Did Anybody in that Administration Have Any Ethics?

It appears that Sandy Berger has had his hand slapped. (h/t instapundit, powerline and drudge)

Let's do a little fiskin'...

Samuel R. Berger, a national security adviser to President Bill Clinton...

and

Mr. Berger was a senior policy adviser to Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts

Now--Why would anyone begin to question the ethics of someone who cavorts with these two? Hmmmmmm? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

[Berger] was often mentioned as a possible secretary of state in a Kerry presidency.

Oh, that would have been just friggin' great now, wouldn't it. A guy at the top who spent decades telling us that he went on some Apocalypse Now mission that never happened being represented by a guy who Five-Finger-Discounts "was just too tired and wasn't able to focus enough with" highly classified documents. Who'd they have in mind for Secretary of Defense? Madeline Albright? Nevermind. Don't answer that. And what about that snake trial lawyer Edwards? Well--nevermind again. However, I digress....

When the issue surfaced last year, Mr. Berger insisted that he had removed the classified material inadvertently.

Right, Sandy. Those classified papers ended up in your socks accidentally. Sure. Happens to me all the time.

But look, not just in the same paragraph, but in the very next sentence, we get...

But in the plea agreement reached with prosecutors, he is expected to admit that he intentionally removed copies of five classified documents, destroyed three and misled staff members at the National Archives when confronted about it...[emphasis added]

Mr. Berger, 59, was unavailable for comment Thursday. In a statement, his lawyer, Lanny Breuer...

Lanny Breuer. Lanny Breuer. Where do I know that name? Oh, yeah. Now I remember. He spent some time in the Clinton White House, where Clinton "repeatedly and unlawfully invoked the Executive Privilege to conceal evidence of his personal misconduct from the grand jury". This attempt at Executive Privilege included shielding Lanny Breuer from testifying before the grand jury. Question: Do all Democrats caught in a scandal hire some snake trial lawyer to defend them? Again. Nevermind.

...the plea agreement requires him to give up his secret security clearance for three years...

He lost his security clearance for Three Friggin' Years? Is that all? He admitted that he intentionally took classified documents and then DESTROYED them. The least that he ought to get is the chance to make small rocks out of big rocks for Three Years.

But some political analysts said the case against him...may have made him unemployable in government in the short term.

Oh. Do ya Think? If the world is fair at all, Sandy's "short term" will last quite some time.

[Berger] is currently chairman of a global business strategy firm.

Note to those who might hire Berger's firm for whatever "business strategy" advice they might need: Drop him like a bad habit. Do it now.

And they wonder why the public has a cynical eye for politicians. Geesh.

UPDATE: Powerline has a good synopsis of the likely course of events here.