OK! Let me know what all needs fixin, Pat!
It's Official, The Blogosphere Gods Love Irony
TAPPED has recently caught itself with its own size 15 EEE in its mouth. Witness these two items:
Now that is rich: "Forget about our excuse for the mistake". I'll just bet TAPPED would like us to forget it.
The real it, that is. Because it confirms--totally, humiliatingly, without a snowball's chance in hell of surviving scrutiny--EVERYTHING ANN COULTER IS SAYING IN: SLANDER!
Thomas White is, by any objective standard, a decent, intelligent, accomplished man. Possibly the best qualified person to hold the job of Army Secretary for several administrations. (Anyone remember what Togo West's credentials were?). And since, the opposition party can't fairly oppose him, they stoop to what Ann Coulter says is their M.O. They slime him by trying to tie him to something someone else did. And they can't even get that right, as we shall see shortly.
First let's look at some of the things reported in the article in the NY Times cited by TAPPED in the first item above, Senators Question Credibility of Army Secretary on Enron, by James Dao
Not that anyone would know it by the language of TAPPED's second item above, but this is trouble for the Democrats. Big Time, as Dick Cheney might put it. Or, perhaps, the person who put the bug in TAPPED's ear that an admission of error was in order.
Because these charges are simply not true, and there is no way the Democrats on this panel can say they didn't know it. It's right there in the Slate link TAPPED gives. White's job not only was not with the wholesale division that engaged in these transactions (and they were not "phony", but efficiency enhancing arbitrage. However, I'm getting ahead of myself), but high wholesale prices for electricity would have damaged White's Enron division. Here's how Slate's Joshua Greene put it:
And everyone on that panel questioning White knew this, or should have (why do they have all those staffers?) known it.
Deliberately putting out false information (bearing false witness against thy neighbor, it used to be called, before we coined the word "spin") to damage another person's reputation, for your own political gain. Wouldn't that be…ahem…the very title of Coulter's book?
To be continued...
TAPPED has recently caught itself with its own size 15 EEE in its mouth. Witness these two items:
WHITE OUT. Apparently at the conclusion of yesterday's hearing in which Army Secretary Thomas White defended himself, Barbara Boxer wrote to him saying his answers were "evasive, deceptive, argumentative, and not helpful in any way." We're not surprised. We're not even surprised that White is still in the administration.
TAPPEDA CULPA. A little bird told us that our previous post about Thomas White was very, very wrong. Actually, the Dems didn't do so well against White when they had him where they wanted him, as this Business Week item makes pretty clear. Tapped should have known better: After all, we read Joshua Green's smart item in Slate about how Democrats were going after White on the one thing he's probably not guilty of. Forget about our excuse for the mistake -- what's theirs?
Now that is rich: "Forget about our excuse for the mistake". I'll just bet TAPPED would like us to forget it.
The real it, that is. Because it confirms--totally, humiliatingly, without a snowball's chance in hell of surviving scrutiny--EVERYTHING ANN COULTER IS SAYING IN: SLANDER!
Thomas White is, by any objective standard, a decent, intelligent, accomplished man. Possibly the best qualified person to hold the job of Army Secretary for several administrations. (Anyone remember what Togo West's credentials were?). And since, the opposition party can't fairly oppose him, they stoop to what Ann Coulter says is their M.O. They slime him by trying to tie him to something someone else did. And they can't even get that right, as we shall see shortly.
First let's look at some of the things reported in the article in the NY Times cited by TAPPED in the first item above, Senators Question Credibility of Army Secretary on Enron, by James Dao
Thomas E. White, the Army secretary and a former top executive for the Enron Corporation, told a Senate committee today that he was unaware of any efforts by Enron to manipulate energy prices in the California power crisis of 2000 and 2001.
But in heated exchanges with Mr. White, Democrats on the panel said they doubted his credibility….
"There is substantial evidence that Mr. White misled investors," said Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon. "What especially troubles me is that I don't see any evidence to date that these actions are being timely and thoroughly investigated by this administration's regulators."….
California energy regulators contend that Enron engaged in sham transactions in late 2000 that drove up electricity prices and deepened the energy crisis in the West. The regulators have said that Enron Energy Services was one of several Enron divisions that participated in the phony transactions.
Not that anyone would know it by the language of TAPPED's second item above, but this is trouble for the Democrats. Big Time, as Dick Cheney might put it. Or, perhaps, the person who put the bug in TAPPED's ear that an admission of error was in order.
Because these charges are simply not true, and there is no way the Democrats on this panel can say they didn't know it. It's right there in the Slate link TAPPED gives. White's job not only was not with the wholesale division that engaged in these transactions (and they were not "phony", but efficiency enhancing arbitrage. However, I'm getting ahead of myself), but high wholesale prices for electricity would have damaged White's Enron division. Here's how Slate's Joshua Greene put it:
Enron Energy Services was split into wholesale and retail divisions, whose economic motivations were diametrically opposed. The wholesale division made money by trading in energy: buying low and selling high. It's the half that engaged in the infamous shady deals (with names like "Get Shorty" and "Fat Boy") designed to circumvent price caps, boost California's energy prices, and foment the energy congestion that caused rolling blackouts and prolonged the state's crisis. It's easy to see why the wholesale division would want to drive up energy prices: so they could make a fat profit selling to desperate Californians.
But White worked in the retail division. His half of EES operated differently, inking long-term deals with major customers like California's state university system to supply their energy at a fixed price. White's division made money, then, by acquiring energy at a price below that at which it had contracted to sell. Its economic motivation was to see energy prices as low as possible because lower prices translated to a larger profit margin.
So it makes little sense to think that White would have wanted to boost California's energy prices.
And everyone on that panel questioning White knew this, or should have (why do they have all those staffers?) known it.
Deliberately putting out false information (bearing false witness against thy neighbor, it used to be called, before we coined the word "spin") to damage another person's reputation, for your own political gain. Wouldn't that be…ahem…the very title of Coulter's book?
posted by dawson at
2:37 PM
