Posted on 01/03/2002 2:00:01 AM PST by Republican_Strategist
During the mist of a war on terrorism, Bush has apparently emerged victorious in Afghanistan. He achieved an unprecedented victory that caught the Nay Sayers by surprise after they alluded to doom & gloom scenarios of another Vietnam. Bush has also done some great maneuvering to pull us out of the Clinton recession managing to garner the 60 votes needed to pass his economic stimulus package.
Of course economic stimulus would pass, but one man has stepped up on behalf of liberal democrats. That man is Tom Daschle, obstructionist extraordinaire. In a Washington Times article, apparently a poll conducted by the democratic leadership council shows that democrats are in trouble on the three big issues and people trust the GOP. Democrats apparently concocted a plan use Enron as a scapegoat.
Henry Waxman apparently would like to hold hearings and well we know he is simply going to highlight Bush getting money from Enron and then list Enron’s misdeeds and try to make that flimsy connection. Joseph Lieberman as also joined promising a similar type hearing. Not only that but the liberal media has joined in with Bill Press’ bleeding heart statements about employees losing 401ks, the L.A. Times comparing it to White Water (talk about false analogies), and the N.Y. Times demanding an investigation.
Press reports always highlight Bush getting contributions from Enron. Heaven forbid Bush coming out and saying he hasn’t had any contact with Enron over the last 6 weeks or saying we should have an investigation of Enron. The SEC, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Justice are all investigating. Apparently that isn’t good enough for the democrats and the liberal media. Oh no, they have to have Henry “Nostrils” Waxman to pig out over it.
It seems this fourth quarter garnered $100,000 to both the Democratic Senatorial Committee and the Republican Senatorial Committee. The funny thing is republicans did the “right thing” so to speak in November giving it back. Democrats on the other hand took the money from Enron while grumbling about investigations. Democrats only wanted to “give” it back when the associated press reported they had the money. Also it seems Lee. P Brown (D) of Houston received $250,000 just before Enron filed Chapter 11.
The Center for Responsive Politics lists Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer of New York, John Breaux of Louisiana, and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico--chair of the Senate Energy Committee--among the top beneficiaries of Enron's political donations. No. 20 on the Enron money list since 1989 is the Senate's leading Democrat, Tom Daschle of South Dakota. Enron was apparently a big backer of the Kyoto Treaty as well, but you don’t hear much about that. One wonders if Waxman will be highlighting these facts.
One can’t further overlook the DNC/Enron ties like:
-Lloyd Bensten, Clinton’s first treasury secretary was a recipient of Enron’s largesse. At the time of his campaign for Senate, he received the second largest donation from Enron according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
-Robert Rubin, Bensten’s successor, was involved with Enron while he worked as an investment banker Goldman & Sachs. Clinton first hired Rubin to head his National Economic Council. Soon afterwards, Rubin wrote on Goldman Sachs stationery to former clients, including Enron, in which he ''looked forward to continuing to work with you in my new capacity.''
-In Aug. 1993, McLarty arranged an invitation for Lay to play golf with Clinton in Vail, Colorado. This date irritated Oscar White, chief executive of Coastal, another natural gas company that had helped the Clinton election campaign raise funding. “These connections to the Democratic administration have helped Enron considerably” -Ken Silverstein ‘Counterpunch’
-Clinton officials publicly helped Enron win the contract in India as well as in Indonesia. Enron had received U.S. government funds to build power plants in China, the Philippines and Turkey. Enron also won contracts in Pakistan and Russia while accompanying senior U.S. government officials on state trips. In June 1996, four days before India granted final approval to Enron's project, Lay's company gave $100,000 to the DNC.
-According to the Houston Chronicle, Enron got permission to build a pipeline from Mozambique to South Africa after National Security Adviser Anthony Lake threatened to withhold aid to Mozambique if it didn’t approve the project.
-The bulk of Enron's alleged chicanery had to have happened during the Clinton administration.
-Kenneth Lay hired the firm of Clinton's former chief of staff Mack McLarty.
-Kenneth Lay retained as his top D.C. lobbyist Linda Robertson, a Democrat who worked for the Clinton Treasury Department.
-Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee received three checks from the Houston-based energy and trading giant totaling $100,000. Karen Denne, an Enron spokeswoman, said the company had a record of two checks written to the committee -- dated Sept. 24 and Nov. 2
-Enron’s Political Action Committee has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to democrats including Tom Daschle, Chuck Schumer, Charlie Rangel, Teddy Kennedy, etc.
Then maybe you can think about getting a job flying one of your Mirage aircraft that are all grounded because they can't fly off the new Charles de Gaulle carrier where the prop fell off a few weeks ago and almost sank.
NonMerci for creeps like you in the USA.
As people have pointed out, Enron spread the dollars around far and wide. Enron did many inovative things, they basially invented today's natural gas and power markets, but they chased growth at any price, and the end result was not that surprising.
And so what if the company went under? Did Bush have inside information that fraud was being committed? A just as big as fraud was all the retail investors that lost fortunes on the dot com bust. Most of them from heavily democratic states.
If the repubs don't hit back and hit back hard on this issue, they deserve what they get.
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