I guess dignity just ain’t Paul Wolfowitz’s bag.
Now comes word that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson — yes, in case you were wondering, that’s the Treasury Secretary of the United States, not the Treasurer or Treasury Secretary of the World Bank or anything — has come out in favor of giving Paul Wolfowitz more time to defend himself against conflict of interest charges.
No less shocking than Paulson’s entry into this increasingly pitiful spectacle is the fact that Paulson’s spokesperson is named Brookly McLaughlin.
Given the depths of corruption and bad acts we’ve seen of late, giving a fat raise to a girlfriend or boyfriend who works at your shop isn’t the worst kind of corruption there is. But it falls short, I guess you might say, of best practices. I knew this thing was heading toward some sort of increasingly bizarre and baroque anti-accountability fugue when Wolfowitz a few days ago tried to turn the tables on his accusers and claim that they were in fact the bad actors but he was willing to assume they were acting in good faith when they did wrong.
Wolfowitz now appears to be filled with contempt for the board of the institution, which was supposed to be his vehicle for a world-historical mulligan, since they are unwilling, as my friend Sidney Blumenthal recently put it, to overlook his corrupt dealings for the greater good of his crusade against corruption.
When you think about it, on a few different levels, Wolfowitz is sort of an Austin Powersian sort of figure. And as Austin might say, taking responsibility just ain’t Paul’s bag, baby.
