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You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / And so it goes and so it goes and so it goes

And so it goes and so it goes and so it goes

by | 47 Comments

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It’s all in the game (via):

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is a partner in a lobbying firm that works for AshBritt, the giant Florida debris-removal company. He’s also a big backer of Gov. Chris Christie.

After Hurricane Sandy, Barbour played matchmaker. Christie quickly hired AshBritt to help clear New Jersey’s storm-ravaged coastline.

Barbour might think that qualifies him to shoot down the criticism of Christie’s AshBritt deal. On the contrary: It renders his critique uniquely ridiculous.

Reader Interactions

47Comments

  1. 1.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    On the contrary: It renders his critique uniquely ridiculous.

    And therefore totally credible in the only circles that matter… to them…

  2. 2.

    PurpleGirl

    Good ole crony capitalism… while in office, one should always help one’s friends to make profit.

  4. 4.

    jharp

    I honestly don’t recall as juicy of a scandal as this.

    Obviously Nixon’s was worse but can one of you smarter than me post where this one ranks?

    Thanks in advance.

  6. 6.

    Roger Moore

    BTW, that editorial is almost a year old, so this stuff is not exactly news. I guess Barbour is still defending Christie, so it’s worth bringing up again, but it’s not exactly a recent revelation.

  7. 7.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I’m sure Haley Barbour will have to address this when he makes one of this daily appearances on EvenTheLiberalMSNBC to spew seven to eight minutes of unchallenged, almost uninterrupted Southern-fried good ol’ boy demagoguery. Andrea Mitchell will lay on a righteous smack down! Take it to the bank.

  9. 9.

    Tommy

    I think I was 4. I came out of a tumbling class.Gymanstics. Leavenworth Kansas. Mom was crying. I didn’t understand. John Lennon had been killed. It was one of those things. It is one of the few times I recall the second where I was when I learned of something. Always heard this:

    http://youtu.be/n6j4TGqVl5g

  11. 11.

    Tommy

    @John Cole: I’ve never watched the Wire; I know. I know. Just not done it. I would like to start from the start and alas I need to get me some Netflix.

  12. 12.

    BruceFromOhio

    I need bodies gotten rid of, I call a guy I know that can get of rid of bodies. What’s the big deal? Somebody’s gotta clean all this shit up, might as well cut in another member of the tribe.

  13. 13.

    Fuzzy

    Bobby Jindel and Chis Christie should co-author a manual “Disaster for Dummies”. By the time it’s over I bet more corruption will be exposed from Sandy than Katrina. The Jersey Boyz learned from the Nawlins mob that guvment contractors have no oversight and are untouchable. “Treme” even spelled out the process.

  14. 14.

    Keith P

    @Tommy: You should youtube the “Fuck!” scene some time. It’s several minutes of two characters investigating a crime scene saying nothing but “Fuck” with various inflections. Genius.

  17. 17.

    joel hanes

    @jharp:

    Iran-Contra was much, much juicier. From memory :

    + Congress specifically prohibits spending money on Contras
    + rogue actors in US Gov’t sell US armaments to our officially-designated terrorist enemies in Iran to create a slush fund not controlled by Congressional appropriation, in defiance of the Constitution. Bizarre role played by Rumsfeld.
    + slush fund and CIA used to set up separate paramilitary, private to Executive Department, in defiance of the Constitution
    + that private paramilitary force runs amok, murdering many thousands of innocent civilians, rapes nuns before murdering them
    + additional funding may have come from cocaine trafficing by US gov’t actors
    + Congressional investigation successfully stonewalled; chain of evidence leads to doors of Bill Casey and GHW Bush and stops.
    + Those doors remain locked; Congressional investigation stymied
    + The corporate press averts its eyes
    + The right makes a folk hero of treasonous bastard Oliver North.

    The full story has not yet been told.

    Reagan should have been impeached; GHW Bush and Casey should have been jailed.

  18. 18.

    Jewish Steel

    @John Cole: I think enough time has elapsed that it is time for me to watch it again. Oh, and I was just rollin on pain meds last time I watched it. So it’ll be like the first time again.

  20. 20.

    joel hanes

    @joel hanes:

    I got the bit about Rumsfeld wrong; it was Bud MacFarlane who went to Tehran with the Christian Bible signed by Ron Reagan and a cake made in the shape of a key, to open secret negotiations for the sale of the armaments.

  21. 21.

    Chris T.

    Off topic, but I just checked out Krugman’s blog entry about Argentina.

    I wonder if there’s a good analogy he could make about how economic policy depends on the circumstances. Maybe one to weather?

    [RWNJ responding to K:] “YOU SAID IN JANUARY THAT I SHOULD WEAR A COAT! I WORE ONE IN JULY AND IT WAS TOO HOT!”

  22. 22.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @joel hanes:

    Not to mention just when the special prosecutor is about to get Caspar Weinberger to flip on Poppy Bush, Poppy Bush isssues a preemptive pardon.

  26. 26.

    jl

    Sure, the news is a year old, but if they can find the translator they used for the deal, it’ll crack wide open like a melon dropped from a ten story building.

    MS wardheeler: Wayell, Mistah Bahbah sayd you downneeeeeed thaya’ competiayve biddn’ fer th’cooowwwntrac,, fellar showure kin do good bayness offa thishyear dee bree rmoooooovll raykaht. Hay bleeev wayh c’dooo som baynssshyear.

    NJL wardheeler: waddy say? I don’ unnerstan waddy say. Wassiss fookin’ mook sayin’ anyways?

    translator: he said Mr. Barbour said if you don’t need competitive bidding for the contract, a fellow sure could…

  28. 28.

    kdaug

    I’m going to put this here, with full knowledge that it will break Balloon Juice. Forever.

    THIS.

    Kitties, puppies, bunnies, SPCA,,, and ABBA.

    It just rocks.

  30. 30.

    jl

    Speaking of dogs. I saw a funny bumper sticker today:

    “Oh Lord, please make me the person my dog thinks I am.”

    Jack Russell terrier owners might not get the joke, but other dog owners will.

    I’be been trying to think of a similar bumper sticker for cat owners, but have been pulling a blank.

  33. 33.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Tommy:

    Too many things to remember, but I do in fact remember where I was and whom I was with for every one of these national heartaches:

    JFK
    MLK
    RFK
    Lennon
    Challenger
    OKC
    Columbine
    Columbia
    Tucson/Gaby Giffords
    Newtown
    Boston Marathon

    I expect I’m leaving out a lot, but these are the ones that pop immediately into my mind. I wish I were incapable of remembering this litany.

  35. 35.

    jl

    @kdaug: Sweet video. Thanks. It broke me down. After the ending with that cute mutt, I was going to run out and get me a dawg. But then I remembered I’m in a no pets rental situation.

  36. 36.

    slippytoad

    @joel hanes:

    Congressional investigation successfully stonewalled; chain of evidence leads to doors of Bill Casey and GHW Bush and stops.

    The Bush clan only knows one trick: how to war profiteer. Grandaddy Prescott sold shit to the mother-fucking Nazis (but apparently bought his way out of a hanging for treason) . . .They are some of the most despicable, untrustworthy, morally bankrupt parasites this nation has ever suffered from.

  37. 37.

    Ken

    @Fuzzy:

    Bobby Jindel and Chis Christie should co-author a manual “Disaster for Dummies”.

    With a special foreword by Michael “Heckuva Job” Brown.

  40. 40.

    J.Ty

    Hm, won’t let me edit, but my own list is, in no particular order

    OKC
    Desert Storm, now that you mention it, jharp
    Shuttle Columbia
    Columbine (just headed to lacrosse practice not far from there)
    9/11
    Aurora (used to see movies there)
    Newtown
    Giffords

    With the exception of the shuttle and possibly Desert Storm, it’s all senseless violence and I’m sure I’ve forgotten more than I’ve remembered.

    ETA: Boston marathon, Iraq 2

  42. 42.

    Citizen Alan

    As loathsome as Haley “Boss Hogg” Barbour is, I still wish he were governor of Mississippi instead of the ignorant Talibaptist we have today.

  46. 46.

    Fair Economist

    This is odd, and maybe a little embarrassing, but the only big events where I remember where I was when I heard about them were Challenger, Lady Di, and 9/11. And in all 3 cases that’s because something very odd or unusual happened to me personally while I was learning about it.

    For example, with 9/11, right before I left for work that morning, I thought “I need to check the news on TV”. And I almost NEVER watch morning news on TV before work or school; I literally mean less than once every 5 years or so. When I turned it on, I thought “Oh my god!” and then I started wondering what the *&*# made me want to turn on the TV. Did I hear something subconsciously through the apartment wall? Did I subconsciously notice a difference in traffic or something? It was really weird, and so I remember it.

    The other events – zoop, gone from the memory files. I remember caring about the events, but not what I was doing when I found out. Even as recent as the Boston bombing. I remember following the story closely for a couple of days but what I was doing when I first read about it – no idea.

  47. 47.

    demit

    @Fair Economist: That happened to me too! For some reason I turned on the tv, which I never do in the morning. I guess I had some time before having to leave for my temp job. It was more for background noise, tho, and I wasn’t really listening, so I thought I was looking at a file video. It was only after listening to the radio on the drive to work that it sank in what had happened.

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