Rewarding failure?

Grist for thought from Chris Hayes (Nation's Editor at Large): "[W]hat's so troubling about this [Dick] Cheney publicity lap, is the fact that he has managed to escape not only legal sanction for advocating and overseeing the implementation of the war crime that is torture, but that he also has appeared to manage to escape social sanction as well. ... Everyone is now going to treat him as just another memoirist with a book to sell, and have his book party and give his interviews and cash his checks as if he were Keith Richards. ... When powerful people are not held to account when they have no worry about their reputations, it creates a moral hazard. Not unlike what's happened with the banks. Anti-social behavior is rewarded. Failure is also rewarded. And we are trapped inside a system of perverse incentives." (Hat tip: Washington Monthly)