Posted on 07/17/2002 12:47:25 PM PDT by dirtboy
The White House is reeling from allegations that both President Bush and Vice President Cheney engaged in business practices that are disturbingly similar to those of executives at Enron and WorldCom. Like administrations before it, this White House now must choose between serving the greater interests of the office of the presidency or the narrower goals of the current officeholder. If last week was any indication, Bush officials have chosen a dangerous path of personal devotion over public duty, a path that has led previous administrations to disaster.
The recent allegations - which may prove overblown under closer scrutiny - center on transactions by Bush and Cheney when they were executives at Harken Energy Corp. and Halliburton Co., respectively. Among the unproven allegations are insider trading, questionable personal loans and fraudulent dealings. The White House staff has put on a full-court press to refute these allegations of private misconduct. In doing so, the administration is drifting into the troubled waters in which the Clinton administration found itself...
Click here for the rest of the article, as this was originally published in the LA Slimes...
I'm glad you can derive a theme from this article.
I can't figure out why Turley bothered writing it.
Man, you are desperate to justify this, aren't you?
It looks like to me you're upset because we're not upset with this article.
You put it up; be prepared to defend it.
Sink, we'll just have to agree to disagree here. I think Fleisher could have added dignity to the process by saying "these matters occurred before both the President and Vice-President were in office, and I defer questions on these matters to their private counsel" - and often times Clinton's lawyer Kendall handled the matter
Once again, sink, thanks for keeping this a debate instead of a questioning of motives.
So you are now saying that Ari should have handled it like the Clinton administration.
Oh well the old addage about "digging a deeper hole" is being proved by you, IMHO.
Man, you are desperate to justify this, aren't you?
No, but you seem desperate to avoid the fact that you have misquoted both myself and Turley. Howlin, I AM AGREEING that the Halliburton matter is not a scandal from what I have seen so far. But you are twisting my words here to try and justify your assertion that I claimed haven't followed this matter - and the fact that you are twisting a statement that basically agrees with your position on the matter is, quite frankly, a sorry indication of the lengths you will pursue to avoid admitting you made a mistake.
It looks like to me you're upset because we're not upset with this article.
No, I'm upset when someone questions my motives and misquotes me and the author.
You put it up; be prepared to defend it.
Uh, Howlin, I put it up for debate. Perhaps you would care to emulate Sinkspur, who had done an admirable job of doing just that, without misquoting me or the author, or questioning my motives.
To put an end to this bickering, how about you assuring me that during the Clinton years, you, personally, advocated that nobody in the Clinton administration answer questions except Clinton. Can you point me to a post where you said just what you're saying on this thread?
Uh, Howlin, the SEC is investigating this matter, so I am not alone in being undecided about that matter. Upon the conclusion of that investigation, I will decide whether or not Cheney engaged in malfeasance.
Is that so hard to understand?
Uh, Howlin, exactly WHAT does that have to do with anything? Drop it. Or, even better, admit that you misquoted Turley and me.
Let's put up the whole quote from your reply #39.
I agree entirely about Harken, as far as Halliburton goes, it's too early to tell, so I'm withholding judgement, but I haven't seen enough yet to call it a scandal.
So you were saying that Harken is nothing and Halliburton may have potential as a "scandal".
You did not dismiss the liberal media/DNC spin, even though there are a plethora of threads debunking the liberal media/DNC spin about Halliburton on FR.
Uh, Howlin, how is it stonewalling to have the official White House spokesman defer questions about the personal conduct of Bush and Cheney prior to their tenure in office to their personal attorneys?
But you are doing better. At least this time you didn't put stonewalling in quotes.
You are, however, demanding a double standard.
Well, Howlin, I guess we'll never hear a reason why Ari shouldn't tell them the "White House reaction".
Uh, Dane, as I told Howlin, the SEC is investigating Halliburton, and I will withhold my personal judgement on the matter until they are done. Is that so absurd?
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