Article: Cronyism ain't what it used to be: when mediocrity is too much to expect.

For better or worse, the Bush White House has come to be known as the most crony-packed administration in living memory. One has to go back to the days of Jimmy Carter's "Georgia Mafia"--think Bert Lance--to find an administration stocked with so many hangers-on, bosom buddies, fundraisers, jock sniffers and henchmen. This does not automatically put George Bush in a class with Ulysses S. Grant or Warren Harding--cronyism gone berserk--but it is definitely a cause for concern. And the reason it is a cause for concern is not because of cronyism per se, but because our national standards of acceptable cronyism have so dramatically declined.

Cronies have always been ...

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