- Apparently frustrated over his inability to gain any
political traction on the Enron scandal, Democratic Party loose cannon,
Sen. Fritz Hollings charged Wednesday that the Bush administration's
economic
policies actually helped Osama bin Laden finance the Sept. attacks that
resulted in the deaths of over 3,000 Americans.
-
- "In came the (Bush) administration with who?
(Economic
advisor) Larry Lindsey," Hollings told a Washington, D.C. press
conference
in somewhat slurred speech.
-
- "Larry Lindsey was the $50,000 a year consultant
for Enron who was running around saying it was unconstitutional to try
to close down these things (offshore tax shelters). And so they
immediately
this time last year closed down the Larry Summers effort. And you had
9/11."
-
- Summers was the Clinton administration Treasury Secretary
who Hollings said wanted to close down offshore tax havens.
-
- In fact, the FBI found that offshore tax havens had
nothing
to do with bin Laden's ability to finance the attacks, reported Fox News
Channel, which made the Hollings' outburst its lead story Wednesday
night.
-
- During the same press conference, the South Carolinia
Democrat misidentified Attorney General John Ashcroft as "the
Secretary
of Energy," and erroneously charged that Army Secretary Thomas White
pushed for deregulation that netted him a $100 million profit from an Enron
investment.
-
- "But as Army Secretary, White has never advocated
deregulation and denies doing any favors for Enron," reported FNC's
Carl Cameron.
-
- Responding to Hollings' charges, the White House said,
"It has begun to make him look less than serious; someone who should
not be taken seriously."
-
- Republicans on the Hill called Hollings' effort to blame
Bush economic policies for the 9/11 attacks "pathetic."
-
- In November New York Sen. Hillary Clinton made a
similarly
outrageous claim, suggesting that the Bush tax cut was to blame for the
9/11 attacks.
-
- "If we hadn't passed the big tax cut last spring,
that I believe undermined our fiscal responsibility and our ability to
deal with this new threat of terrorism, we wouldn't be in the fix we're
in today," Clinton told CNN on the second anniversary of the
attacks.
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