Avoid Enrongate at all costs!
Sunday, January 27, 2002, 2:00 PM EST (APJPAvoid Enrongate at all costs!
It's noteworthy that as Enrongate simply overwhelmed newspaper headlines this week,
the Cheney-Card Misadministration got Vice President Dick Cheney and White House Chief of
Staff Andy Card to do the spinning. it's also noteworthy that there was plenty of talk about the
"war on terrorism", which these days seems restricted to imprisoning about ten dozen
Al Qaeda and Taliban thugs at Guantanamo, and the upcoming State of the Enron...er, Union Address.
We heard NO talk about the following headlines:
Two Enrongate-related suicides, one an Enron exec, one an Arthur Andersen honcho
More memos pointing to trouble going back a year
The start of hearings in Congress -- and one Arthur Andersen official asserting his fifth amendment rights
Questions surrounding the Secretary of the Army's ties to Enron
Evidence that Dick Cheney himself acted subtly as Enron's "Repo man", pressuring India to repay the energy broker for money owed
...and that's just for starters!
Here's what we caught...
FAUX News Sunday
Big Time Dick emerges from his bunker!
A brief Time-Warner cable outage caused us to miss the first few minutes of Tony Snow's interview with Vice President Dick Cheney, so we joined the action
about 4 minutes into the show.
Picture and sound kicked in as Cheney was busy characterizing Palestinian leader
Yassir Arafat as an unreconstructed terrorist. FNS host Tony Snow cued
Cheney to say that Arafat is "in cahoots with" Hezbollah (as if most of the world hasn't
figured that out). Tony did say that the Cheney Administration has
supported a Palestinian state, and Cheney said that the process of negotiating a Palestinian
homeland requires a state of peace, and that is "the dream of [Palestinian] people and
the administration" (then why no moves to get BOTH sides to take tensions down a notch, Dick?
Arafat's a thug, but Ariel Sharon's no angel). Cheney added "Arafat has to take
action" to end violence against Israelis... he knows what he has to do."
Then came the most telling exchange in which Cheney has ever taken part on
TV: talk turned to Enron. Why won't Cheney release the names of his Energy Policy mafia? Cheney
bragged about the "good report" that took several months to write (good for Williams, Southern,
and other energy scammers) and bills that the House of Confederates passed (return
on investment in pols). Cheney then carped about the GAO getting involved in the mess
(a sure indication that he fears what a complete and "un-shredded" release of documents will
yield), and griped that "we've already given them a lot" of material (oh, please -- it's not as if
the GAO is Kenny Starr out to obtain hundreds of thousands of documents, emails and
memos through subpoenas, and it's beginning to sound like a cover-up). Big Time Dick then
pouted about Rep. Henry Waxman demanding records, claiming that if he did so he
would never be able to have confidential discussions (complete nonsense -- Dick would have
nothing to fear if he did not bear the taint of a bankrupt, crooked company himself), and
said making the material public would be a "fundamentally bad idea" (oh
we see -- full disclosure and transparency of the process of secretly developing "energy policy"
that shuts out consumers, environmental experts and safety and regulatory advocates is a bad thing).
There was no follow-up question. Cheney then told the truth -- Democrats are trying to turn
Enrongate into a political matter (and, let's face it, with a bought-and-paid-for Puppet Pretend-ident with Uncle Dicky, Uncle Rummy and Uncle Andy pulling the strings, what's so
wrong with that?). Cheney again painted the issue as one of confidentiality
(read: secrecy out of the light of public scrutiny and accountability) and added he would
refuse to give the
GAO any further material (read: he's dead meat).
Cheney then lamented the "erosion of power" of the (Imperial) Presidency and
said that the Bush (read: his) administration would not allow any of its powers to be frittered away
(powers that his own party tried to undermine with eight years of false "scandals" cooked up
against Clinton -- and all they discovered is that he's a major-league chick magnet).
After the break, Brit Hume joined the asked if there were any circumstances under which Cheney
would release material to the GAO. Cheney beat around the bush about getting
advice on the matter, then AGAIN said he objected to the idea that he might not be able to have
a conversation in confidence (stop wasting our time, Dick, we heard you the first
time). There was no follow-up question. Hume asked about the political fallout, even using
the term "attendant scandal" as he asked if Cheney is ready to deal with the heat. Cheney
said the issue is not the advice of Enron but the collapse of Enron -- if there are crimes,
then the crooks should be prosecuted (he may live to regret that assertion), and the
Cheney-Card cadre will work to defend 401(k)s (in a way that benefits the big brokerage
houses and banks, naturally). There was no follow-up question.
Is there anything in the energy plan that benefits Enron?
Cheney avoided a direct answer, just saying that Enron offered suggestions,
and that Enron was opposed to price controls
as is he (read: screw all regulation, it's my duty to the energy cartel to see to it
that they can soak power consumers), adding that he and the task force should be
judged by the report (believe me, Dick, you are being judged -- as an accomplice in
grand larceny, price-fixing, undermining antitrust efforts, and screwing over investors).
There was no follow-up question. Tony quizzed Cheney about
the current Army Secretary, Tom White, who had been involved in
energy trading (read: up to his eyeballs in the Enrongate brown sauce).
Cheney called him a man of integrity. There was (you guessed it) no follow-up question.
Brit then asked Cheney about Colin Powell's recommendation that prisoners
at Camp X-Ray be labeled prisoners of war. A smile crossed Cheney's face as he thought to himself,
"Thank God THAT bit of spin is behind me", stuck to his "unlawful combatants" guns for the happy campers at Guantanamo -- and pretty much admitted the label was being used to
keep Geneva Convention rules from applying! Cheney said the people being held at "Gitmo" were out to kill Americans, may have information to help stop further terrorist attacks
and prosecute terrorists, and are "being treated appropriately." Cheney characterized the issue as legal (as opposed to a human rights issue, which it has very much become in the
European and Middle Eastern press).
Tony switched to the issue of the war on terrorism -- and reports that Mullah Omar and Osama have slipped into Pakistan (cheap plug: if you haven't taken our "Where's Osama" poll,
go to americanpolitics.com. Cheney thinks the wily bin Laden is still alive, even though he has not made any of his characteristic rambling videotaped
pronouncements, and if he were dead there's be signs: more "noise in the system" (slang for intelligence garnered from communications intercepts).
Brit asked about campaign finance reform legislation, which looks poised to pass the House. Cheney said the Bogus POTUS has "set out his standards" by which he would pass or
veto a bill -- including undercutting the ability of unions to spend money on political campaigns.
This is a big hint, bare-knuckles politics fans -- Smirk will probably veto this legislation and spin it as a false "paycheck" issue.
Tony asked a confusing question that tied together the State of the Enron...er, Union address, Shrubbie's "economic stimulus" scams and "obstructionist" Tom Daschle. Cheney said
that Daschle blocked George W. Twig's phony stimulus package -- and is now trying to back off.
But nothing could be further from the truth. Daschle has maneuvered the supply-side geniuses into painting themselves into a corner. By the time November rolls around, it will be the
economy, stupid -- and stupid's GOPers stand to lose the House.
Tony asked how Cheney's health is -- Cheney said it was good. Finally, a joke question: who has the better cave -- bin Laden? Cheney smiled and said he does.
Brit gave Cheney a last shot at bashing Iran (who have been tied to the intercepted arms shipment to Palestinian fighters)...er, make that, "encouraging Iran to change their behavior."
Following the half-time "break" (commercials for brokerage houses and The Simpsons), it was "Panel Time"! Mara Liasson, Bill Kristol and Juan Williams joined Tony and Brit.
And naturally, they AVOIDED Enrongate -- with the exception of passing mention toward the end of the pap.
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