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Well you and I did more then Alissa did in pointing out some errors in this article. I pretty much hate posts like Alissa's that claim "hit-piece" without telling us what she thinks is in error. Beyond claiming Bush was the first VP with oil interests (what about Nelson A. Rockefeller sworn in as the 41st vice president on Dec. 19, 1974??) I don't see what else is in error? Maybe everything? Maybe most of it? Maybe most of it is right? Maybe ALissa is a Democrat and wants people to read this while pretending to be outraged?

I appreciated Alissa posting the article--I like to know what the opposition is saying. I think the term "hit piece" describes the intent of an article rather than necessarily asserting error, so the label is accurate even without going through the lengthy process of pointing out individual errors. There are errors, but to identify and refute each one would take an extended commentary on virtually every sentence of the article--I have already spent an hour or more just commenting on two sentences so far-- and I don't think Alissa is obligated to do that just to post the article. And yes, Nelson Rockefeller would be another example of a VP with oil interests. Every administration since the 1870s has had oil interests. But oil interests are not intrinsically evil, unless one begins from the premise that capitalism is intrinsically evil, as Phillips seems to. However if one does not accept the premise that oil interests are intrinsically evil, the real issue is when such interests become a conflict of interests, which is what Phillips would need to establish to make this article's allegations stick. But the article doesn't do that, it just makes silly statements like "In each of the government offices he held, he encouraged CIA involvement in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern countries, and he pursued policies that helped make the Middle East into the world's primary destination for arms shipments."--what does Phillips expect, that Bush should've discouraged the CIA from gathering intelligence in the Middle East while the Soviets were busying overthrowing the government of Iran and invading Afghanistan?