Bush's Depressing Goodbye Party: One Staffer Gets Job At Abercrombie

Washington DC's social scene is in full swing this weekend, with events and galas and fetes and soirees and makeout sessions between Christopher Hitchens and Andrew Sullivan. It's a level of excitement that Washington only occasionally sees. But it's not just the inauguration of Barack Obama that people are celebrating -- it's also the end of the Bush administration, and Sunday night, President Bush and his friends celebrated the end of his term with a party of their own at Glen Echo Park. Slate went, for some reason, and their account makes the whole thing sound like the most depressing event in the world.

The party, dubbed "Crossing the Finish Line" and held in the park's giant Spanish Ballroom, was organized by outgoing White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and his predecessor, Andy Card.

The venue had been somewhat controversial, according to attendees. There was no heating, so a lot of bodies were needed. "Due to the historic nature of the venue, there are limitations on what can be done in terms of climate control," the hosts warned in an e-mail. "DO: Wear layers and coats. DON'T: Dress like you're going to Gold Cup or Smith Point."

Apparently some of the more climate-controlled venues had been taken. "There weren't a lot [of places] available," said Card. "There weren't a lot of bands available, either."

So, basically, everyone was rubbing against each other for warmth and totally unemployed. Just contemplate the multitudes that are contained in this single depressing sentence: "One outgoing Treasury employee had already landed a job as a manager at Abercrombie & Fitch." The Great Gatsby could have ended with that line.

Anyway, there they all mingled, freezing their asses off, as Karl Rove talked about Twitter, Alberto Gonzalez walked around with a bloodshot eye, and the president mangled some more grammar.

Look, people, if you are out the next two days, and you see these mopes walking all despondent down the street, for God's sake, take them out a plate of canapes or something and call it national service. Then wish them luck at their new jobs, folding on, sweaters against the sale rack, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

Comments

[americanalien]

So funny, Bush is a disaster to the very end. I feel not one ounce of sympathy for him and his criminal gang. I hope they retire in misery.

[chuckinblack]

hahahahaha­hahahahaha­haha!

[americanalien]

ROFLMAO! HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAHAHAHA­HAHAAHAHAH­AHAHAHAHAH­AHAHAHA!

[goofmanjoe]

Obama: We need to unite...
Obama's crowd: BOOOO... ARREST HIM!!

I love the unity.

[HighPlainsJoker]

I live in Europe, and most of the news coverage and people I talked to were bemused that Congress would take a year to look into the intern thing. Sex is not viewed as puritanically here. The real issued was that he lied under oath. Get your priorities straight.

[plwood01]

That was Clinton not Bush and that all took place almost a decade ago now! What century are you living in?

[dawlishgal]

And Reagan and Bush41 didn't lie when they claimed to be out of the loop or that they "forgot" the details of Iran Conta...so­mething that represented an actual coup d'etat of our legitimate­ly-elected government, ie TREASON.??­???? Clinton lied about a sexual dalliance, not a very nice thing to do, but at least not treasonous.

[deeppeace]

The real issue was that the Neocons would have impeached him for jaywalking if that's all they could find. Get over it.

[jeffdunkin]

would you like freedom fries with that

[jeffdunkin]

hey bush you need to read war 4 dummies

[goofmanjoe]

Obama sat down with Bush and the ones overseeing the military and suddenly realized there's more to it than what we know. The military doesn't and shouldn't share the details with the citizens. It would be poor planning if they did. It is not the citizen's decision to go to war partially because we do not know the details.

[dawlishgal]

Exactly what makes civilians so vulnerable when liars take power.

[SmootyBooty]

Cheney lied to Dick Armey. You know it...

[apoliticalchick]

Maybe they can write a book about how they were wrong all those years but have now seen the light and are sorry for being part of the great eight-year Bushwhacking!
http://democralypsenow.blogspot.com/

[SFSister]

Quel dommage. Truth is, they were always boring.

[mcthorogood]

For a humorous retake on Dubya's eight loooong years, see W.T.F. (W., Thanks and Farewell): A Look Back at the Bush Years

http://current.com/items/89709378/w_t_f_w_thanks_and_farewell_a_look_back_at_the_bush_years.htm

[BeaResponsible]

Having studied the Cobstitution extensively, I love to listen to you delusional folks state how we lost our Constitutional rights under Bush. Can you please point to one right that you specifically lost. The way I see it, out liberal courts have eroded the intent of the Constitution for the past several decades. If our Founding Fathers were here - they wouldn't even recognize what we call our civil rights.

[balthus]

Miss the memo? Nobody cares what you think. You spent the last eight years cheerleading the worst president in history as he drove our country into the ditch, ruined our international reputation, and ignored the planetary threat of global warming. Your credibility is nil, your "philosophy" has proven to be a failure, your party is headed the way of the Whigs, and it's time for you to leave the cleaning up to the grownups.

[michaleenflynn]

Hmmm....Bu­sh kept your ass safe for the last 7 years.

It remains to be seen whether BO can do the same....

[PrairieDog]

It's not that we lost them. The Bushites just ignored them & did what they wanted. Wholesale spying, torture, indefinite imprisonment without charge. This is the stuff that we condemned in other governments for decades. A govenrment that employs such actions deserves to be attacked over & over again until they fall. The same goes if it's our government & its enablers. No tyranny in the US.

[LadyCroom]

Pull your head out of the ground, dearie, and open your eyes. The truth is oozing out of the woodwork. Within 24 hours after the departure of Bush (thank you, Lord), four National Security Agency analysts started reporting openly about the unbelievable license Bush and Buddies took with our civil liberties. Private citizens (that would be you and me) were caught in a dragnet of warrantless surveillance as the government colluded with communications companies to tap into networks for the purpose of sucking in our telephone and email correspondence at random. These government veterans are stating that these Consitutionally protected private records were supposed to have been filtered to ensure that those failing to raise national security risks were discarded. In fact, they were not. I don't doubt that you love our country. I do, too. But the thought that for the last several years, my every emailed or telephoned word may have been collected by government spies .... well, if you don't call that infringement on Constitutional rights, I have a short little book I'd like you to read ....

[dawlishgal]

Since, you asked, I, for one, found it very difficult to pursue happiness while a dishonest crony-rewarding president dragged the country into a war of choice against a country that had nothing to us, not while a bunch of other people's kids were getting killed and maimed and hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians were being killed..

Are you one of those who thinks it is a mere coincidence that Bush chose for the two most powerful men in his adminsitration the former CEOs of the two biggest war-profiteers in the US, and all of a sudden we are invading the wrong country, and the values of the stocks of those two companies were rising by a factor of time times?

[blah7]

suspension of habeas corpus rights. and your response..­..

[NeilFiertel]

There is plenty of blame to go around regarding the Bush Administration but there is one aspect of American Society that must receive its share of the responsibility for the past eight years and that is the television news service, the newspapers and the lack of deep and delving journalism that would have forced the people to know really in depth what was threatening America. Yes, I agree up front with the war against the terror threat that will continue for a long time but I also must state that the sacrifice of the US Constitution by the Bush Administration was a catastrophe, the loss of confidence and the increase in irrational fears of the average citizen parlayed by right wing corporate journalists and television "news personalities" was at least as great a threat to American democracy as the most vile of Bush's cronies. The original election of the President was in question and this set the tone for the next eight years. Now, at least, one is certain that President Obama was truly elected (by the Electoral College, of course) and that he truly does reflects the wishes of the electorate. I see it as the people of America having saved her Constitutional Law in so doing. Feel proud of yourselves. The world outside who under Bush has been ignored and arrogantly discounted is celebrating along with you...

[americanalien]

Well said.

[goofmanjoe]

I keep hearing that... please explain how the US Consitution was "sacrificed"?

[plwood01]

The Constitution was ignored by the last President in a time of war, which circumvented some of our rights to privacy due to intelligence surveillance that was not common knowledge for some time, well until it was found out that Bush lied to get us into the war in IraQ that shreds the Constitution a little every time that happens. It happened a lot in this administration so people are just refering to that action being wrong. I dropped my Verizon service because they gave the government "carte blanche" to tap into our cell phones at will. It was my understanding as an 18 year Federal employee that one must tell the person on the phone that they are being wire tapped, I guess that was part of the problem. Anyway, whenever someone violates anothers' pursuit of life, liberty and happiness they are stepping on the person's constitutional rights. Holding people without due process is such a thing and something that was used against combatants at Abu Garib and Guantanamo Bay which is the reason for closing the facility like the prison camps during the Nazi invasions across Europe.

[blah7]

suspension of habeas corpus rights, warrentless wiretappin­g...

need I continue?

[bebe12]

I just want to remind all of you that the president, may propose a bill but it is the congress that has the power to decide whether or not to make it into a law..Moreo­ver, the president may be the "Commander in Chief" of the military, but once again it's Congress that has the power to declare war...

so please, stop looking at the new presidnet as the "savior"..­.he his just a man. And all the promises that he has made...may not be kept. So dont be surprised when you dont see a "change"..

[plwood01]

You are correct but you stopped short of the rest of this. While Congress can vote things down with enough votes, the President can always veto their decision and then pass the bill through the Senate which then goes to the House for approval.

[rock2casbah]

We have already seen what an inept, incompentent President can do with Bush. It is time to see what a qualified, worthy President can get done. One thing we do know though, it can't ever get any worse than Bush.

[repugnicansfearme]

I will spring for a barrel of goodbye pretzels for the creep.

[paulita]

I thought the most telling statement was when he boarded that plane to leave for Texas. It was a stark contrast to President Clinton who was at Andrews Airforce base for at least 2 hours saying good- bye to everyone. There was no one there to even greet President Bush it seemed, and he was on that plane in 5 minute witha pathetic grin and kiss.

Despite the fact that he was completely horrible and did completely horrible things, I actually felt a bit bad for him.

[BeaResponsible]

The only people wanting to see Clinton off were the women who wanted to bed him. He did more to erode our standing in the world in one night (or more) in the oval office with an intern than Bush ever could have thought of doing. He showed the world that he considered the sanctity of the Presidency and his marriage, a joke.

[balthus]

Yeah, and all Bush did was mislead the American people into supporting an unnecessary war, trash our Constitutional rights (suspending habeous corpus, warrantless wiretapping), approve the use of torture (a first in American history - we won WWII without it), stand by while the people New Orleans suffered following Katrina, and ignore the peril of global warming.

[americanalien]

Bush make Clinton look like an Angel. Don't even try to make a comparison.

[Gainsbourg69]

How does one get to that alternate universe you live in?

Clinton is loved around the world. Travel some and talk to some people. You'll learn that what the conservatives did to him made the GOP the laughing stock of the world. Don't go around telling people you're a republican, though, as they might throw rocks at you.

[Dudfield007]

I love how Republicans equate marital fidelity to the systematic slaughter of an entire population. Check the approval ratings home and abroad and you will realize that any comparison between Clinton and Bush is ridiculous. But then I am using facts and reality to back up my argument. Maybe I should try personal opinion instead. Would you understand then? Most likely not.

[Janiece59]

That's because you have empathy, something a sociopath like Dubya doesn't have.

[americanalien]

So true.

[Dunworkin]

When your approval rating is at 27percent and the vice president is at 13 percent why would anyone with any common sense want to go to a party with a bunch of losers and unemployed staffers.I hope their next trip back to Washington will be to stand trial for war crimes,BUSH CHENNY WOLFWITS RUMSFIELD ,RICE LIBBY,ROVE­,HUGHES,DE­LAY,when you finish reading this add three more and we will have the DIRTY DOZEN.

[bebe12]

wow...plea­se before you write anything else,go back and read what you have said.."sta­nd trial for war crimes" Are you serious?Some one ignorant would say that. When 9/11 happened, Bush gave a speech at gound zero asking the american people if we should fight the terrorist that killed thousands of innocent people..an­d while bush was waiting for our response..­.peoplel like you and me screamed: yes, we are ready..we should go to war. NOW YOU are saying that it is bush's fault?...I think he did his job to protect the american people. how many attacks have we had so far after 9/11? Go back to Clinton's administration. On February 26, 1993, a massive bomb exploded in the parking garage of the north tower of the World Trade Center building in New York City, killing six people and leaving a crater six stories deep in the building's basement floors. The mastermind of the bombing, Ramzi Yousef, later boasted that he had hoped to kill 250,000 people. Two years later, Yousef was involved in a plot to bomb a dozen US airplanes flying over the Pacific. WHAT DID CLINTON DO TO PREVENT FUTURE TERRORIST ATTACKS? NOTHING..A­S A RESULT OF HIS OWN NEGLIGENT ACTS..9/11 HAPPENED!
YES, bush may have made some mistakes, but i am sure that anyone in his shoes would have done the same thing. I believe that he did a good job to protect this country...

[paulita]

So bebe12, you were living in BazaroWorld this last 8 years apparently. The American people agreed to attack Afghanistan, where the actual terroist were. The American people did not agree to kill innocent people in Iraq.

Furthermore, Clinton was trying to get Ben Laden, but people like you were too busy worrying about his sex life and totally deflected attention from Ben Laden.

Thirdly Ramzi Yousef was caught and tried, unlike Ben Laden

Fourthly, the Clinton people practically screamed DANGER to the Bush administration when it came into office, who completely ignored the warnings, and that my friend is what caused 9/11.

And we don´t have enough space to discuss the domestic violations, so although I thought it was a sad lonely goodbye to a President, I can see why the people aren´t feeling so charitable about this administration.

[wcjoyful]

BeBe12, love your name.

Bush went to Iraq for WMD. It was totally not related to 9 -11.

[sradag]

Where's Bin Laden? Why is he still out there, probably planning his next attack? The way I see it, he was given a pass by the Bush Administration when they shifted their interest to non-existent WMD's. That was NOT the way to protect this country. We are NOT safer. Not by a long shot. We just haven't been hit.

[balthus]

9/11 was on Bush's watch. He didn't read the intel report stating the likelihood of an impending terrorist attack. Too busy making up silly names for people and farting whenever a staffer came to the Oval Office (one of his favorite pastimes - he thought it was a real scream.)

[Geneil]

What are you smoking???? Are you kidding me????

[punkingale]

27% is way too high. His approval is 22%.

[Janiece59]

I'm surprised it's 1%. It shouldn't be.

[americanalien]

20% sums it up well.

[theylafatu]

Well the liberal congree approval rating is only 4% hmmmm maybe we should check our stats before shooting off at the mouth.....­oh wait that's right liberals hate ccommon sense and truth I forgot....­proceed please, sorry to interupt your open minded peaceful party's bashing of a man that doesn't even hold office anymore.

[plwood01]

Why do you feel that people like you do not have the same right as you do to express their feelings. The Democratic Congress has just reached the majority a week or two ago! Where were you when the Bushes were ignoring the Congress which was Republican until 2006 when they were removed from office. The Congress had more Dems in it but they were still not the majority until now which means that they had a hard time with other Senators who only wanted to support Bush policies? I do not see your point, but I do see that you believe you have some sort of inalienable right to keep others from exercising their free speech! If we ignore justice for one, we will be ignoring justice for all!

[TequilaMockingbird]

that low approval rating was due to the fact that the Congress was failing to stop the Bush Juggernaut of Craptastic Decisions.

[lunchlady]

The staffers are little people who had finished being useful. Bye bye.