The Price of Loyalty: on Principles & Values


George W. Bush: O’Neill: Bush is an ideologue, not a centrist

Was it possible, O’Neill wondered, that the country thought it had elected a centrist when in fact it had empowered an ideologue? An incident with [EPA chief Christie Todd] Whitman was the start of a rolling revelation. Whitman’s spokesperson said the EPA chief would ‘follow the president’s lead.’ The president was relying on ideologues like [supply-side economist] Larry Lindsey, Karl Rove and, he now feared, his old friend Dick Cheney. Energy concerns and the thinly supported jeremiad by industry lobbyists that the United States was in the early stages of an energy crisis had eclipsed considerations about action on global warming [at the energy task force led by Dick Cheney] This Presi
Source: The Price of Loyalty, by Ron Suskind, p. 124-130 Jan 13, 2004

George W. Bush: Bush places personal loyalty over loyalty to the truth

It seemed, suddenly, that there were no “let’s-look-at-the-facts brokers” in any of the key White House positions. A strict code of personal fealty to Bush--animated by the embrace of a few unquestioned ideologues-- eemed to be in collision with a faith in the broader ideals of honest inquiry. Even quite junior staff would sometimes hear quite senior staff pooh-pooh any need to dig deeper for pertinent information on a given issue.
Source: The Price of Loyalty, by Ron Suskind, p. 125 & 171 Jan 13, 2004

  • The above quotations are from The Price of Loyalty:
    George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill    , by Ron Suskind.
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