To blunt charges of cronyism, Bush names a man he just met to run the Federal Reserve

Just got this from a co-worker.

WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Andy Borowitz
Newsweek
Updated: 5:27 p.m. ET Oct. 11, 2005

To blunt charges of cronyism, President Bush names a man he just met to run the Federal Reserve.

Oct. 11, 2005 - Still smarting from criticism of his nomination of Harriet Miers to the United States Supreme Court, President George W. Bush today nominated a man he described as "a guy I met at the mall" to succeed Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan.

At a White House ceremony, a beaming President Bush stood at the side of the guy he met at the mall and explained how he came to choose a total unknown to replace Greenspan, who has served at the Fed since 1987.

Bush said that the two men met while they were waiting in line at a David's Cookies store: "I was very impressed with the way he counted his change, and I am confident he will bring that same understanding of money to his new role as head of the Federal Reserve."

While the president said he did not yet know the name of the guy he met at the mall, he added, "All of that will come out during the confirmation process."

After being accused of cronyism in the nomination of Miers, the president may be trying to blunt such criticism by nominating someone he barely knows to run the Fed, some in Washington believe.

But Davis Logsdon, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota, has a different theory about Bush's recent appointments: "He may be surrounding himself with lousy people in the hopes that he'll be graded on a curve."

Elsewhere, the New York Yankees fell to the Los Angeles Angels despite a ninth-inning attempt by George Steinbrenner to buy the L.A. team.

© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.