Karl Rove is working on his response to Paul O'Neil's charges.....

[kentuck]

..and they will be faxed out today and used on tomorrow's TV talk shows. It will say something to the effect that it is a ridiculous charge. If we had wanted to invade Iraq, we could have done it in the first eight months before 9/11. It didn't happen. As for discussing whether or not Saddam was a threat to us, yes that was discussed in early Cabinet meetings. But obviously, no plans were made to invade Iraq.

[jbfam4]

1. more talking points against O"Neill

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/09/60minutes/printable592330.shtml
CBS News Correspondent Mark Knoller reported Saturday that, as the White House sees it, O'Neill's remarks are those of a disgruntled former official, and it should not have come as a surprise to O'Neill that the U.S. advocated Saddam's ouster.

In fact, a senior administration official tells CBS News it would have been irresponsible not to plan for Saddam's eventual removal.

As for the charge that there were early plans to invade Iraq, Knoller says the official calls that "laughable." Suggesting that O'Neill doesn't know what he's talking about on this matter, the official told CBS News O'Neill had enough problems in his own area of expertise.

Another senior administraiton official told CBS News Saturday, "No one ever listened to the crazy things he said before, why should we start now?"

[Homer12]

7. Buscho's counter-spin is Weak.

As Spiralhawk replied to this post, It will all come down to how Paul O'Neill handled himself in the interview.

Buscho's spin above are all character assanisation type attacks, they really have not replied to O'Neill's charges.

Kind of like when they first went after Wilson when he came clean about Niger.

Rovian tactics, at their heart, are about destroying the credability of those who know the truth.

We will see if they fail again.

[cthrumatrix]

9. and we expected the WH to say what?.....Guilty

they are in the crosshairs of truth....let's watch it playout

[Grins]

10. Typical of them.

"O'Neill's remarks are those of a disgruntled former official..."

Typical. Shoot the messenger. Never mind those pesky facts. Nothin' to see here...move along...

As to, ""No one ever listened to the crazy things he said before...." - your boss sure as hell did! And had confidence enough in him to hand him the keys to the most powerful economy on the planet! The sad part is that these nut case right wing ideologues didn't listen to him!

[lovedems]

2. Good luck KKKarl, we Murican's are catching on to your evil spin

and constant effort to discredit all those who speak against you. The gig is up you peice of shit. The truth always comes out.

This is the first of many stories that is going to put them on the defensive. WOO-HOO

[peekaloo]

3. more shaky lies from Condi-liar?

Lil Timmy is probably orgasmic at the thought!

[patricia92243]

4. Did you honestly expect anything different? Rove will do his thing and

then the talk hate radio will do the rest. Everybody will be comfortably brainwashed, and we will all go about our business. End of story.

[leftchick]

5. If we had a real journalist asking the questions on the Sunday shows

Then the follow up question should be: Then why won't Dick Cheney relase those energy papers? Isn't there something in there about Iraq and its oil fields?

[SpiralHawk]

6. A lot of the ultimate public opinion

will swing on how Paul O'neill comes across on TV.

Does he seem sincere, sober, thoughtful?

Or is he angry, vengeful, or somehow seeming to be untrustworthy.

We will have to see how he appears before the camera.

If he is credible, his words will carry weight.

After all, Keven Philips book on the Bush Dynasty is out now, and the truth is becoming harder to deny.

[CatWoman]

8. check out the Yahoo message boards

http://news.messages.yahoo.com/bbs?action=m&board=37138469&tid=nmpeopleoneilldc&sid=37138469&mid=1

this thing has legs, arms, ............

[spotbird]

15. I don't for a second think this has legs, and here's why.

There is nothing new about what O'Neil is saying, if it hasn't been a story up until now what would O'Neil's charge do to change that.

The "press" will accept the administrations version without question, as it has done all along.

[CatWoman]

16. well -- it remains to be seen

remember -- Oneil has documentation and tapes.

I watched the CBS segment touting the White House spin -- and it coincides with your argument (http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/home/main100.shtml}.

But lets see how this thing shapes up.

[AlinPA]

11. I have personally seen Paul O'Neill in action. He is calm, collected and

uses data. I would be surprised if he is anything but rock solid.
He is well respected here in Pittsburgh.

[KayLaw]

12. Grins is right

Why did Bush appoint this man is he is just a crazy person? Also, what about the documents given Suskind? Is he crazy as well?

[kentuck]

13. Then we would have to assume Bush has very poor judgement...

if he appoints a 'crazy man' to his Cabinet, right?

[spotbird]

14. What they will do is admit what O'Neil says while at the same

time claiming that there is nothing new in his story. They will claim that the plan to oust Saddam before 9/11 was simply a continuation of the Clinton foreign policy, nothing more.

Then they will start rumors about O'Neil with a live boy anda dead boy, for good measure.

[w13rd0]

17. I was at the gas station with my kids...

...and saw the Post on the newstand. I screamed out (in frustration) "Bush is a Liar and a Fraud". I got one guffaw of laughter, and two "right on!"s...

No one trusts the whore media anymore, either because they think it is the "liberal media" or because they know the truth of it (that it's a corporate media most interested in ratings and maintaining the status quo). We must become the media to expose these sons a bitches...

[Media_Lies_Daily]

18. How much does anyone want to bet that O'Neil has documented proof?

I wouldn't bet against anyone at his level that is willing to go public with such damning charges. I'm also betting that he has the ability to release a lot more information should he die of any cause over the next year or two.

I just wish more would go public.

[proud patriot]

19. from the video clip from yesterday (19,000 documents were released)

it was on CBS yesterday from the early show .

it has been removed from the website as of today .

Ex-Insider Blasts Bush

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/home/main100.shtml

[CatWoman]

21. It's still there PP -- just moved to this page

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/09/60minutes/main592330.shtml

[CatWoman]

20. He does have documented proof that he turned over to Suskind

"There are memos," Suskind tells Stahl, "One of them marked 'secret' says 'Plan for Post-Saddam Iraq.'"


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/09/60minutes/main592330.shtml

[Military Brat]

22. Rove will never remove the sound bite from people's minds

"a blind man in a room full of deaf people" From O'Neill's book, The Price of Loyalty

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill likened President Bush at Cabinet meetings to "a blind man in a room full of deaf people," according to excerpts Friday from a CBS interview.

If I ever see bush** in person, I'm going to point my finger at him and yell, Blind Man Walking!