Time to fix the system

Flops Are No Fluke in the Annals of Political Payback

Administrations of both political parties have long track records of appointing cronies who are out of their depth to key executive branch positions, only to see them disappoint or fail, sometimes spectacularly. Such patronage is an artifact of the "spoils system" that President Andrew Jackson brought into office in the 1830s, in which government jobs were doled out as rewards for partisan loyalists, regardless of whether they were qualified.

I say political fundraisers should be barred from presidential appointments. Do we really want to risk another Katrina situation?

Just plain dumb:

And so it was that in 2001, Bush nominated as ambassador to France Howard H. Leach, a San Francisco financier who raised $100,000 for Bush's presidential bid but did not speak French. (The French noticed.)