Posted on 07/06/2006 10:11:14 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - President Bush said Thursday he hopes Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay's "heart was right with the Lord" when he died before he could be sentenced on fraud and conspiracy charges.
Bush called Lay, who was a friend of the Bush family and a large donor to the president's campaign, "a good guy." He said he was shocked to hear both about the Enron scandal and Lay's death this week from a heart attack at age 64.
"I was really surprised," Bush said on CNN's "Larry King Live." "You know, my hope is that his heart was right with the Lord and I feel real sorry for his wife. She's had a rough go and she's now here on earth to bear the burdens of losing her husband, a man she loved."
The president said he planned to write Linda Lay a letter expressing his condolences.
Lay faced life in prison after his convictions May 25 that ended a blockbuster trial stemming from one of the biggest business debacles in U.S. history.
Bush had nicknamed Lay "Kenny Boy" but pointed out they weren't always allied. He said Lay supported his opponent in his first Texas gubernatorial race, Democrat Ann Richards. When host King pointed out that Richards had told him earlier that she liked Lay, Bush responded, "Yes, he's a good guy."
"One of the things I respected him for was he was such a contributor to Houston's civil society," Bush said. "He was a generous person. I'm disappointed that he betrayed the trust of shareholders."
First lady Laura Bush, who joined her husband for the interview on his 60th birthday, said she didn't know Lay well. But she said she was acquainted with him and knew his wife and was sorry for her.
All these stories and no mention of all the meetings and donations to Billy Clinton.
Got any links for that? I'd like to wave that in front of someone's face who's happy that he died.
I guess this was the important part of an hour long interview with the President regarding the issues of the world.
His statement also came after Bush talked about Lay's contributions to Houston. The AP is full of fools and crackheads.
ugh... be prepared to hear that clip over and over again this fall.
Once again, Bush sounds like a dolt. He calls Lay "a good guy" and has nothing to say on behalf of Calderon. He sounded like he didn't care who won the Mexican election. He does care, but he's scared of his shadow -- afraid that Mexican leftists won't like him, I guess. Sheesh.
While I disagree with him (as I would with virtually any politician) on some issues, I admire the President for not speaking ill of someone that he could have trashed for political gain.
Is there any doubt what Clinton would have done?
Bush called Lay, who was a friend of the Bush family and a large donor to the president's campaign, "a good guy." He said he was shocked to hear both about the Enron scandal and Lay's death this week from a heart attack at age 64.
"I was really surprised," Bush said on CNN's "Larry King Live." "You know, my hope is that his heart was right with the Lord and I feel real sorry for his wife. She's had a rough go and she's now here on earth to bear the burdens of losing her husband, a man she loved."
I just knew - out of the entire hourlong interview with LK - that this little "tidbit" is what the MSM would pick up and run with... *sigh*
"AP is full of fools and crackheads." Fools maybe, but Bush was a fool for saying this about Ken Lay. He was careless where he should have been very careful, then, on the Lieberman and Mexican election questions, he fearfully took pains to say nothing, where it would have been more appropriate to 1) attack the Rats' extremism and 2) put in a good word for Calderon.
President Bush hasn't said anything about the candidates running for election in Mexico because it is not his place to stick his nose into their election.
Bush should have known too. Instead, he was pissing in his pants about other questions that he should have had the guts to address (Lieberman and the Mexican election).
Sharon Watkins, the first and most promenent whistleblower in the enron fiasco said in an interview with O'reilly, that lay was most probably a stooge, an idiot who was like the character "chauncy gardner" (from the movie "being there").
Lay was probably not "a good guy" (too dumb for that) but probably innocent of a crime unless being stupid is a crime.
And it will absolutely have zero effect.
You really are a dolt. Bush commenting on the mexican or lieberman elections is about like Osama commenting on the US elections.
He rarely speaks ill of anyone and never about the dead.
" ... I'm disappointed that he betrayed the trust of shareholders. ..."
Thanks!
The problem with this is that Bush says that he was a good guy and yet admits that he betrayed all of those shareholders. The average Joe is going to think that something just isn't right about that. The "right with the Lord" comment was fine, but this is one instance where I wish the President really was a great speaker and interviewee.
Time for the posting!
See my post # 13.
Fiction writers documented the fall of Enron as a scandal to be linked to President Bush. Yet the U.S. Commerce Department has just released over 5,000 pages of documents that detail the Enron scandal during the Clinton years.
The Commerce materials outline a long-standing and very close relationship between the Clinton administration and Enron. For example, in March 1999 U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley's trade delegation to China produced several sweet business deals, including a special little gem for Enron.
Enron International China Pipeline, a wholly owned subsidiary of Enron Corp. of Houston, Texas, signed a memorandum of understanding with China National Petroleum Corporation to jointly develop a natural gas pipeline.
Oh, believe me, no one on either side of the Enron debacle is *glad* he died.
FGS -- you are truly a broken record.
I wonder what President Bush or his father would say were Clinton to meet his demise while both of them were alive?
That, he too, was a "good guy"?
No, they're nothing alike. The new Mexican President is someone Bush will be communicating and having a good relationship with for years to come. It would be more than appropriate for him to comment on the election.
He should have said something to the effect of "I hope he was at peace with the lord" and nothing more.
Being that personal attacks are looked down upon on FR, I won't call you a schmuck.
Do you people ever stop?
Likely worse... he'd probably call him a popular president... hopefully NOT a "great" president.
Sherron still thinks of KL like a grandfather part of the time and will, on occasion, stick up for him, because she has a good heart.
LOL!
You're right. Bush comes across as someone who is commenting on his fellow rich Texan who wrote big checks to charity in Houston, which may be what certain kinds of rich people care about, but the average Joe is rightly more concerned with the fact that Lay was a huge corporate thief who screwed the little guy. This is a smaller and less important example of what Bush 41 did in 1989 when the Berlin Wall, etc., fell and we won the Cold War. He was asked why he didn't make a statement about it. He said he was thinking about Gorbachev and "didn't want to rub it in." Hell, he should have been thinking of the tens of millions murdered by communism, and the hundreds of millions now liberated. Privileged people can say some very stupid things because of their often-unreal perspective. In W's case, there is also the excessive personal compassion, which can also distort both one's judgement and one's comments.
President Bush has more guts in one of his pinkies than you do in your entire being. You sit behind a computer screen and anonymously carp about what you think he should have said. In the meantime, he is in the arena doing the hard work of trying to lead the nation in very dangerous times. He does it with humor, grace, class, dignity and humility.
Guaranteed, President Bush will be remembered -- and celebrated as a great man -- long after you and I and our grandchildren are dust.
They also make it sound like Dubya just heard about the Enron scandal "this week."
If one must have a fault as it were, perhaps better this than others.
Right!
When the RNC is going to introduce Nancy Pelosi to the American voters, the vast majoirty of voters will be running to the polls chanting "Nancy, Nancy, Nancy" (extreme sarcasm).
Would Bush 41 and 43 say Clinton was "a good guy" if he croaked? Yes, I'd bet a nice chunk of change on that,
even though I can't really afford to.
Exactly. Bar would brain him.
Poppy would be asked to do the eulogy for his adopted son.
I don't deny that Bush has done his job well in some respects, and I don't pretend that I could do it. As for Bush having superior guts, that is a separate issue, and you have no way in hell of knowing which one of us is superior in that respect. Why don't you stick to something you can speak intelligently of? Do you really think Bush's answers or non-answers to the three questions I cited were politically smart? Huh?
This is actually a non-issue but you Bush-haters are grasping at straws, eh?
He has too much respect for the office to do otherwise. He would even speak well of Jimmy Carter.
President Bush has class and he was brought up properly.
He came up thru the ranks so to speak, not all are cut out to be CEOs of such rapidly growing and successful enterprises.
To a certain degree , trust is implicit in keeping such large endeavors on the up and up and their dealings aboveboard, unfortunately not all that join on are up to the task or worthy of said trust.
It is a shame that so many will remember him for the wrong reasons more so than the right ones.
He died before sentencing, but he was found guilty in a court of law. Granted, criminal trials aren't always full-proof, but he was guilty as far as our legal system was concerned. That's the system we use to send people to their deaths, and it's pretty darn reliable, so I doubt many people, rightly or wrongly, will think of Lay as being an innocent player.
Not speaking ill of the dead is OK -- unless we're talking about a murderer or something. But to rarely speak ill of anyone is unpresidential. Real leaders make enemies and call a spade a spade. I didn't and don't advocate that Bush should have made negative comments about Ken Lay.
I do think it was both politically stupid and insensitive to call him "a good guy."
A fool would be more concerned about some stupid comment he made as an aside than about what he says about polls, Iraq, NK, Iran, the troops, the NYT, immigration etc. Why should he comment on Lieberman? Why put in a good word for Calderon at this point? Is it a secret he wanted Calderon to win?
This Lay comment is a prime example of why he chooses what to say or who to support very carefully. For him to attack the Dems when only fools can't see how extreme they are (they wouldn't be watching him anyway...too busy watching MTV) is wasted breath. They are busy digging their own holes (see Lieberman), and nobody on the left who could be swayed would sit through an interview with the President...only libs and the MSM.
The AP salivates over this Lay comment, so will the rest of the MSM. They wouldn't print anything which could sway a few "independents" away from their hate Bush/Republicans rant, so who cares. I watched to see where he's coming from on the rest of the issues, if you think the press would even report on his interview without some red meat for liberals more power to you.
Larry King knew President Bush would say something nice, which is why he posed the snarky question.
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