POLITICS: White House Staff to get Ethics Instruction

Following the indictment of Lewis Libby, President Bush today directed White House counsel to brief official staff on ethics and how to handle classified information. All aides with a security clearance must attend a training session next week.



It seems a little late in the day for this to be taking place. This should have been covered in White House Rules 101 on the way in the door. The fact that these sessions are taking place now points to a serious deficiency among White House staffers in the basic knowledge and morals needed to run the most important office in the U.S.A., the office of POTUS.

Or maybe it is another CYA maneuver, like Cheney asking Congress for an exemption from torture rules.

[edit on 5-11-2005 by Icarus Rising]

Ethics Instructions:

If you lie, this is wrong.

.....

Watch as their heads explode...

I voted yes, of course. And BTW...

ROFLMAO.

``

i bet all W.H. staff are looking forward to this workshop/seminar thing...

i really loved it when we had 'training films', as it amounted to plain-ole downtime from the work-a-day grind
some of youse probably seen a few of those InstitutionalGrade films if you were in the military. If you weren't - then think back at your high school health class & the production value of those films & the attending giddyness of getting away from the routine.

i'm pretty sure all the staff are very much aware of 'ethics' & 'protocols' of handling classified info. & the 'loose-lips' routine....this is just a Show for the Congress' consumption.

? just who gets to sit next to Condi Rice, huh

~yawn~

Wake me up when they decide to throw out The Prince, by Nicolo Machiavelli


“THE KEY QUESTION IS, WHAT DID THE PRESIDENT KNOW, AND WHEN WAS IT EXPLAINED TO HIM?”

--Talk show host Jay Leno

Son ------- "Pa, the horse is out of the barn"
Pa -------- "Well you best close them doors then"

This is funny! "Look at us! We care about ethics! And those other things, too, what are they? Yeah, morals! We got us some good morals! We know how to run a White House!"

Will Georgie be attending these briefings?? He'd best sit in the front row and get a tutor.

Yeah, too little, too late.

Just like everything else, Bush is four days late, and about three dollars short.

Originally posted by elderban
Just like everything else, Bush is four days late, and about three dollars short.

Dam I shoulda known someone would have beat me to this comment

4 days? More like years

OHHHH stop it you're killing me..... Geoorge bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove ethics?

Funny how they always seem to address the issue, only after it becomes an issue.

Seems history may refer to this as The Jeopardy Administration?

"Give me ethics and morals for $500.

CIA/Rove/Plaime

What is briefing official staff on ethics and how to handle classified information?"

...by the way Harriett Meirs will be handing these out at the door.

This is a classic maneuver to get your message across and tell your staff, no more excuses, slip up and you are fired.

Prior to this training, someone could offer up the excuse "But I didn't know" or something similar.

Now there will be no acceptable excuse for slipping up. You have now been trained in what is right and wrong.

It takes the firing out of George "Fiercely Loyal to My Staff" Bush's hands and makes it policy.

People in position of power who dont understand the "ethics"?

Oh well, some will buy into it. Others will

originally posted by jsobecky
This is a classic maneuver to get your message across and tell your staff, no more excuses, slip up and you are fired.

Again, this should have been covered in "Working at the White House 101". In fact, I'm sure it was.

To me, this is a classic maneuver to CGWB'sA and aviod having to fire anybody if they can avoid getting caught in another gigantic treasonous screw-up like this one for the next three years. "See there now, I told them not to do it again, ayuh. You know, the old nobody fools me twice thing." Or maybe the old George "Cussing Out My Staff Again" Bush thing. "Turd Blossom", indeed.

They are trying to make us forget this whole Plame exposure thing grew out of the Nigerian yellow-cake lie thing they were trying to cover-up to begin with thing.

This edict is just part of the sideshow as Libby dangles above the lion's pit. The massive cover-up of the lies that fueled the run-up to the Iraq War continues unabated, if not forgotten.



[edit on 6-11-2005 by Icarus Rising]

by jsobecky:
You have now been trained in what is right and wrong.

I agree this is more a "put it on the record" move [so to speak].

Is your reaction . . . "In lieu of recent events...yada yada yada...we need to bring everyone up to speed on the dos and don'ts"?

Is your reaction . . . "Huh? We have to retrain the people charged with the handling of this information? Like they hadn't already been briefed and educated respective to their security clearance."

Either way I see it as just another after-the-fact failed attempt to bolster public support and opinion.

Anyone that needs training in ethics should not be working at the White House, or anywhere in government.

The real question here should be whos version of 'ethics' are they being trained for?

the idea that the people running the show in washington NOW need training on how they are to handle the classifed information they recieve.....(one shouldn't go blurting it out to your journalist friends, encouraging them to publish it) is scary.....the ethics bit is just.........

sorry, but come one!!! those who leaked the cia indentity know it was wrong!!! they didn't care!!! and no training workshop would have prevented it from happening! or prevent it from happening again, if it serves their purpose to do so!

Oh, I agree that this is nothing more than a CYA for Bush and Cheney for offering up the next sacrificial lamb. It's not to be taken seriously. But it will be used somewhere down the line, believe me. And, as Icarus said, it should have (and was, IMO) covered in 101. Why else would GWB make such a loud, public call home from another continent? To put it on the record is why.

sorry, but come one!!! those who leaked the cia indentity know it was wrong!!! they didn't care!!! and no training workshop would have prevented it from happening!

Yeah, but isn't it funny how Fitzgerald hasn't accused anyone of that particular charge yet? All he has on Libby is lying and obstruction.

Classic case of "If there had been no hearing, there would be no crime".

And wait and see if Libby doesn't offer up the "I didn't know it was illegal" or "I forgot" defenses when it's his turn to testify.

by ArchAngel:
Anyone that needs training in ethics should not be working at the White House, or anywhere in government.

Oh . . . to live in a perfect world.

Sadly, I think the ratio of White House employees in need of training regarding ethics and morality is much higher than the national average!


Which brings to mind the old saying, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks."

I'm running a special on:

Ethics
Anger Management
Public Speaking

Willing to do group sessions.

Hefty price tag, but snacks included.