Bye Bye Baroody

I noted in a post on Monday that Bushco had nominated Michael Baroody of the National Association of Manufacturers as the next chairman of the Consumer Products Safety Commission, but now it turns out that Baroody has withdrawn himself from consideration; this was prompted by a letter to Dubya from Senate Dems Bill Nelson and Dick Durbin noting Baroody’s close ties to the industries he would have regulated (again, a “water wet, sky blue” M.O. for Bushco).

I did a bit of checking, and it seems that this administration has had trouble nominating the right people for this agency as they have had elsewhere, including Repug Hal Stratton (#9 on the list in this article), whose last job prior to his appointment was chairing the campaign fundraising group Lawyers For Bush in 2000. Before his confirmation hearing, Dem Senator Ron Wyden expressed concern that Stratton “had no demonstrable record on public safety,” but he was confirmed anyway (and here is one of his more infamous moments)…

Despite saying that he wouldn't let his own daughters play with water yo-yos--rubber toys that are outlawed in several countries because of concerns that children could be strangled by them—(Stratton) refused to ban them in the United States.

I could probably retire documenting the nonsense from Bushco’s government appointments, and let’s not forget after all that that’s another way that Dubya is giving us all the finger.

Despite that, though, I actually want to help our preznit with my own recommendation. Given his disregard for our safety and quality of the products regulated by this agency (and that covers a lot), I think it would make sense in a twisted way to nominate someone who exemplifies this mentality perfectly. And I can think of no one else more appropriate than Irwin (“Bag Of Glass”) Mainway, the character played by Dan Aykroyd on “Saturday Night Live” (and for good measure, nominate Jane Curtin also to continually say to him, in as dour a way as possible, “You’re such a sleazy man.”)