ALAN TURNS ON FREDO!!!

This reminds me of former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill telling us the truth about the "Mayberry Machiavellis," as John Dilulio described the Rove Crowd.

Greenspan Says Bush's Economics Driven by Politics (Update2)
By Matthew Benjamin
Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan criticized President George W. Bush for pursuing an economic agenda driven by politics rather than sound policy, with little concern for future consequences.

Soon after Bush took office, Greenspan wrote in a new book, it became evident that the Treasury secretary and White House economists would play secondary roles in decisions on taxes and other issues.

Soon after Bush took office in 2001, the president set about implementing a campaign promise to cut taxes, a policy Greenspan said he believed at the time wasn't well conceived.
``Little value was placed on rigorous economic policy debate or the weighing of long-term consequences,'' he wrote.

Greenspan said he never became part of Bush's inner circle, in which dissent from staff like former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill wasn't encouraged. ``Paul's outspokenness put him at odds with the administration, which emphasized loyalty and staying on message.''

Greenspan's frustration extended to Congress, which let spending get out of control, he wrote. ```Deficits don't matter,' to my chagrin, became part of the Republicans' rhetoric,'' he said. ``The Republicans in Congress lost their way. They swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither. They deserved to lose.''

The Wall Street Journal also reports on this:

Greenspan Book Criticizes Bush And Republicans
'They Deserved to Lose';
Former Fed Chief Defends Pre-Bubble Rate Cuts
By GREG IP and EMILY STEEL
September 15, 2007

In a withering critique of his fellow Republicans, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says in his memoir that the party to which he has belonged all his life deserved to lose power last year for forsaking its small-government principles.


Mr. Greenspan discovered that in the Bush White House, the "political operation was far more dominant" than in Mr. Ford's. "Little value was placed on rigorous economic policy debate or the weighing of long-term consequences," he writes.