The Wily Ways of Washington

From today’s NYT: Former Attorney General John Ashcroft responded angrily Tuesday to Congressional Democrats who suggested that a no-bid private contract directed to him by the Justice Department last year amounted to a “back-room sweetheart deal” worth tens of millions of dollars to his consulting firm.

“There is not a conflict; there is not an appearance of a conflict,” Mr. Ashcroft said at a hearing of a House Judiciary subcommittee exploring the circumstances of the contract.

I love this. The administration is up in arms over the Air Force’s granting a contract in a fair, arms length, contracting bidding process, to Airbus, because it’s not an American company. And yet they’re happy to give no-bid sweetheart deals to their cronies. We can’t shed these guys soon enough.