Posted on 04/20/2004 11:27:47 AM PDT by callisto
Saudi ambassador to the U.S. Prince Bandar bin Sultan said Monday that ex-President Clinton sought a secret deal to keep oil prices low before the 2000 election, explaining that the request was nothing unusual.
"President Clinton asked us to keep the prices down in the year 2000," Bin Sultan told CNN's "Larry King Live," responding to a claim by Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward that the Bush administration made a similar request this year.
Bin Sultan said President Carter also made a request for lower oil prices to save his reelection bid in 1979, explaining that he did so "to avoid the [US's economic] malaise."
"We always want any president who is in office to be reelected," Bin Sultan explained, while stressing that his hope for lower oil prices was not a direct effort to influence the outcome of the U.S. election.
"This not our call. This is the American people's call," he insisted.
"We hoped that the oil prices will stay low, because that's good for America's economy, but more important, it's good for our economy and the international economy," Prince Bandar told CNN. "And this is nothing unusual."
On Monday, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry decried Bush's "secret deal" with the Saudis for low oil prices, based on a claim in Bob Woodward's new book, "Plan of Attack."
"If, as Bob Woodward reports, it is true that gas supplies and prices in America are tied to the American election, tied to a secret White House deal, that is outrageous and unacceptable," Kerry complained in Florida.
Sen. Kerry has yet to issue a similar denunciation of the secret oil price deals sought from the Saudis by Presidents Clinton and Carter.
Example: Clinton uses cocaine with 400 drug dealers on the steps of the New York Times. ( not a story - everyone does it, let's move on)
Bush drives a car on a back road after having two beers. ( BIG story, no one does that, stay on this story until the cows come home...)
"President Clinton asked us to keep the prices down in the year 2000," Bin Sultan told CNN's "Larry King Live," responding to a claim by Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward that the Bush administration made a similar request this year.
Hate to pick, but "stagflation" was Tricky Dick and not Incompetent Carter. Jimmah was in charge of hyperinflation, as well as the dismantling of our foreign policy and military, crashing helicoptors into the Iranian desert, and restribution of our wealth through the tax code. Jimmah also popularized killar wabbits, and contrary to popular belief, he was the first president to pronounce "nuclear" as "nookuler." Although Jimmah was responsible for a lot of things, stagflation was not one of them.
Google "stagflation, Carter" and you'll find numerous references.
Please cite historical examples besides Clinton.
No. This long-overdue-for-"PNG"-status sand nazi is the man who's wife's money ended up in the pockets of 9-11 hijackers.
The House of Saud is the one and only issue on which Kerry is running to the right of Bush.
Good to see you back on FR! How's it going?
Hard to believe anything Prince Bandar Bush, Puke Extraordinaire says.
Should just shut up.
>>The House of Saud is the one and only issue on which Kerry is running to the right of Bush.
How effing difficult is that. All Kerry has to do is be just a tiney eeny weenie bitty less of a Saudi whore.
Like the difference between Deep Throating or someone with somewhat of a gag reflex.
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