O'Neill retracts claim that Bush is the "blind" leader of a "deaf" cabinet and says he'll vote for Bush.

Jan. 14, 2004: PoliSat .Com's Political Satire/ Commentary Daily Update # 01·· ™©·2004··
Where the satire is always commentary, but the commentary isn't always satire (but you'll know the difference)·
(Permanent, direct link to this Daily Update: http://polisat.com/du2004/du040131.htm#20040113-01.)
(Keep abreast of PoliSat.Com's Daily Political Satire/Commentary via Google's News Alert)

O'Neill retracts claim that Bush is the "blind" leader of a "deaf" cabinet and says he'd vote for Bush.·

Yesterday, Paul O'Neill, whom Bush forced to resign as Secretary of the Treasury in December, 2002, retracted some of his anti-Bush statements, attempted to diminish the harshness of others, and said he would probably vote for Bush in 2004 because he doesn't "see anyone who is better prepared or more capable" than Bush. He admitted that contrary to his recent statements implying that Bush began planning a war in Iraq "from the getgo" in 2001, he (O'Neill) had in fact understood such early-2001 planning by Bush to have been a discussion of ways to implement the U.S. policy adopted in 1998 to seek ways to "change the regime" in Iraq. On NBC's Today show yesterday morning, O'Neill expressed surprise and/or amazement that everyone was focusing more on his "vivid language" describing Bush at cabinet meetings as a "blind man" leading a bunch of "deaf" people than on economic "policy" issues to which he had hoped to draw attention by furnishing 19,000 pages of documents to former Wall Street Journal reporter Ron Suskind as material for a book, The Price of Loyalty. Regarding such "vivid language," O'Neill said, "If I could take it back, I would."

O'Neill's willingness to muster the humility to concede flaws in his own perceptions and in his portrayals of the motives of others provides a glimpse of the fundamentally decent character he displayed in conveying his legitimate outrage at Senator Byrd for impugning his motives relative to "the poor." (See PoliSat.Com's Feb. 8, 2002 satire/commentary.) It's sad, however, that his resentment over being forced to resign had so sublimated that part of his character that he failed to realize (until after the fact) that his collaboration with Suskind constituted the same type of character assassination towards his former colleagues as Senator Byrd had unfairly and unjustifiably directed toward him.

Around the full circle has come The Blind, The Deaf and The Dumb.

In 2002 when I left
the cab'net I wasn't bereft
of papers to show
I tried to bestow
the wisdom I own by myself.

To prove I'm a sage not a bumpkin
I gave all my papers to Suskind
for writing a book,
which now makes me look
like one who for vengeance is lustin'.

I thought I'd be nimble and deft,
but now I confess to myself
the plan I devised
has proved it's I
who's blind and politic'ly deaf.

See also PoliSat.Com's exclusive revelation of a secret memo from Martha Stewart to Bush about O'Neill and PoliSat.Com's cover story about Paul O'Neill's Memoirs, Me Blind Mouse. Jim Wrenn, Editor@PoliSat.Com.

Donate your frequent-flier miles to military personnel to return home from port of reentry on leave: www.HeroMiles.Org.

·support our troops, support Bush, support Cheney, support victory in Iraq, support victory in Afghanistan, Clinton Liebrary, http://PoliSat.Com , PoliSatDOTcom, Salute America's Heroes, Fallen Heroes Fund, oppose Gore's Global Warming theory, support milblogs, Michael Yon, Pat Dollard, BlackFive, MilBlogs, MilBlogging, Michael Yon, Mudville Gazette, HotAir.Com, JawaReport, PajamasMedia , VictoryCaucus , VetsForFreedom , FreedomsWatch , DayByDayCartoon , WrennCom.Com , Video , Political Satire, Politics, News, oppose MoveOn.Org, oppose Code Pink, oppose DailyKos, oppose ANSWER, support PoliSat.Com, support WrennCom.Com, ·

First Things First: Salute America's Heroes · Fallen Heroes Fund · Frequent-Flyer-Miles for Troops · Thanks to Troops · Military News ·· MilBlogs ·

Home · Posts: Current /Recent · Videos/Toons/Songs: Latest · Embed-Codes · Text Index · Images Index · Archives: Old · New · About · Contact · Syndication · Affiliates ·

News Sources/Papers/Magazines Pundits Blogs ThinkTanks What is "property"? Pantheopians Global Climate Asteroids/Comets Hitting Earth--Risks/Predictions Science GlobalWeb