I had no idea Dan Bartlett is only 36 years old. Just two months older than Ewan McGregor and two years older than me. That means he was 30 years old when he helped George W. Bush write a speech announcing the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. And he has been loyal to Bush for over 13 years. And so today, he announced that he is leaving the Bush White House on July 5th.

Mr. Bartlett was the White House communications director on 9/11. He, Massachusetts native Andy Card, and White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer were pretty much by the President's side that morning at the Emma E. Booker Elementary School. After Andy Card whispered in his ear that "America is under attack," President Bush sat for 7 minutes while the children discussed the now infamous and out-of-print book, My Pet Goat (damn they need to put that in the Bush 43 library). What a lot of people don't know, is that the President and Dan Bartlett then went into the classroom next door (wired with secure circuits back to the White House), and spent 15 minutes writing a statement that the president delivered at 9:30am, before United flight 93 turned back east.

Dan Bartlett played a role in one of the most traumatic days in our nation's history. He was promoted to Counselor of the President (not to be confused with Council, the president's lawyer) in 2005. And now he has found a comfy, less stressful place in the private sector. And the bastard is not even 40 yet. What a life. What a lie. Fuck him.

If there's a hell, Dan, I will see you there.

Same for Andy Card, Ari Fleischer (what a little shit), Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell, George Tenet, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales, Karl Rove, and The Man himself. Most of the Evil Ones can be seen in this photograph by Annie Leibovitz, which has been well protected from web publication. I saw the full framed version at the Brooklyn Museum last year, and it is stunning. Those are the faces of evil today.