Is there anyone else who finds this wild-eyed frenzy to dismiss O’Neill at all costs to be rather remniscent of the Clinton defenders? I carry no water for Paul O’Neill, he’s the classic moderate Republican big business big government poobah that is the epitome of much that I dislike about the Republican party. Ronald Reagan didn’t want him. “Paul O’Neill is considered a menace by those who want to trim federal spending.” –Human Events, November 22, 1980, commenting on rumors that O’Neill was being considered for a senior post in the incoming Reagan administration.”
And yet, the compassionate conservative Bush did. Now, wouldn’t NRO conservatives such as J. Goldberg, P. Robinson and R. Ponnuru scoff at the same defenses that they’re currently spinning for President Bush if it were Bill Clinton in office and Robert Rubin were leveling such charges?
Let the chips fall where they may. I don’t think there’s anything there – military planners are required to plan for every contingency, after all. I do, however, think it is the height of naivety to think that there is not something a little odd about this administration. Can Bush do no wrong, even when he’s betrayed conservatives on Medicare entitlements, spending increases and now quasi-immigration amnesty? I wonder, if Dick Cheney or Colin Powell were to make similar charges in the future, will they be scoffed at in the same way?
I always thought Das Partie uber alles was a Democratic phenomenon.