Post by bot on May 22, 2004 23:49:00 GMT -5
Subject: Bush is savaged by his former Treasury chief. Sunday's 60 Minutes should be a blast.
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Date: 2004-01-10 09:05:31 PST
From The Financial Times, 1/9/04:
news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1073280927272
Bush savaged by former Treasury chief
By Alan Beattie in Washington
President George W. Bush's performance at cabinet meetings resembled
that of "a blind man in a room full of deaf people", according to Paul
O'Neill, who was fired as Treasury secretary in 2002.
The remarkable personal attack is made by Mr O'Neill in a forthcoming
book, according to excerpts from a television interview to be
broadcast on Sunday.
In the CBS Sixty Minutes interview Mr O'Neill, the former chief
executive of the aluminium company Alcoa, says there was little
constructive dialogue between officials and the president.
Speaking about his first meeting with Mr Bush, which lasted about an
hour, Mr O'Neill says:
"I went in with a long list of things to talk about and, I thought, to
engage [him] on.
"I was surprised it turned out me talking and the president just
listening . . . It was mostly a monologue."
The interview, one of the first with Mr O'Neill about his time in the
administration, prefigures the publication on Tuesday of The Price of
Loyalty, a book about the Bush White House by the journalist Ron
Suskind.
The book is based on interviews with Mr O'Neill and other White House
officials as well as documents provided by Mr O'Neill.
Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, on Friday declined to
comment on the book or the interview, telling reporters "I don't do
book reviews".
Mr O'Neill was forced to resign as Treasury secretary in December 2002
after he declined to give full-hearted support for a new round of tax
cuts, in a clear-out that also saw the dismissal of Larry Lindsey, the
president's chief economic adviser.
Unlike Mr Lindsey, who took his dismissal with public good grace, Mr
O'Neill immediately stormed out of the Treasury to return to his home
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
During his tenure as Treasury secretary, Mr O'Neill became well-known
for speaking out frequently and frankly on a range of subjects
including the dollar, the limited value of International Monetary Fund
crisis lending and the problems with development aid.
His comments frequently had an impact on financial markets, with one
remark about the low likelihood of an IMF rescue package for Brazil
causing a rapid fall in the Brazilian currency.
The IMF subsequently announced a $30bn bail-out that succeeded in
stabilising the Brazilian economy.
In the television interview, Mr O'Neill also reportedly sheds light on
key policy discussions within the Bush administration, including the
scale of tax cuts and what action to take against the Iraqi regime of
Saddam Hussein.
This is the only article in this thread
View: Original Format
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc, alt.politics.bush, alt.politics.liberalism, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.gw-bush, alt.politics
Date: 2004-01-10 09:05:31 PST
From The Financial Times, 1/9/04:
news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1073280927272
Bush savaged by former Treasury chief
By Alan Beattie in Washington
President George W. Bush's performance at cabinet meetings resembled
that of "a blind man in a room full of deaf people", according to Paul
O'Neill, who was fired as Treasury secretary in 2002.
The remarkable personal attack is made by Mr O'Neill in a forthcoming
book, according to excerpts from a television interview to be
broadcast on Sunday.
In the CBS Sixty Minutes interview Mr O'Neill, the former chief
executive of the aluminium company Alcoa, says there was little
constructive dialogue between officials and the president.
Speaking about his first meeting with Mr Bush, which lasted about an
hour, Mr O'Neill says:
"I went in with a long list of things to talk about and, I thought, to
engage [him] on.
"I was surprised it turned out me talking and the president just
listening . . . It was mostly a monologue."
The interview, one of the first with Mr O'Neill about his time in the
administration, prefigures the publication on Tuesday of The Price of
Loyalty, a book about the Bush White House by the journalist Ron
Suskind.
The book is based on interviews with Mr O'Neill and other White House
officials as well as documents provided by Mr O'Neill.
Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, on Friday declined to
comment on the book or the interview, telling reporters "I don't do
book reviews".
Mr O'Neill was forced to resign as Treasury secretary in December 2002
after he declined to give full-hearted support for a new round of tax
cuts, in a clear-out that also saw the dismissal of Larry Lindsey, the
president's chief economic adviser.
Unlike Mr Lindsey, who took his dismissal with public good grace, Mr
O'Neill immediately stormed out of the Treasury to return to his home
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
During his tenure as Treasury secretary, Mr O'Neill became well-known
for speaking out frequently and frankly on a range of subjects
including the dollar, the limited value of International Monetary Fund
crisis lending and the problems with development aid.
His comments frequently had an impact on financial markets, with one
remark about the low likelihood of an IMF rescue package for Brazil
causing a rapid fall in the Brazilian currency.
The IMF subsequently announced a $30bn bail-out that succeeded in
stabilising the Brazilian economy.
In the television interview, Mr O'Neill also reportedly sheds light on
key policy discussions within the Bush administration, including the
scale of tax cuts and what action to take against the Iraqi regime of
Saddam Hussein.