The high price of loyalty

Jonathan Alter has a stunning column in Newsweek on the price of loyalty. He gives Fitzgerald his due but corrects him on one really important point. There's no way to disconnect it. The Plame leak is so about the war and the lies that led us to it. The money grafs:

This has been the Bush pattern. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill presciently says a second tax cut is unaffordable if we want to fight in Iraq—he's fired. Bush's economic adviser Larry Lindsey presciently says the war will cost between $100 billion and $200 billion (an underestimate)—he's fired. Army Gen. Eric Shinseki presciently says that winning in Iraq will require several hundred thousand troops—he's sent into early retirement. By contrast, CIA Director George Tenet, who presided over two of the greatest intelligence lapses in American history (9/11 and WMD in Iraq) and apparently helped spread "oppo ammo" to discredit the husband of a woman who had devoted her life to his agency, receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The price of loyalty is incompetence. Issues don't get aired; downside risks remain unassessed.

Why should they care? They're not paying for the downside, we are. So, how can 39% of the people still believe in an administration where honesty is punished and incompetency and deceit are not only rewarded, but praised? Which reminds me. You think Heckuva Job Brownie is off the books yet? Last I heard he was still on the payroll.