Monday, October 03, 2005

WTF? Harriet Miers for Supreme Court?!?!?

No experience and pure cronyism. It seems so flagrant* - just slapping the senate in the face. Remember America, this is the same type of search process that gave us Dick "The Grabber" Cheney. I have to believe that this is political subterfuge. One can't take this thing seriously, can one? If the Dems fail to oppose this and call it for what it is I'm going to be very disappointed.

* This whole episode makes me preverbal. So, I'll lean back on group decision making research and say this is a horrible case of group think - when "smart" people make bad decisions. The following are the symptoms, defects and possible cures for group think. For the sake of argument, will be see the Bush neo-cronies as "smart" and keep our cures peaceful.

Symptoms
Group Invulnerability; Unquestioned Morality; Rationalization of Mistakes; Vilification of Opposing Groups; Self-Censorship; False Consensus; Forced Conformity; Blocking of Outside Information


Decision-Making Defects
Few Alternatives; No Re-examination of Plan; No Re-examination of Rejected Plans; Rejection of Expert Opinions; Biased Treatment of Information; No Contingency Plan


Cures
Maximize Idea Conflict & Debate (debate ideas, not people); Develop the Central Negative Role (devil's advocate); Reduce Leader Dominance; Keep Group Pride Within Limits; Examine Advantages and Disadvantages of All Proposals; Use a Problems-solving Agenda System