Bushies Bail in Mid-Radio Interview at Mention of Rubin Charges

NewsMax.com ^ | 8/13/02 | Carl Limbacher and Crew

[NormsRevenge]

Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2002 5:03 p.m. EDT

Bushies Bail in Mid-Radio Interview at Mention of Rubin Charges

White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill ran afoul of President Bush's "new tone" policy Tuesday afternoon, forcing them to bail out midway through a national radio interview rather than criticize former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin for possible Enrongate influence peddling.

Card and O'Neill were being interviewed simultaneously by nationally syndicated radio host Sean Hannity, who reached the two administration officials at President Bush's economic summit in Waco, Texas.

The exchange went like this:

HANNITY: Let me ask you one last question before you go. Robert Rubin, one of your predecessors, made a call to Peter Fischer, who works for you, and asked Fischer to intervene with the independent credit rating agencies to help Enron's credit rating stay artificially high.

Do you know anything else about this call - and whether Rubin or one of his associates made any other calls to your department? And what do you think of Joe Lieberman and Carl Levin refusing to call Rubin to testify and explain his call to your department?

O'NEILL: Sean, I've got to go do another interview.

HANNITY: You can't answer that question?

O'NEILL: Talk to you again. Thanks. Bye.

HANNITY: You want to answer that, Andy?

CARD: Well, you know, it's a great tendency in politics to want to go back and play the blame game. And that's not what this president's about. He's looking for ... (line goes dead)

HANNITY: Yeah, you there? I guess we just got cut off. (To producer) Did you hit the wrong line? You did? I guess we just lost them. Alright, well. Just when I'm getting to the good stuff. Don't you hate that. It's driving me nuts. Maybe if we can get them back, we'll try. (End of Excerpt)

O'Neill and Card, needless to say, never called back.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Bush Administration
Clinton Scandals

[NormsRevenge]

Pygmy Politicians? They hide under the desk when ya ask 'em about a serious issue :-)

[Vladiator]

It's better than taking the Fifth.

[thucydides]

I don't think so. To the millions of ill-informed and apathetic voters out there, who vote strictly on who seems more likable, and in complete ignorance of voting records, positions on issues, etc., the "new tone" tactic may be just what is called for. Certainly the democrats are falling all over themselves with nastiness. If republicans respond in kind, then to these voters "they're all alike." I suspect millions of these voters are just going to feel more comfortable with republicans, and they will associate the democrats with carping, stirring up bad feelings, agitating race issues, etc. Bush's high positives in the polls, and democrats high negatives seem to bear this out. We'll see in the Fall.

[gcruse]

Learn from this, grasshopper.
No, I don't mean that evasion
and ducking questions are
quintessential politician
tactics, whether it be Clinton
or Bush in office. No, the
lesson to be learned is that,
to hang up on someone without
them thinking you are doing
it deliberately, always hang
up while YOU are talking.
No one could imagine you would
interupt yourself to hang up.

[TLBSHOW]

These guys are rats too?

[SunStar]

Exactly.

There is a perception that Republicans are mean and nasty because we went after Bill Clinton over what some people say was a trivial issue. I felt the same way at the time, to tell you the truth. There were much more important reasons to impeach Clinton over besides lying about a consensual relationship! (Treason, for one.)

President Bush is trying to rectify that perception. That doesn't mean that Sean Hannity shouldn't grill the Bush Administration officials like he did.

[SunStar]

These guys are rats too?

No.

[steve50]

I wonder when they're going to ask Skilling about his duties at the Huston Federal Reserve Bank.

[gcruse]

Bush's high positives in the polls,
and democrats high negatives seem to
bear this out.

Corelation is not causality.  The high
positives have to do more with
prosecution of the war.  Refusal
to play hard ball has characterized
Republicans as being spineless even
among the faithful for decades.
It is not a winning way.
 
 
 

[End The Hypocrisy]

>>>>If republicans respond in kind [to the Democrats' nastiness], then to these voters "they're all alike." <<<


Well, many of the voters I've heard from say that politicians are all alike in that they won't REALLY rock the boat in ways that could do some true good. Some have even said that as long as merely two political parties get to debate in the national debates, we'll continue to have back-room collusion between the two supposedly "competing" parties. When a third party comes along that's sufficiently strong, though, the fiesta gets spoiled because it wants power badly enough to rock the boat and start landing some real punches.

The U.S. is apparently one of the few "democracies" that has merely a two party system, is it not? We still make the third party's presidential candidate have 15% BEFORE getting to debate. Without Perot's billions, that's exceedingly tough to accomplish (as he learned in '96 and Nader did in '00). Conveniently enough for those who want to keep everyone else subservient to the 2 party system, there are only around a few hundred billionaires WORLDWIDE. And several of them owned stock in Enron & Worldcon, etcetera...

[TLBSHOW]

What are they protecting Rubin for?

[End The Hypocrisy]

Cynical voters might say they're protecting Rubin because "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks".

[dalereed]

Bush's be nice attitude wants to make me puke!

I learned real young, nice guys run last!

[NormsRevenge]

These are officials that don't want to distract from the economic forum Bush is holding. That they didn't want to unload on Rubin prematurely or while the Waco forum is on is understandable.

BUT.... There must be payback by the hordes of Rubin and his ilk, these conniving manipulating "politicos", found on both sides of the aisle who slither back and forth from the public to the private sector and are not held accountable for their actions as they feather their nests and let others get taken to the cleaners.

The "new tone" is not the same thing as taking the Higher Road. Maybe Being a Businessperson should make you suspect. With the latest goings on, What else can one think?

[SunStar]

What are they protecting Rubin for?

Because they want to move the country forward.

It would take Bush's full 8 years of office just to prosecute the Clinton Administration's crimes and misdeeds...

[TLBSHOW]

Rubin and the Clinton Treasury is the key.

[End The Hypocrisy]

But didn't Bush publicly say a few days ago that he "inherited" the recession? That's not particularly "forward" looking...

[monday]

Cowards. Oh well, what else is new?

[willgetsome]

There are ways to get at Rubin and his ties to Enron. Some ways are better than others. Taking shots at him on the Sean Hannity Show may appease the "red meat" crowd but may serve to polarize mainstream people who don't know anything. Let's do it the right way: Congressional investigation, Congressional testimony, leverage Enron executives to expand the probe, build a case, and then nail him.

P.S. Maybe I'm naive and too optimistic, but one thing the Clinton Presidency taught me was that the messenger became the issue rather than the message. We need to out-smart the "damage control spin machine" tactics that Clinton masterfully created.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Rubin and the Clinton Treasury is the key.

I agree 100%. I wish, though, someone would explain to me what real benefit would have come from these two men unloading on Rubin. From news reports it is clear that the FBI and SEC are investigating the middle and late 90s with regard to Enron and other matters. With respect to the Commerce Department report, the news story is out there. No reason for the Bush Administration to pound on the issue. That is what Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, etal are for. Furthermore, these men will not comment on someone who may be the focus of those investigations. Most folks with one eye and half sense would recognize this.

Sure Bush has stumbled, but I can think of very little he has done that he did not campaign on. On those matters we can have an honest debate.

Pick up a copy (if you haven't already read it) of Shephen Covey's "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" and you will get a keen insight into George Bush the person and the President.