Toadies & brownies & suckups, oh my!

Paul Begala, a Clinton survivor, has an insider's appreciation of living through bone-crushing stress in a bunker White House while a federal criminal investigation unfolds under klieg lights. He says Bush has to be feeling mighty poorly right now.

Even better, he notes an important difference between Monicagate and Treasongate (aside from their subject matter, purpose, the number of people killed by them, the intellect of the presidents involved, and every other single thing): the president's ability to listen.

Whereas Clinton called in tough-minded advisors and listened to them, this president "likes having his assed kissed." The Miers-Bush correspondence "belongs in the Brown Nosers Hall of Fame." The current staff - "a C team if ever there was one" - is loaded with "weak-kneed toadies," "suckups and sycophants," throne-sniffers, over-the-shoulder-lookers, and people who have stopped taking notes in meetings but continue to assure the Beloved Leader he's the victim of a partisan plot.

Best paragraph ever written about our titanic mediocrity in chief:

The last thing this President wants is the first thing he needs: someone to slap his spoiled, pampered, trust-funded, plutocratic, never-worked-a-day-in-his-life cheek and make him face the reality of his foul-ups.

Hope he doesn't get it anytime soon.

Hat tip brandido.