C’mon Dick - we’re getting really tired of your stonewalling the GAO over who your task force conferred with before coming up with that nifty new energy policy proposal.
Standing on “executive privilege” is moronic and insults our intelligence. Even if you somehow find a legal out, people have a legitimate right to know who’s being called on to help formulate national energy policy. And I certainly hope that was a screwup by ABC in reporting that the Bush administration denies that its policy is being influenced by corporate interests. Of course it’s being influenced by the corporate sector - the question is how much and by whom.
Sure, there’ll be an embarassing revelation or two when the list of “consultants” emerges, and your foes start linking them to campaign contributions and the like. But behaving in a Nixonesque, not to mention Hillaryesque* manner is bound to increase suspicions that you’ve got something major to hide.
*as in H. Clinton, Queen of Illegal Secret Health Task Force Meetings.
True enough re the Hillarycare analogy and the implied hypocrisy of the Republicans(gad, that subject gets monotonous at times, but it’s always with us). But I don’t think you’ll hear much about it anyway - Cheney is part of the Beltway establishment power structure, and always has been, while the Clintons were seen as a foreign virus that the antibodies had to be activated for. Since the Beltway media are also (in their own minds at least) part of the power structure too, they won’t go after one of their own with any real enthusiasm. And Big Oil is backing down on prices to reduce the heat, too - we’ll see if that’s still true in winter, otherwise Senate Investigation Season will open.
Until Cheney messes up something big and public, that is, or at least has another heart attack. A school of sharks can swim together peaceably, but if one starts to bleed, the rest will turn on it mercilessly - the same for Washington.
And wasn’t Mary Matalin the one who constantly demanded that Hillary turn over all paperwork regarding Whitewater???
And that was a legal deal in Arkansas 10 years before Bill Clinton was elected. In this case, we possibly have energy executives making public policy decisions on energy.
So Matalin’s response is “we have turned over all papers that we are legally required to turn over”. Yikes! I wonder what she would have said if Hillary said that.
So much for forum search functions.
O.K., we’ll unofficially retitle this thread “Dick Cheney: Lips Still Sealed” (unless the statute of limitations prevents continued discussion of the issue), and wring gets an official Astute Primary Observer credit, redeemable for a free York Peppermint Pattie at any fine retailer.
well ** Jack**, thanks for the award, I’ve been waiting for some one else to care about this one, and on a National level. Letting it go to the Court is, IMHO, a very bad idea for the administration, the more you fuss and fume about ‘I don’t have to tell you neener neener’ the more conspiratorial it makes it seem. but I also think they may be aware of this, which suggests that they may be more concerned about letting the information out than they are at being seen to stonewall.
and when it all blows up, you and I can sit back with our beer and pretzles and say ‘told ya’.