You may or may not be aware of the 1969 book The Peter Principle by Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull. It says, in essence, that people will keep getting promoted until they reach the point where they are incompetent. It's the theory behind incompetent management. In view of the mismanagement in the Bush administration, it deserves another reading. No one has the time to find and list all the examples. Here are but a few.
Michael Brown. "You're doin' a heckuva job, Brownie." We all remember this. Michael Brown was the guy in charge of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) who totally screwed up the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. Brown was the Judges and Stewards Commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association -- key preparation for handling national disasters. How did he get this position? The old-fashioned way -- cronyism. Bush named Joe Allbaugh, a big-wig in his campaign, as head of FEMA. Allbaugh named his long-time friend, Brownie, as acting deputy director. When Allbaugh left, Brown moved into his position as Director of FEMA.
Monica Goodling. Before she resigned due to the U.S. attorney firing scandal, she was the 3rd most powerful official in the Department of Justice. At 33 years old she had never worked as a prosecutor but was in charge of overseeing the job performance of all 95 U.S. attorneys. No experience? A scholar, maybe? Nope. She is a graduate of Regent University, Pat Robertson's "Christian" law school. (By the way, Bush has hired about 150 Regent University graduates.)
Lester Crawford. Bush appointed Crawford as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). His qualifications? He's a vet; that is, a Doctor of Vetinary Medicine. He pleaded guilty to conflict of interest and false reporting of information about stocks he owned in food, beverage, and medical device companies he was in charge of regulating.
Andrew Natsios. Bush named Natsios special envoy to Darfur. Natsios had been administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). And what were his qualifications for that job? He screwed up. He was the guy in Massachusetts who was in charge of Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel project, known as "The Big Dig," considered one of the most mismanaged public works projects in history. In his USAID position he promised that the U.S. contribution to reconstruction of Iraq would be no more than $1.6 billion.