Boy, the hits just keep on coming for Enron, don't they? Let's see, we have Ken Lay calling Paul O'Neill and Don Evans to warn them about the impending implosion (bet some Enron employees would have liked the heads-up, too), John Ashcroft and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston recusing themselves from the investigation because they're too closely tied to Enron (Ashcroft got $57,000 from Ken Lay and Enron for his 2000 Senate bid), and everyone's favorite accounting firm saying that they, uh, might have destroyed some Enron documents that maybe they shouldn't have.
You know it's gonna be a good scandal when it provides plenty of moments of unintentional comedy. First, there's Team Bush's pathetic attempts to downplay his buddy-buddy relationship with Ken Lay by saying that Lay was friends with Ann Richards, too. Hey, guys? Ann Richards has been out of office since 1994. Dubya beat her in the governor's race that year. Does the word "irrelevant" mean anything to you?
The funniest bit, of course, is this priceless quote from press secretary Ari Fleischer:
"I think that people need to remember that the American people are sick and tired of partisan witch hunts, and endless investigations, particularly in the case here, if people try to make hay out of one party's involvement and contacts or relationships with Enron"
I'm sure the Houston Chronicle has hated having to write all of these stories about Enron and Bush. Houston's Only Information Source has been a very pro-Enron paper, and of course they've been on the Bush bandwagon ever since the Allen brothers first pitched a tent out here. Even when they criticize their favorite sons, they're always careful to point out that whatever naughty thing the boys have been up to, the Clintons did it before and did it worse. We should all have such staunch friends.
Posted by Charles Kuffner on January 11, 2002 to Enronarama