Idiots and Politicos Are Not Welcome on the 9th Floor
Michael Griffin at Oshkosh, The Space Review
“[Griffin] did point out that, contrary to press reports, the Bush administration has not interfered with political appointments on staffing. He said that he wanted control of who was on his staff because he doesn’t want to work with “idiots” (and he did use the word “idiots”).
Editor’s note: Ah, so Mike Griffin actually asked the White House if he could hire former deputy FEMA Director Patrick Rhode (who has left NASA), Karl Rove’s political operative Jane Cherry (now NASA’s White House Liaison), and of course, George Deutsch to come to work at NASA HQ? I am not suggesting that any of these folks are idiots (since Mike has decided that they are not) but they were all overt political appointees foisted upon NASA – however Mike Griffin wants to try and spin things.