Here’s David Frum’s defense of the Medals of Freedom for three architects of failure in the invasion and occupation of Iraq:
[T]he president is doing something important. He is declaring to the officials and soldiers who are executing this policies that he will stand behind them when things get tough; that he won’t go seeking scapegoats; that he fully, strongly, and publicly supports the individuals he himself chose to carry out the tasks he himself assigned. There’s a lot of loose talk about President Bush’s demands for loyalty. One thing that critics of this president have never grasped is that he has been unprecedentedly successful in claiming loyalty up because he is unprecedentedly committed to loyalty down.
Memo to David: a “scapegoat” is someone unfairly singled out for criticism when he isn’t the man responsible. Take just on example here. George Tenet was CIA chief when the worst intelligence failure since the Bay of Pigs led to the deaths of thousands of people at the hands of Jihadist murderers. He followed up by assuring the president that the case for Saddam’s existing stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction was a “slam dunk.” Not only is this man not fired; he is given the highest civilian medal possible. Frum’s case is that what really matters is not competence or candor or effectiveness – but loyalty. How is the ethic he praises inapplicable to, say, a successful mob boss?
The Dish 