George W. in the Garden
of Gethsemane
An
Open Letter to George W. Bush from Michael Moore
When it's all over in a couple months, and you're packing up your pretzels and Spot and heading back to Texas, what will be your biggest regret? Not getting out more often and seeing the sights around Rock Creek Park? Never once visiting the newly-renovated IKEA in Woodbridge, Virginia? Or buying your way to the White House with money from a company that committed the biggest corporate swindle in American history? I got a feeling you didn't miss much by not spending an entire Saturday afternoon assembling a Swedish bookcase -- but you should have known that there was no way you would ever finish your term by hopping into bed with Kenneth Lay. It's kind of sad when you think about it. Here you were -- the most popular president ever! -- the recipient of so much good will from your fellow Americans after September 11, and then you had to go and blow it. You just couldn't stay away from your old cowpoke friend from Texas, Kenneth Lay. Kenny has
always been there for you. You needed a way to fly around to all the
primaries and campaign stops in the 2000 election -- so Kenny gave you
his corporate jet. Did you tell the voters when you arrived in each
city Man, you loved Lay so much, you not only affectionately referred to him as "Kenny Boy," you interrupted an important campaign trip in April, 2000, to fly back to Houston for the Astro's opening day at the new Enron Field -- just so you could watch Kenny Boy Lay throw out the first pitch. How sentimental! I mean, you loved this man so intensely that, when you were awarded a set of keys the Supreme Court had made for you so you could live in the White House, you invited Kenny Boy to set up shop -- at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue! He interviewed those who would hold high-level Energy Department positions in your administration. You not
only let Kenny Boy decide who would head the regulatory agency that
oversaw Enron, you let him hand-pick the new chairman of the Securities
and Exchange Commission, Harvey Pitt -- a former lawyer for his The rest
of Kenny Boy's time was spent next door with his old buddy, Dick Cheney
(Enron and Halliburton, as you'll recall, got the big contracts from
your dad to "rebuild" Kuwait after the Gulf War). Lay and
Dick formed The only
thing that surprises me more than all the Enron henchmen who ended up
in your cabinet and administration is how our lazy media just rolled
over and didn't report it. The list of Enron people on your payroll Then there's the Enron lawyer you have nominated to be a federal judge in Texas, the Enron lobbyist who is your chair of the Republican Party, the two Enron officials who now work for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and the wife of Texas Senator Phil Gramm who sits on Enron's board. And there's the aforementioned Mr. Pitt, the former Arthur Andersen attorney whose job it is now as SEC head to oversee the stock markets. George, it never stops! My fingers are getting tired typing all this up -- and there's lots more. Don't get
me wrong, George -- I do not think you're an evil man. You don't need
any crap from people like me -- heck, you got mother-in-law problems!
Now, I have a very good relationship with my mother-in-law, but then,
I You say you didn't know? Your bag man -- Don Evans, the man who squeezed all that money for you from Enron as your campaign finance chairman (and is now collecting his reward as your Commerce Secretary) -- has admitted that he got calls from Enron begging for help last year because they were going under. Didn't he tell you this? Then Paul O'Neill, your Treasury Secretary, admitted that Enron and Kenny Boy called him, too, for some special favors to save Enron. Didn't he mention this to you? They claim to have called your chief of staff, Andrew Card, and he said he didn't bother to inform you. What does your mother-in-law think about these boys her daughter's husband consorts with? I love watching
the O'Neill and Evans show. What a couple of cut-ups! They're, like,
all proud of themselves for "not doing Enron any favors."
Actually, I think it's more like they didn't do your MOTHER-IN-LAW any
And what
advice! Who was it that wanted you to deregulate the energy industry
further? Kenny Boy! Who was it that convinced you to explore the sick
idea of PRIVATIZING our water supply and then allow private corporations
to "trade" it in the future? Kenny Boy! Who was it that wanted
Social Security to be tied to the stock market? Yup, Kenny Boy! (Imagine,
if you will, what would have happened to our precious Social O'Neill's
and Evans's admission that they "did nothing" when Enron told
them of the company's shell game and impending collapse is reason enough
for you and yours to hit the Beltway and never return to that sacred
trust Let me ask
you this: If someone was setting a house on fire, and they called you
to help them set it on fire, and you said no you wouldn't help them
-- BUT then you also DIDN'T call 911 and inform the police that Of course
you would have! You had prior knowledge and then you knowingly and purposefully
HID this information from the authorities and the people living in the
house! You only admitted that you knew a house was going to be torched
when you were confronted by the police. Are you complicit? Yes! Enron and
Kenny Boy bought your silence and the silence of your cabinet members.
You yourself didn't have to actually raid the 401(k) accounts of those
poor people in Houston (many of whom probably voted for you every While doing
all this, you told the American people that these rich friends of yours
were not getting any special breaks -- when, in fact, Enron had already
scammed their way out of paying NO taxes in four out of the last You and
your Republican friends are quick to point out that Enron had their
claws into the Democrats as well. Yes, they did, and thank you for making
the case why we not only need an alternative to the current make-up But, George,
let's be real -- the Democrats only got a pittance from Enron compared
to the millions you and the Republicans received. Democrats just don't
have the killer instinct to do anything right, and they certainly The Democrats
are like a Yugo -- you know it won't last long or work well, but it
will occasionally get the job done. Fat cats know they can buy the Democrats
at discount prices, and so they do. Anyone who tries to deflect this
scandal away from you, George, or away from the Republicans, or away
from the whole dirty way we elect our leaders, is someone who is desperately
trying to cling to what's left of a very crooked system that The saddest part of this whole affair was the day the scandal was revealed -- and you denied that you even knew your good friend, Kenneth Lay. "Ken who?" you said. Oh, he's just some businessman from Texas. "Heck, he backed my opponent for governor, Ann Richards!" was your way of trying to deflect the truth that was hitting you like a Mack truck. You knew that he, in fact, endorsed YOU and gave you THREE times the money Ann Richards ever saw from him. I hardly
ever talk to the guy, you said. You were like Peter outside the walls
of Herod after they grabbed J.C. from the Garden of Gethsemane. Three
times he denied he knew Jesus, and three times the cock crowed. But What shame
do you feel tonight, George, for the lies you have told? What shame
do you feel using the dead of 9-11 as a cover for your actions, hoping
that our sorrow for those lost souls and our fear of being killed It was during
those very days, while the rest of us were in shock and sadness, that
the executives at Enron were selling off their stock and shifting assets
to their 900 phony partnerships overseas. Did they notice The country
was behind you when you said you were fighting the evildoers who did
this. In fact, all the while, the real fight your friends at Enron were
conducting was the fight against the clock, to see how fast they At the very least, your mother-in-law deserves better. Yours, Michael
Moore |