How low can the Washington Post sink? And why even bother to ask that question? After all, we all know after reading the Post‘s finalist application for Hack List 2017 that the Post can sink very low.
Furthermore, we all know that the Post‘s horrifying op-ed page editor Fred Hiatt is a sociopathic neocon who would support the invasion of Alabama if he could make a penny out of it. As we know, he’s already done quite well supporting war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and calling for invasions of Axis of Evil stalwarts Iran, Syria and North Korea.
But even I was surprised — not that much really — by the op-ed published today byÂ
Attempting to capitalize on the ongoing Manafort furor, Levinson, a long-time DC lobbyist and hack, tells the credulous nincompoops who still read the Post op-ed page of her own experience making untold riches while working for this savage monster.
(Incidentally, after I published this story a few days ago Levinson contacted me to say that her op-ed was based on excerpts from her book, “Choosing the Hero: My Improbable Journey and the Rise of Africa’s First Woman President,” which was published 18 months ago. She told me I was in the book, which came as news to me. I’m guessing I was not favorably mentioned — see below — but we’ll see.)
Her Post piece begins:
Early in my career, I worked for Paul Manafort. He was strategic, canny, demanding and, it will surprise no one to learn after his 12-count indictment this week, played by his own rules, in an industry where you usually got away with it. I was young, wanted to do right by the world, and my boss lacked a moral compass. Working for him nearly broke my spirit.
I won’t torture you with any more of Levinson’s drivel but suffice it to say that she was writing about her career in the early-1990s. Later in her career, when I met her in 2002, she was lobbying for the thieving dictator of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang.
She lost that job after she foolishly — because this was pre-Google and she failed to do any due diligence on me — helped me arrange a trip to Equatorial Guinea, thinking I was dumb enough to believe her stories about it being a thriving oil-rich democracy.
The result was this story for The Nation, “U.S. Oil Politics in the ‘Kuwait of Africa’: The Bush Administration, urged by the oil industry, has embraced a corrupt regime.” By the way, here’s a new story about the revolting son of the president of Equatorial Guinea. I’ve been writing about this clown for over 20 years and my reporting led to the extinction of Riggs Bank, which was laundering his dirty money, and to the U.S. government seizing his $30 million home in Malibu, along with some Michael Jackson paraphernalia. (You know, there are some days when I think I’ve been doing this job too long.)
Nor did Levinson mention, in this disgraceful op-ed, her work advocating for the invasion of Iraq so she and her pals could loot that country after the invasion. That led to this story of mine in the Los Angeles Times describing her, and a bunch of other war profiteers, as a war profiteer.
Anyway, if you have the patience, go to this Department of Justice site and search — in the unlikely event the search function works, a rarity in my experience — for Levinson’s clients. Her moral compass spins wildly, but it always stops when it sniffs a jackpot.
