Any reasonable top ten list of the greatest management disasters of the past 20 years would have to include Arthur Andersen, Bear Sterns, and the Iraq Coalition Provisional Authority. Let’s take at a look at who is running in the Republican primary for the New York Senate:
Mr. DioGuardi, who served 22 years as an accountant with Arthur Andersen before running for Congress, said that Ms. Gillibrand lacked his financial expertise.
David Malpass, president of Encima Global and a former chief economist at Bear Stearns, has filed paperwork to run for US Senate in New York.
Dan Senor, who served as a senior adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority.
Why not cut to the chase and nominate Bernie Madoff?
(h/t PBS)
Bootlegger
Brownie’s not available? He’s Shemp by the way.
freelancer
What’s Doug Feith up to these days?
scav
& Ken Lay’s technically not available.
eric
The only thing that could top that is the law and order ticket of Abramoff/Kerik ’12 for the White House. Now we know why shame was not one of the deadly sins. Sheesh.
Mojotron
Former AG Al Gonz for the
trifecta4th man off the benchChris
Well, in all fairness, in today’s GOP, you’re not a professional unless you’ve fucked something up, preferably by seizing its profits for yourself and your friends.
And the New York/collection-of-miscreants connection reminds me of the classic cable-pirate-catching scam from the ’80s: trick the people you want to catch into identifying themselves (“Hey, my cable’s not working!”/”We’ll send someone right over, then.”), and then sic law enforcement after them. I assume this is what the Republican senate primary is designed to do: catch a bunch of people who’ve gotten away with substantial public crimes, get them all together, and give them what they deserve.(/dream)
DougJ
@scav:
He died of a broken heart, you know.
Nellcote
Anyone have insight into why Bloomberg doesn’t like Gillibrand?
freelancer
@DougJ:
That’s mere speculation, or so I’ve been responsibly told.
DougJ
@Nellcote:
Update/downstate divide. She doesn’t answer to him, he wants someone who does.
scav
@DougJ: sigh, yes. If only his heart-warming story provided inspirational to others of his ilk.
robertdsc
I don’t understand what the fuss is about. She’s pretty good for a freshman Senator. Why do people hate so much?
NobodySpecial
@scav:
Ken who?
Annie
I nominate Mrs. Bernie Madoff…After all, she claims she didn’t know anything…which clearly qualifies her for a Republican seat.
Shygetz
This brings about a question that I’ve never answered…in a primary field like this, why doesn’t a regular, nondescript guy run? The slogan writes itself: “Vote for Steve–he’s the only nominee that hasn’t screwed up a multi-billion dollar enterprise.”
dr. bloor
@Shygetz:
NY doesn’t have any Republicans that fit your description.
MattR
@dr. bloor:
fixed
MoeLarryAndJesus
Using Three Stooges references on message boards – wish I’d thought of that!
I think George Steinbrenner should run. He’s a convicted criminal with a Nixonian past and he’s lost his marbles, so he’s a Repiglican wet dream. He can sit next to Bunning and they can share baseball stories while drooling on each other.
hamletta
But you’re thinking that people knew what was going on in the Green Zone.
Jesus, I read that guy’s reporting in real time. It was in the WaPo, but it came out at the same time as the Abu Ghraib story with all the gruesome pictures.
He’s a really great writer, and there were all these Heritage Foundation rejects and nepotismites sent over to Iraq to set up an economy for an already sophisticated society.
You had 24-year-olds telling these middle-aged guys how to set up their very fucking society, as if it didn’t exist already.
It was great, stellar, brilliant reporting. In that way that reports just the facts, ma’am, but belies the greater story.
I haven’t seen the movie, but I’ll be kinda disappointed if it doesn’t portray the stupid. Because it was massive.
calling all toasters
I smell an opportunity for Harold Ford.
Mike in NC
@freelancer:
Not to mention Paul Bremer. That guy was one strapping young buck, with those power suits and desert boots!
TenguPhule
Lacks the cock sucking experience though.
b-psycho
@TenguPhule: You sure about that? Why else would someone run a billion dollar ponzi scheme?
NHCt
In fairness to Mr. Father of the Idol Judge, but his stint at Arthur Anderson ended in 1985, long before the company went over to the dark side. Not that he’s got any chance of beaten the senator (who I find a litte foxy), but we should tar him with stuff that he actually has any remote responsibility for.
Keith
Alan Keyes is missing from all of this.
Michael
FTW.
TenguPhule
Obviously Mr. Madoff had to buy expensive blowjobs from someone else.
Brian J
If Malpass were to discuss his possible failings at Bear Stearns and what he thinks the government needs to do to regulate the financial system, he could be a credible candidate. If he were legitimately interested in brokering a compromise and using his background in order to help that along in a positive way, he’d stand out from pretty much every other Republican out there, but that might make getting the nomination an issue.
The fact that he’s running because he feels Wall Street has been unfairly demonized shows a level of tone deafness that might be unsurpassed in recent years.
TomG
Well, between these candidates and Rick Lazio for governor, the state will be in great hands……
.
.
.
won’t it ?
Brian J
@TomG:
State Republicans are supposedly trying to woo Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, a Democrat, to run for governor.
If that’s not a sign that they don’t view Lazio as a weakling, I don’t know what is.
tworivers
Bob Dylan prophesied Dan Senor’s run for office:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLEw3noRXNc