From LEITER: Lying 24-Year-Old Republican NASA Hack-Czar Leaves
NASA Presidential Appointee in a Million Little Pieces (Edmundson)
[From the Leiter Reports]
The blog The Scientific Activist [permalink] has exposed the 24-year-old creationist political hack, George C. Deutsch, as a fraud. Deutsch's skullduggery has been described on this blog [Leiter] and in media accounts. Although Deutsch did (apparently) work for in the Bush 2004 campaign's "war room," and for the Bush 2005 inaugural committee, he did not earn a B.A. in journalism from Texas A&M--contrary the resume he gave NASA. Deutsch has resigned, but NASA will not comment. Helluva job, Deutschy! (Can we go to Mars now?)
Mr. Deutsch, 24, was offered a job as a writer and editor in NASA's public affairs office in Washington last year after working on President Bush's re-election campaign and inaugural committee, according to his résumé. No one has disputed those parts of the document.
According to his résumé, Mr. Deutsch received a "Bachelor of Arts in journalism, Class of 2003."
Yesterday, officials at Texas A&M said that was not the case.
"George Carlton Deutsch III did attend Texas A&M University but has not completed the requirements for a degree," said an e-mail message from Rita Presley, assistant to the registrar at the university, responding to a query from The Times.
Repeated calls and e-mail messages to Mr. Deutsch on Tuesday were not answered.
nstead of the story being about a 24-year-old lying, it should be about this: how did this guy, who already had dubious qualifications, make it into NASA with such an obvious lie on his resume? To work for a federal agency, including NASA, extensive background checks are usually required. If I was able to uncover the truth about Deutsch in one phone call, then he must have been placed in his current position without any investigation, due to his loyal service on the Bush presidential campaign.""For a president that paints himself as a champion of national security, the NASA incident is a major blow to Bush’s credibility. This isn’t the first time either, with George Deutsch now joining the ranks of Michael Brown, the embattled former director of FEMA, and Harriet Myers, Bush’s Supreme Court nominee who was subsequently withdrawn. Congratulations, Deutsch, this is a pretty elite circle!
