Treasury Secretary Is Likely to Leave Soon (Phil Gramm on short list)

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 - President Bush has decided to replace John W. Snow as treasury secretary and has been looking closely at a number of possible replacements, including the White House chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., Republicans with ties to the White House say.
....
Treasury secretary is a high-profile job, and one likely to be especially prominent in the next few years if Mr. Bush makes good on his pledge to press for big changes to Social Security and a rethinking of the tax code.

The White House has announced plans for an economic forum on Dec. 15 and 16 in Washington to focus attention on the president's second-term agenda, and administration officials have made no secret of their belief that they need a reconstituted economic team to sell Mr. Bush's plan on Capitol Hill and to voters.

Conservative interest groups and some other Republicans in Washington have been pressing the White House to consider Phil Gramm, the former Republican senator from Texas who was an economics professor before getting into politics.

The adviser to the White House said Mr. Gramm was under consideration, but that the prospects of him getting the job were unclear. Mr. Gramm is currently an executive with UBS, a securities firm.

http://nytimes.com/2004/12/06/politics/06cabinet.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. WTF? Does the Chimperor think Snow is too *liberal*?

[latteromden]

2. That'll make NINE, won't it?! (n/t)

[Pirate Smile]

3. I think it makes ten. They reported on MSNBC last week that

nine have said they are leaving BushCo.

They said seven each left Reagan and Clinton.

Today(before Snow), they reported that this is the largest number of cabinet heads leaving in over 100 years.

[Rose Siding]

5. Does that include Mineta?

This article says he's on the way out too.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. I'm surprised Mineta lasted this long.

After all, he's a Democrat. (Will the next Secretary of Transportation *require* everyone to buy SUVs to encourage more gasoline consumption? Look for an oil industry guy for this job...)

[Ilsa]

4. Phil Gramm, what a prick.

I heard that even his right-wing students at TAMU hated his guts when he was a professor there.

And Wendy "ENRON" Gramm needs to be in jail for not doing diddly with the Board's Audit Committee.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. Gramm will be a publicity disaster for Bush.

It will reopen all that Enron buiness. I bet that newsmen have files on Gramm and once he stepped out of politics, they had to retire them. Now they can dust them off and get at the old gizzer.

[seasat]

11. Both Gramms deregulated energy derivatives.

Wendy did it three weeks before she joined Enron and Phil pass legislation further deregulating them. I'd e-mail everyone of my US legislators to oppose that idiot being at the helm.

[Ilsa]

17. I had forgotten about that.

It was a conflict of interest that never really saw the light of dayy (like so many of the Bush-Cheney conflicts, misdeeds, and felonies.

[Barrett808]

21. Yes, Wendy Gramm should be in the dock with Ken Lay

And so should Pug Winokur.

[Straight Shooter]

7. Phil Gramm, that insufferable f*cker

No member of Congress played a more decisive role in launching the Reagan agenda.

""He's always willing to rise above principle. He's got every quality of a dog except loyalty." -- Dave McNeely, political columnist for the Austin, Texas American-Statesman

I remember him from my days of living in Texas. An involuntary shudder ran up my spine when I saw his name again. Looks like his past bootlickin' days are payin' off, and he can now lick even more boots. Apparently he's learned that it pays to be loyal to incompetence.

http://www.realchange.org/gramm.htm

Draft dodger, S&L scandal, illegal campaign contributions. Yep, he'll fit right in.

bush chooses, America loses.

[TwentyFive]

9. Shouldn't Phil Gramm be arrested for something?

Didn't he run somebody over with his car? Oh no, that was the other Texan, Laura Bush.

[0007]

19. Phil's wife, Windy, worked as the bookkeeper for Enron

[Barrett808]

22. She was on the Board of Directors - on the audit committee, no less n/t

[Bouncy Ball]

10. Phil Gramm

is a total fucking bastard. I've got reason to know.

On a random note, he once described himself as quite an unattractive person, physically: "I look like a turtle without its shell."

Yes, that would be pretty damn accurate. And a missing heart, too.

Oh and he's an idiot, to boot. He'll fit right in.

[Habibi]

12. Bet the replacement will be Card

who's been "at the president's side nearly every working minute for the last four years." Another layer between Bush and reality (read dissent). Another person to unquestioningly push his radical agenda. What qualifications does Card have? Doesn't matter: he's loyal.

[snippy]

15. Card probably is a good bet. I don't think Gramm is sufficiently

sycophantic to satisfy Bush. Gramm also would be likely to argue against bankrupting the country which would just irritate Bush.

[wicket]

13. Phil Gramm????

Ewwwwwwwwww!!! :puke:

[underpants]

14. "You know he has a PhD in economics"

That is the line I got from my stepfather when Gramm was still on the Hill. He threw in that the only other PhD on the Hill was Dick Armey.

My response"So what he still doesn't know what the hell his talking about. He fits his economic assessment to meet his politic philosophy"

[Blue_Tires]

16. oh lord

he had to go dig up that 'blast fromt he past'....this country is dead to me now

[0007]

18. That would be right up Phil's alley. Maybe he can bring Windy

along too. They got good training under the direction of Kenneth Lay. The rip off master.

[Zorra]

20. Gramm is the perfect choice for Bu$h's planned "Enronization" of

Social Security.

[rainbow4321]

23. Do a Google on Gramm and Enron...

is shrub TRYING to implode?? Gramm and his wife Wendy have a LONG not-so-good history in Texas. Well, hell, shrub may do more damage to himself than we could in the entire next 4 years. Go for it, chimp.

http://www.alternet.org/story/12155

Shortly after taking office, President Bush waged a battle against the imposition of federal price controls in California that allowed Enron to price-gouge consumers by extending the energy crisis in California, costing the state billions of dollars. Enron reported increased revenues of almost $70 billion from the previous year.

Bush also resisted attempts to crack down on Enron's utilization of its 847 offshore subsidiaries in countries with lax banking-regulation laws. The consumer-rights watchdog organization Public Citizen alleges that some of these offshore havens helped Enron defraud its stockholders.

Moreover, while Sen. Gramm was working the Congress to pass legislation favorable to Enron (and collecting nearly $260,000 in campaign contributions from the company), his wife Wendy Gramm first was chairperson of a regulatory committee overseeing Enron's business activities and later a paid member of that company's board of directors. Enron paid her between $915,000 and $1.85 million, according Public Citizen. Sen. Gramm has announced his decision not to seek reelection for another term in the senate.

[Malikshah]

24. Didn't he stop Clinton from freezing assets

of various organizations linked to terror?

I remember reading of this a while back...Gramm was on Banking committee etc. and when the US tried to freeze assets after 1993....Gramm made sure that the banking interests didn't get hurt.

Anyone remember this?

It would be useful to bring up in the media if so. (Not that they would, mind you, but wouldn't it be nice if WE knew here...;))

OK-- it was for drug-laundering, not terrorists...or is there a link...:)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/special/terror/response/1060579

[indepat]

25. Is that Phil M.F. (my friend) Gramm?

[KamaAina]

26. He's the scary thing about Gramm:

He used to be -- are you ready for this? -- a Democrat. He revealed his true repuke nature shortly after St. Raygun ascended to power.

On a scale of one to ten on the Zell-O-Meter (TM), Gramm rates about an eleven.

[WhiteTara]

27. I'm so happy to see * wants only the best thief to

stand guard over our money!  Who hee ya'll this is gonna be a
hell of a ride!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

28. Another Texas Shithead