Bush Administration Operating Like The Mob?

I have mentioned before that the Bush Administration seems to act more like a crime family, than an accountable Executive team running a "Democracy"....and I have to use the word Democracy very lightly.

A report from the On The Media program, a radio program that examines government and the media, seems to confirm my suspicions. Listen to segment here. The program reports that most of the top Bush Administration officials avoid using e-mail to communicate. Presumably this is done to avoid having those e-mails requested by Congress or the Courts if there was ever a "problem" (such as actually being held accountable to the people).

The first things that came to mind when I heard this story were the scenes from old gangster movies when the mobsters were always worried about being heard on wiretaps plotting their next crime. Much of this matches the real-life perils faced by the Mob. To dodge law enforcement, they often avoided using the phone and would only meet in person. I recall the Sopranos episode where Tony & Co. were in the basement to talk business and they had to turn the radio up loud to overwhelm any bugs that might have been planted. Sometimes mobsters would write messages back and forth on pieces of paper, or would go to out of the way places in order to talk, never going to the same location each time. John Gotti (The former "Teflon Don" of the Gambino Crime Family) was famous for using these tactics to avoid detection...although the FBI eventually caught up to him anyway.

It seems to me that you only do this kind of ducking and dodging if you are involved in shady activities that you don't want anyone to find out about. This level of secrecy just would not make sense for a White House that was playing by the rules.

Where there is smoke, there is usually fire.