or at least defunded... a good start to making government accountable. I never liked the idea, even back when B. Bennet was the Drug Czar...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49781.html

From the article:Utter fantasy. These people wield no power at all. They are advisers.

The only thing accomplished by Scalise's amendment is that it gives the GOP something to talk about while they ignore the real problems.

what is the real problem?

That's problems, plural - deficit, high unemployment, multiple wars, crumbling infrastructure, etc., etc., etc.

I wonder when they start trimming the agencies responsible for salmon . .

is there a "fish" czar?

let us remember the words of our last great leader...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Jcrk6jGfo&playnext=1&list=PL6FBAD26F186A0D18

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"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

The State of the Union

Cheney had a few of these guys at his personal beck and call. The only one I can remember is Ken Lay who was the CEO of Enron.

Lay was already known to Cheney since Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton which also, at the time, was headquartered in Houston. (It is now headquartered in Dubai.) A friend of W. Bush, Sen. Graham (R-TX) has a wife named Wendy who was also on the Enron board of directors, so when Cheney needed advice on the oil business he had Lay and his advisors to call on. These were people he had known for years and trusted their advice.

And Lay was on the Energy Panel in a paid capacity. Lay went to great trouble to make sure you knew that he was on the panel and you were not.

So the question I have on this is: If this was a good thing when Republicans were in power why is it a bad thing now?

Another bogus talking point to blather about.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

perhaps you were asleep in reading comprehension class, when I noted in the OP that czars were bad when Reagan had them and are bad now. Since Regan was a REP and preceded Bush?Cheney by quite a while, then, umm..

True.

Now, none of the above are any fun, and dealing with won’t garner votes. The TPM/Base is only interested in HC repeal and abortion.

Nope. I caught that.

I also caught that no one else in the Republican world seemed to think there was anything wrong with this when the Bushies and Reagan were doing it. There is a good reason for this.

No one knows everything. If a leader does not have advisors and the best ones he can get then how is he supposed to make an informed decision?

One difference between Cheney's private army of advisors and all the rest is that in many cases Checey did not make public who these people were and what type of advice they were giving him.

And do you know what? We still don't know the answer to those questions.

These Czars have been around since the 1930's. They were normally powerful businessmen who were asked to serve their country by suggesting ways to make things work better from a real world standpoint.

They were referred to as 'Dollar a year men' since they had to be paid and they were. One dollar a year.

They also picked up all of their own expenses.

This started to change under Eisenhower since he was used to having advisors around during WW 2. I don't know who coined the phrase Whiz Kids to refer to Eisenhower's advisors but that is what they were called.

Kennedy did the same thing, but he called his group The Best and the Brightest or something like that. I didn't know any of them but they did not seem like they were either the best or the brightest to me.

I think one of the Bushes came up with the Czar term.

The only place I have heard the term Czar is from folks who are right leaning. Nobody else seems to have them on their radar.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Nobody suggested that NONE of the Czars were needed, but when it becomes obvious you are putting people in positions to bypass the Senate approval process, we have a problem. And whoever said these guys yield no power is wrong.

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MB-less