You Get What You Pay For

Is the Bush Administration serious about investigating the government failures that preceded the September 11 attacks? Dwight Meredith does the math.

The Administration has proposed a $3 million budget for the federal government's 9/11 investigation. In contrast:

The Danforth investigation into the Branch Davidian killings cost $11 million. That's $11 million spent pandering to and placating wingnuts, despite that fact that anyone with the intelligence of a 10-year-old knew that Koresh and his followers murdered four ATF agents in cold blood and then set fire to their own compound, killing themselves and their children in the process. (Dwight is much more charitable about the purposes and need for the Danforth investigation.)

The FBI investigation into the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building exceeded $80 million, not including another $13 million paid to Tim McVeigh's defense team.

In order to avoid distractions from his central point, Dwight omitted reference to the Starr "Whitewater" fiasco. But according to the Republican Party, Bill Clinton's losing real estate investment and where he put his cock are thirteen times more important than determining how to prevent future terrorist attacks.

One could make even more pointed comparisons, such as to Reese Withspoon's payday for Legally Blonde 2 ($15 million) or the amount of money George Bush spent per month during the Republican primaries in 2000 ($6.1 million). At least we know where Bush's priorities are.