Karl Zinsmeister
Yesterday’s post on Bush’s team of nobodies actually failed to mention the most egregious example of this, the head of Bush’s Domestic Policy Council. Brian Beutler explains:
In case you were on the edge of your seat (and I’m sure all of you were) turns out Karl Zinsmeister–now Bush’s Domestic Policy Council Director–is the former editor of AEI’s old magazine, The American Enterprise. You’ll be surprised to learn that he ran it straight into the ground. Here’s a comprehensive Zinsmeister take down written by one Jamie Kirchick.
You really need to read Kirchick’s piece, the whole thing is embarrassing. By contrast, Melody Barnes is a first-rate person with years of real experience in government and shaping policy.
There’s an adage which holds that first-rate people hire first-rate people, whereas second-rate people hire third-rate people. This, I think, explains a lot about the contrast between the Obama and Bush teams. But it also really makes you wonder about who the people are that Zinsmeister has hired to be his subordinates on the DPC.
40 Responses to “Karl Zinsmeister”
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November 25th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I hope you’re not suggesting that Bush is as good as second rate – that’s preposterous.
November 25th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
And yet, McArdle was questioning the quality of Obama appointments just a few days ago. Her commenters were outraged.
I don’t know why you link to her.
November 25th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I don’t know why you link to her. – mickslam
She’s cute?
November 25th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I, personally, like my journalism to include spaces between words.
Someone seems to have stolen most of Jamie Kirchicks’.
November 25th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I’m still impressed by the time they tried appointing a veterinarian as FDA Director of Women’s Health.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
This criticism is really unfair. In general, Mr. Bush has to appoint Republicans, so the talent pool is kind of shallow.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
“You really need to read Kirchick’s piece”
a pig just flew by my window.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Gasp…
(Stunned silence)
*Jamie Kirchick* actually *CRITICIZED* something that the Bush Administration did?!?! Normally his writings are a much better fit for the neoconservative Commentary magazine Contentions blog (yes, he occasionally contributes stuff to NPod’s/JPod’s current venture too).
MARCU$
November 25th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Zinsmeister is a great name. I wonder what his frat brothers called him?
November 25th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Wow, that Kirchick really seems sharp and I totally believe all the nasty things he said about the Zinsmister fellow…
And while I was on the website, I looked at a few of his other articles, and boy oh boy did those open my eyes about somebody totally dishonest and stupid and ignorant named Matthew Yglesias, who really makes Zinmister look like a genius by comparison.
Clearly, any organization which hires that Yglesias fellow isn’t just third-rate, but last-rate!
November 25th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I’m sure this Zinsmeister fellow is perfectly awful, but there’s no way I’m going to click through to a Kirchick piece to find out.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I hope Zinsmeister spent a lot of time by the copy machine, so that Rob Schneider could abuse him.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
On Bush appointments, one thing that strikes me about Paulson isn’t his failings, but his visibility. You see Bush in a funny costume in Peru, while Paulson might as well be running the country. Imagine if, when we thought of the Depression, we didn’t even think of Hoover, but remembered his cabinet.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Kirchik avoids one of Zinsmeister’s funniest hijinks, because he agrees with the old Zin. In 2005, he went on the grand tour of Iraq, and published his eyewitness account: The War is Over and we won. It was quite heartening, and Jamie must have gotten dewy-eyed over it in spite of a few comradely differences. How could such a man, a suckup’s suck up, a man who makes Fred Barnes look positively critical in comparison, not drift into the Bush White House? And since then, we have won the war over and over – no war America has ever waged has been won so often, or required, since we won it, to maintain the course, because we have to win it again! In fact, if it wasn’t for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dying, it would be the best fun ever. Or maybe it was anyway – why pay attention to a buncha loser corpses?
This actually poses a question Barnes posed, after one of his grand tours around Iraq: where is the gratitude? Of course, Barnes was speaking of the treacherous Iraqi, but I think Kirchik would agree that it applies to Americans too – they turned away from a genuine hero to a man who wouldn’t even (sob!) say we won in Iraq in the debates. And we elected him, instead of investigating him with the FBI! It is so shameful.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
How unfortunate that the Wikipedia entry on Zinsmeister mentions none of what’s in Kirchick’s article.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
“This criticism is really unfair. In general, Mr. Bush has to appoint Republicans, so the talent pool is kind of shallow.”
Hah! Awesome, George. This is my favorite comment of the day.
November 25th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Yet another example of the inversion of the research arms of government.
Intended to provide objective evidentiary information from the outside world to policy makers as they made their decisions, under Bush they were used as media relations people, transmitting information from the policymakers to the outside world, in a manner intended to make their message look like there was evidence for it.
Why else would you hire the editor of a magazine for this job? Not to inform decision-makers about the department’s area of expertise, but to run a message operation.
November 25th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Between this and documenting Ron Paul’s racist associations, Kirchick has the makings of a decent muckraker. Pity he doubtlessly finds the neocon smack-talk, which would be better left to the likes of Michael Goldfarb, both more lucrative and more personally satisfying.
November 25th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Isn’t this a case of the pot calling the kettle black?
And how exactly did Jamie Kirchick get to be Marty Peretz’s latest bright young man anyway?
November 25th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Zinsmeister is a great name. I wonder what his frat brothers called him?
Bro.
November 26th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Compare this to the team McSame would have formed!
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January 19th, 2009 at 12:33 am
“But it also really makes you wonder about who the people are that Zinsmeister has hired to be his subordinates on the DPC.”
Actually, knowing Karl Zinsmeister to be a rather bright fellow, I would assume that his staff was not too shabby.
I hope that in due time, all of you ladies and gentlement gag on you toxic bile. Cheers!
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