Rory Stewart on being a government consultant

Posted By Thomas E. Ricks Share

He speaks much truth:

It's like they're coming in and saying to you, 'I'm going to drive my car off a cliff. Should I or should I not wear a seatbelt?' And you say, 'I don't think you should drive your car off the cliff.' And they say, No, no, that bit's already been decided -- the question is whether to wear a seatbelt.' And you say, 'Well, you might as well wear a seatbelt.' And then they say, 'We've consulted with policy expert Rory Stewart and he says ...'"

(Hat tip to man-about-town Randall Michelson of greater Los Angeles. How come all my best tips come from California? I suspect it is casued by the great new syrahs and other Rhonish wines coming out of the Central Coast. I think with global warming in a few years we'll be talking about the new Rhones coming out of Cornwall and Sussex.) 

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EXPLORE:BRITAIN, POLITICS
 
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BILL KELLER

1:05 AM ET

September 16, 2009

The quiet of conflicts of interests...

there is a bit of ethical integrity by failing to project comments.

It is as if we finally caught the last joke in the movie "Annie Hall"...about living with a person that thinks it is a chicken and not wanting to leave this person alone because one needs the eggs....

 

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military for the Washington Post from 2000 through 2008.

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January/February 2010