John Di Iulio's letter to O'Neill book author Ron Suskind

[underpants]

This warrants a review. I am sure that Suskind uses this (or part of it) in his new book. When the former administrator of W's "Faith based" operation resigned he sent the following to Suskind for/On the record. Right wing pundits immediately said that his opinions were taken out of context but it is a LETTER so the context is there for all to see.

http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2002/021202_mfe_diiulio_1.html
Date: October 24, 2002

In eight months, I heard many, many staff discussions, but not three meaningful, substantive policy discussions. There were no actual policy white papers on domestic issues. There were, truth be told, only a couple of people in the West Wing who worried at all about policy substance and analysis, and they were even more overworked than the stereotypical, non-stop, 20-hour-a-day White House staff. Every modern presidency moves on the fly, but, on social policy and related issues, the lack of even basic policy knowledge, and the only casual interest in knowing more, was somewhat breathtaking—discussions by fairly senior people who meant Medicaid but were talking Medicare; near-instant shifts from discussing any actual policy pros and cons to discussing political communications, media strategy, et cetera. Even quite junior staff would sometimes hear quite senior staff pooh-pooh any need to dig deeper for pertinent information on a given issue.
T
his gave rise to what you might call Mayberry Machiavellis—staff, senior and junior, who consistently talked and acted as if the height of political sophistication consisted in reducing every issue to its simplest, black-and-white terms for public consumption, then steering legislative initiatives or policy proposals as far right as possible. These folks have their predecessors in previous administrations (left and right, Democrat and Republican), but, in the Bush administration, they were particularly unfettered.

[trumad]

1. O'Neill may have been the guy with his finger in the dyke...

and just pulled it out... Let them start coming out of the woodwork.

[underpants]

2. John D and O'Neill have something in common

Both are out of the reach of the vicious W arm of revenge. John D (that last name is a mother) is highly regarded in the theocratic circles and as Ron Suskind said this morning on Today O'Neill told him from the start that he didn't fear reprisal (notice that he did have to consider it) because he is "an older man who has plenty of money already".

[TacticalPeek]

7. Loved that line.

I'll have to check my tape later, but I remember it as:

O'Neill (quoted): "I'm an old guy. I'm a rich guy. They can't hurt me."


Bwahahahaha!

[underpants]

9. Not up yet on Today Show site

Sometimes they take a whole day to update their video links. Suskind AND O'Neill will be on tomorrow morning.

[underpants]

10. Link to Suskind video on TODAY this morning (download needed)

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3925358/

[Catfish]

3. Interesting

I had forgotten about this letter. I seem to remember some backtracking later, probably after some pressure had been put on him. Yes, it seems that the truth is coming out about Bush and his minions. However, I think most of us and the press were fully aware of this anyway. If you look at the policy statements over the last 3 years you can't think any thought or analysis is behind them. All is political. This is the worst part of this administration. We have an executive government who does not want to govern in any traditional sense, they truly are madmen. This goes way beyond party rivalries, responsible Republicans (and there are some) should be disgusted and alarmed.

[underpants]

4. The message (thru focus groups)is all politics but....

the actual policies are pre-conceived. They find the right name for something (Clear skies/Helthy Forests) which is 180 degrees different from the policy.

[Catfish]

5. right

No child left behind, etc. Problem is nobody really calls them on it, that is our party and the press make at best weak objections.

[KoKo]

6. Underpants! Many thanks for reposting this. It was the first thing I

thought of when O'Neill's revelations came out. What about Di Iulio's letter! Why didn't CBS tie that together and why didn't the Pundits yesterday jump on that when the Repugs said that O'Neill was just "sour grapes."

It's good to remember that he's not the only one who exposed the Chimp and Gang. Di Iulio was well respected and it was surprising to the pundits even, when he left. However the Media wasn't quite as "whorelike" at that point. Now they are so controlled they are the other arm of the Repug party.

[underpants]

8. Di Iuilio sort of backed off this later

probably due to pressure and hate mail but facts are facts. He actually went very easy on W&Co. as he is not a political animal but a educator. He actually cited the stem cell decision as being good which is quite unbelieveable.

[salin]

11. Bush - some highlights from before he was pres:

How could anyone expect more than we have received. He hates policy ("it bores me"), even though he was the son of a president he had only been out of the country once, and even on the campaign trail couldn't be bothered to do his homework on foreign policy. THen when president and the MIddle East again erupted in flames (when Sharon bulldozed into Rahmalla) several ME dignataries came to speak with bush - and stated publically that they had to spend a lot of time "explaining the situation to him" because he didn't know the issues. The man can't even bother being engaged to learn back ground when about to meet other leaders.

On to the walk down memory lane:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/11/05/bush/index.html

Bush gets an F in foreign affairs
The Texas governor who would be president can't identify the leaders of Chechnya, Pakistan or India. Has he been taking lessons from Dan Quayle?

------------------

http://www.sptimes.com/News/100800/Perspective/Eyes_closed__Bush_can.shtml

Eyes closed, Bush can't see world beyond Texas
By DIANE ROBERTS

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 8, 2000

--------------------

(have to scroll down to the snip on this one)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1062178.stm

Thursday, 14 December, 2000, 00:44 GMT
Bush to lead a nation divided

snip...

But doubts persist about Mr Bush's suitability for the most important job on the planet.

He has admitted he finds detailed policy discussion "boring", his inclination to delegate leaves him looking disengaged.

------------------

[Blue_Roses]

12. Even Karen Hughes is on record

for saying that when Bush was "approached" to run for President, they looked at one another and laughed. yep, that's right--laughed. Shows how "interested" Bush really was in running for Prez.

Let's be honest, bush was "selected" all the way to the WH. He never wanted to be Prez, however, his name was bound to get him votes. Thats the skinny on it. Now we have this huge mess in Iraq and high unemployment in our country.

We need a REAL President!

[underpants]

13. "Is this guy going to embarass us?"

I think that was in a Rolling Stone article before the election. Apparently when all the fat cats were brought in and given group interviews/talks with W's handlers (Rove, Hughes, etc) almost every time they asked that question first.

[Doctor_J]

14. Baseball commish

That's what he wanted to do. He knew deep down this is miles over his head. Thank god it's almost over.