Should you see this man--very likely rooting around in your garbage, scavenging for his next meal?-- please give him one good swift kick in the behind

Why must we have Wolfowitz to kick around some more?

Last night on Countdown David Shuster (filling in for Keith O) and Rachel Maddow shared some hearty yuks over the return--yes, he's ba-a-a-ack--of Paul Wolfowitz to government "service." Well, what else are you gonna do? If you don't laugh, what else is there to do but cry?

I'll tell you what! I say give him a good swift kick in the behind!

A bit of history first, for the benefit of the young uns out there.

In 1962, two years after losing the presidency to John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon ran for governor of California and got his ass kicked by the incumbent governor, Edmund "Pat" Brown (left, father of a future California governor, Edmund "Jerry" Brown). In the wake of this defeat, the gracious (ha ha!) Mr. Nixon, facing the press he believed to be his nemesis, said the second most famous thing he ever said: "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.” (Isn't it interesting that the press corps trailing the Dickster--in 1962--was apparently all-male?)

Like the most famous thing Tricky Dick ever said--"I am not a crook"--as well as so many other things that came out of the man's mouth, this wasn't true. But at least he probably meant it at the time, and it was a good thought: “You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore.” There are plenty of public figures from whom that's the best we could hope.

Now, when Paul Wolfowitz slunk away from the World Bank in disgrace, he never said, "You won't have Wolfowitz to kick around anymore." But wasn't it kind of implied? Don't the neocons have foundation money to take care of fallen comrades who come out of battle damaged beyond repair? I mean, wasn't it just understood that no quasi-public organization marked by a shred of decency, integrity, or self-respect--or even just a healthy respect for the attendant public-relations black eye--would ever put him on the payroll again?

Yet now here he is, about to be named--if he hasn't been already--by Secretary of State Rice to chair the International Security Advisory Board. ("The board," according to Reuters, "gives the State Department independent advice on arms control, disarmament, international security and other matters and its members include two former directors of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.")

As I recall, the word that drew the biggest guffaws between David Shuster and Rachel Maddow (right) was "credibility," when he asked her about, you know, his. Credibility. Paul Wolfowitz.

Yeah, right.

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