a person with tremendous stature and management acumen," Thurman said.posted by russilwvong at 5:05 PM on April 27, 2007
Randle, it's considered more polite to keep the commentary off the front page.... if you must editorialize, putting it in the first comment is usually a better idea.
Dunno about everyone else, but as thoroughly corrupt and evil as the current administration is, I don't particularly care who they sleep with. As long as everyone involved is adult and consents, their sex lives are their business.
posted by Malor at 5:06 PM on April 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
Dunno about everyone else, but as thoroughly corrupt and evil as the current administration is, I don't particularly care who they sleep with. As long as everyone involved is adult and consents, their sex lives are their business.
posted by Malor at 5:06 PM on April 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
Detailed review (PDF) of Put the Moose on the Table. Looks like Tobias didn't come up with the phrase himself:
As for the book’s eccentric title, Tobias has borrowed the term from David A. Nadler (Champions of Change), who borrowed it from Dennis Perkins (Leading at the Edge). Essentially, the term is an exhortation to stop ignoring the beastly issue stinking up the boardroom and address it openly and honestly before it runs completely amok.posted by russilwvong at 5:12 PM on April 27, 2007
Whenever possible. Go big or go home.
Sounds like they're doing both.
posted by jonmc at 5:16 PM on April 27, 2007
Sounds like they're doing both.
posted by jonmc at 5:16 PM on April 27, 2007
Lovely tags, too. Might show up in a cluster search some day.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:17 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:17 PM on April 27, 2007
Malor writes 'Dunno about everyone else, but as thoroughly corrupt and evil as the current administration is, I don't particularly care who they sleep with. As long as everyone involved is adult and consents, their sex lives are their business.'
Perhaps it's just me then, but when politicians are heading up HIV and AIDS prevention initiatives that insist they'll only fund programmes that insist on an abstinence-based approach, then I'm fairly interested to learn when they can't keep their dicks in their own pants.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 5:17 PM on April 27, 2007
Perhaps it's just me then, but when politicians are heading up HIV and AIDS prevention initiatives that insist they'll only fund programmes that insist on an abstinence-based approach, then I'm fairly interested to learn when they can't keep their dicks in their own pants.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 5:17 PM on April 27, 2007
Wow. A post bashing Republicans. AND the Republican party.
This is really breaking some new ground here.
posted by jason's_planet at 5:19 PM on April 27, 2007
This is really breaking some new ground here.
posted by jason's_planet at 5:19 PM on April 27, 2007
The editorializing I can do without though.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 5:19 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by PeterMcDermott at 5:19 PM on April 27, 2007
AB, YMFG
posted by fire&wings at 5:21 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by fire&wings at 5:21 PM on April 27, 2007
This post married its cousin and sleeps with hookers.
posted by found missing at 5:21 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by found missing at 5:21 PM on April 27, 2007
some of us don't care if politicians fuck consenting adultsThis is a rather narrow view of the situation.
I don't care if a politician fucks a hooker. And I bet that most of my fellow liberals don't, either.
But the Republicans have been screaming, at the top of their lungs, for years, that they represent Family! Decency! Morality!, and that Democrats and liberals are corrupting and immoral banes upon our society who will cause the downfall of our nation.
In fact, that has, essentially, been their platform: the issues, according to them, are things like YOU ARE IMMORAL!, rather than, um, issues.
So to portray this as "we shouldn't care about crap like this" is missing the actual reason why people do care: It puts a light on Republican hypocrisy.
And not just hypocrisy: rather, hypocrisy about the thing they scream the loudest about.
posted by Flunkie at 5:22 PM on April 27, 2007 [2 favorites]
I agree with PeterMcDermott -- it's not that I care about the sex lives, it's the blatant hypocrisy and "do what I say, not what I do" attitude.
posted by patricio at 5:23 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by patricio at 5:23 PM on April 27, 2007
It's on the internets it must be true.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 5:26 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 5:26 PM on April 27, 2007
who gives their real names when going to a prostitute anyway, was he looking for some sort of discount.
posted by kanemano at 5:30 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by kanemano at 5:30 PM on April 27, 2007
There's a difference in sex work culture between, say, streetwalkers and DC 'escorts'. The latter's managers definitely want your real damn name.
posted by Firas at 5:32 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by Firas at 5:32 PM on April 27, 2007
I think you have to give your real name when you use amex.
posted by found missing at 5:35 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by found missing at 5:35 PM on April 27, 2007
delmoi : How is this "big" He slept with a hooker. It's not that uncommon.
Because my subsequent hyperbole would not have had any humor value if I didn't try to sell it as a competitive race to the bottom.
In all honesty, I couldn't care less that he slept with a hooker. That's about the least offensive of the indiscretions these guys seem to leave office for.
posted by quin at 5:36 PM on April 27, 2007
Because my subsequent hyperbole would not have had any humor value if I didn't try to sell it as a competitive race to the bottom.
In all honesty, I couldn't care less that he slept with a hooker. That's about the least offensive of the indiscretions these guys seem to leave office for.
posted by quin at 5:36 PM on April 27, 2007
We're all human regardless of political affiliation
Actually, I'm less and less sure that politicians can be categorized exactly as "human". Aren't they some sort of branched-off species?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:38 PM on April 27, 2007
Actually, I'm less and less sure that politicians can be categorized exactly as "human". Aren't they some sort of branched-off species?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:38 PM on April 27, 2007
The editorializing I can do without though.
Not least of all because it's taking up too much space on the front page! Have a little consideration for the folks whose FPPs are getting prematurely bumped off the front page by your gaping extra spaces and droning paragraphs of editorializing!
And as a recent convert to mouseovers, I say:
use 'em!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:46 PM on April 27, 2007
Not least of all because it's taking up too much space on the front page! Have a little consideration for the folks whose FPPs are getting prematurely bumped off the front page by your gaping extra spaces and droning paragraphs of editorializing!
And as a recent convert to mouseovers, I say:
use 'em!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:46 PM on April 27, 2007
Actually, I'm less and less sure that politicians can be categorized exactly as "human". Aren't they some sort of branched-off species?
Nah, sadly, politicans (of all affiliations) are merely our lowest and slimiest subspecies. Those who have the hubris to believe that they are fit torulegovern need to be watched closely and if neccessary taken down a peg.
posted by jonmc at 5:49 PM on April 27, 2007
Nah, sadly, politicans (of all affiliations) are merely our lowest and slimiest subspecies. Those who have the hubris to believe that they are fit to
posted by jonmc at 5:49 PM on April 27, 2007
I have a lot of sympathy for politicians. Getting elected is ferociously, ferociously difficult. Staying elected is as well. I guess what I'm saying is that their 'actual' jobs aren't much more difficult than many high-pressure white collar jobs but they spend a lot of time justifying and juggling the media, constituents etc. that keep them in office. It's hell. I'm serious. You go try getting a bunch of diverse strangers to like you.
posted by Firas at 5:58 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by Firas at 5:58 PM on April 27, 2007
You go try getting a bunch of diverse strangers to like you.
Shit, I do that all the time, online and off. Maybe I should run for office. On second thought I have more skeletons in my closet than a hospital storage room. The drug use and naked pictures alone would disqualify me.
posted by jonmc at 6:02 PM on April 27, 2007
Shit, I do that all the time, online and off. Maybe I should run for office. On second thought I have more skeletons in my closet than a hospital storage room. The drug use and naked pictures alone would disqualify me.
posted by jonmc at 6:02 PM on April 27, 2007
my subsequent hyperbole would not have had any humor value if I didn't try to sell it as a competitive race to the bottom.
Is "race to the bottom" more or less normal-kinky like around the world, or is it serious kinky like a Cleveland steamer?
And... competitive? It's not a contest.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:06 PM on April 27, 2007
Is "race to the bottom" more or less normal-kinky like around the world, or is it serious kinky like a Cleveland steamer?
And... competitive? It's not a contest.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:06 PM on April 27, 2007
Looking at it again, it is kind of a crappy post. Sorry and thank you for the pushback. I should have slowed down to edit, cut the second graph and taken the time to provide some of Tobias' conservative political background, some context from his conflictual relationship with congress and the implications of the new "F process" for US foreign assistance, and specifically the irony (indeed perhaps hypocrisy) that under his leadership the PEPFAR HIV/AIDS initiative -- like many other agencies and programs in the Bush administration -- was increasingly politicized and specifically that he supported and implemented a policy requiring anyone who got USAID funding to sign a make a written pledge to oppose and criminalize commercial sex work, which the vast majority of organizations working on HIV/AIDS condemned as counterproductive and possibly anti-constitutional.
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 6:06 PM on April 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 6:06 PM on April 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
Well, I meant more by 'like' than "be personable." I meant having people not mind the skeletons, satisfying pressure groups diametrically opposed to each other, etc. People complain about politicians who don't "talk straight" but the fact of the matter is that unpolished straight talkers don't tend to get elected.
Anyway, I don't feel like saying much more about the matter, but one just needs to read a few campaign memoirs to see how incredibly smart you have to be, how wrenchingly bizarre these things are. Politicking is insanely difficult.
posted by Firas at 6:08 PM on April 27, 2007
Anyway, I don't feel like saying much more about the matter, but one just needs to read a few campaign memoirs to see how incredibly smart you have to be, how wrenchingly bizarre these things are. Politicking is insanely difficult.
posted by Firas at 6:08 PM on April 27, 2007
Josh Marshall's ex-protege has more. Looks like that lone blogger might have been right.
posted by etaoin at 6:24 PM on April 27, 2007
posted by etaoin at 6:24 PM on April 27, 2007
And from ABC:
As the Bush administration's so-called "AIDS czar," Tobias was criticized for emphasizing faithfulness and abstinence over condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS.
posted by etaoin at 6:28 PM on April 27, 2007
As the Bush administration's so-called "AIDS czar," Tobias was criticized for emphasizing faithfulness and abstinence over condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS.
posted by etaoin at 6:28 PM on April 27, 2007
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posted by Firas at 4:38 PM on April 27, 2007 [2 favorites]