It becomes clearer daily that the Bush Administration is neither conservative nor minimally decent. Yet I detect no wave of anger sweeping the nation. And no shame in the White House.
Paul O’Neill charges that they wanted to go after Saddam long before 9/11. White House response? It’s investigating if he improperly used a "Secret" document. What will you bet they move faster on that than on finding out which White House operative illegally leaked the name of a CIA agent?
O’Neill probably does nurse a grudge against his old buddies for kicking him out of the club. But look at who he is and what he is saying.
He is George W’s first Secretary of the Treasury and a former boss of US Steel. No liberal.
O’Neill says we've been misled to believe that we invaded Iraq because of 9/11/01; Rumsfeld was pushing that in February, 2001.
Tax policy? O’Neill says he opposed the Bushies’ huge, permanent tax cuts based on questionable projections, as did Alan Greenspan. He says the Federal Reserve chief called that "irresponsible fiscal policy" in May 2001. (Funny. Alan never called me with that view.)
Thirdly, O'Neill says President Bush knew his tax cuts would go to the "top-rate" people, but said in his 2000 campaign that the "vast majority would go to the bottom end of the spectrum."
As Bob Dole used to say, "Where’s the outrage?"