Following up on the oppressed Paul Wolfowitz...

Last week I wrote a post about the plight of poor, downtrodden Paul Wolfowitz. Now it turns out that Wolfowitz himself has taken that tone in defending his corrupt practices as head of the World Bank. Truly, the architect of the Iraq War is a delusional man, a man who can tolerate no blame for any of the evils he visits upon the world. He is actually arguing that the World Bank forced him to give his girlfriend a raise -- drove him to it -- because they wouldn't do it themselves. What's even better is that he's throwing his squeeze under the train in an effort to save his own skin. It just looks so bad:

Wolfowitz effectively blamed Riza for his predicament as well, saying that her "intractable position" in demanding a salary increase as compensation for her career disruption forced him to grant one to pre-empt a lawsuit.

I don't think this excuse will have the same longevity and broad applicability as the popular "I can't recall" defense used by so many of the Bush Administration officials when they are discovered to be lying through their teeth and undermining the U.S. Constitution, but you have to admire its brazenness. Imagine the trouble Wolfowitz thought he was saving the World Bank by paying his partner some hush money...

The more you roll around with these Bushites -- many of whom are holdovers from the Nixon and Reagan corruption scandals -- the dirtier you get.