Lying Liars Redux

Bush at today's Rose Garden press conference, about his relationship with Ahmad Chalabi: "First of all, I don't know Ahmad Chalabi very well. I guess I met with him at the State of the Union, but we spoke very briefly." And, "I don't think anyone ever walked into my office and said, "Here's what Chalabi is saying about what's going on in Iraq."

The facts: Chalabi claims to have met 4 times with Bush. He also maintains close ties to top Administration officials, and he is a personal friend of Dick Cheney. He also undoubtedly supplied information about Iraq and WMD to the Defense Department and the Defense Policy Board, information that eventually made its way to the White House.

For some perspective:
Bush on January 10, 2002, responding to a reporter about his relationship with Ken Lay: "First of all, Ken Lay is a supporter, and I got to know Ken Lay when he was a head of the -- what they call the Governor's Business Council in Texas.  He was a supporter of Ann Richards (former Texas governor) in my run against her in 1994, and she named him head of the Governor's Business Council and I decided to leave him in place, for the sake of continuity."

The facts:
In the summer of 1991, Lay told the Dallas Morning News that in 1989, when he was spearheading a project to locate the Bush Presidential Library in Houston (Bush I), "That's when I probably spent more quality time with George W. Bush."  1989 -- not 1994.

Lay headed the local host committee for the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston where, according to what he told the Houston Chronicle he "worked closely with George W. Bush." 1992 -- not 1994.

In a March 2001 interview with PBS, Lay told a much different story from the lie told by GWBush.  Lay stated that he had been "a strong financial and political supporter of, first, President Bush, Sr., when he was running for president in 1980. . . I'm very close to the family. . . I was very close to George W. and had a lot of respect for him . . . "  1980 -- not 1994.

In a video of an October 2000 meeting of Enron employees, Lay stated "I strongly supported Bush when he ran for governor of Texas both times."  In fact, Bush sent Lay a letter in 1997 in which he referred to Lay as one of his "old friends."

What about Bush's claim that Lay had supported Ann Richards, former Texas governor?  Lay and his wife contributed $12,500 to Richards.  They gave $47,500 to Bush and Enron's political action committee gave Bush $146,500 (the PAC gave Richards  $19,500).

From 1994 on, Lay and his wife gave:  $122,500 for the two Bush gubernatorial campaigns; $100,000 for his inauguration; $250,000 for the Bush I presidential library.  Enron and Enron executives gave $736,680 to Bush for his political campaigns, his election recount, and his inauguration.

(tip of the hat to schlatter.org for the info)