Bush/Enron Party Tape! (MSNBC clip from 12/2002)

[htuttle]

I was rummaging around Davy Jones locker, and look what I found!

It's a story from 12/2002 by Lester Holt about a 1997 going away party Enron held for 'a departing Enron president'. Enron employees and several Bush family members put together a video tape for the party.

One good clip is Poppy Bush saying, "You have been fantastic to the Bush family. I don't think anybody did more than you did to support George..."

Other highlights include Enron accounting personnel joking about 'Hypothetical Future Value' accounting.

http://www.piratevideo.tv/Real/EnronBushClip.rm
(RealPlayer, 2.1 MB, 50 seconds)

BTW, Lester notes that George W. Bush was also at the party. :)

on edit:

This 'departing former Enron President' -- wouldn't that have been Ken Lay? I notice that Lester doesn't say the person's name, but Skilling started in 1997, and didn't Skilling take over President/CEO after Ken Lay? Listening to Poppy, it sure SOUNDS like he's talking about Ken Lay...

[Carni]

1. This is a keeper!

Thanks...I will spread it to my email lists!

[imax2268]

2. dam real media player...

you don't know if they have a window's media clip do you...?

[htuttle]

6. No, I captured it myself. It's on my own website

I don't have a way to encode it as a windows file. :shrug:

[NightOwwl]

7. Try 'RealAlternative'

It's basically RealPlayer without all the spyware and added crap.

link:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternative.htm

[PoliticsSportsMusic]

3. YEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!! N/T

[gulliver]

4. DL'ing it now.

Thanks for the post!

[gatorboy]

5. Bah!

I can't get it to open! :(

[imax2268]

8. same here...

if someone can convert it or knows where to get the same clip...please post it...

[htuttle]

10. I have the source -- here's a Quicktime version

http://piratevideo.tv/MOV/EnronBushClip.mov
(3.8 MB, Quicktime)

I NEED SOME MIRRORS FOR THIS! My puny 765k DSL connection is getting swamped.

[htuttle]

9. It should play with the free RealPlayer 9.0

It does on my Mac, in any case.

I would think it should work with earlier versions, too. ?

[Treaghon]

11. Now If only...

Micael Moore could'a found this stuff before F911.

Spooky spooky stuff.

[gatorboy]

12. My apologies!

It finally played. I was just being anxious! (Faster faster!)

Thanks!

[imax2268]

13. I'm downloading it to my pc...

when I get it I will upload it to my server...

[htuttle]

14. Thanks!

I'm about to go underwater over here!

[gatorboy]

15. Here are some nice companion pieces:

Enron chief Ken Lay's own words and campaign contributions undercut President Bush's assertion this week that he merely inherited the energy executive's support from former Democratic Gov. Ann Richards.

Bush, seeking to distance himself from the troubled Houston energy company, said earlier this week that Lay had supported Richards against Bush in the 1994 gubernatorial race.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/business/1208785


One powerful name to keep an eye on during this energy crisis is Kenneth Lay, chairman and CEO of Texas-based Enron Corp., and a close buddy and contributor to President-elect George W. Bush.

Enron has been one of the prime movers behind California's energy deregulation and continues to be a significant player in the state as an energy marketer.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/01/17/MNW165473.DTL

[Zorra]

18. Yeah, this too.

Name: Kenneth Lay
Occupation: Chair & CEO, Enron Corp.
Industry: Energy & Natural Resources
Home: Houston, Texas
1999 Salary & Perks: $42.4 Million

The $550,025 that the Enron Corp. gave Bush over the years makes it his No. 1 career patron, according to the Center for Public Integrity. “Virtually every … aspect of Enron’s operations is overseen by the federal government,” a ’96 Dallas Morning News story noted. Not surprisingly, this global natural gas giant and its top executive are big political contributors who keep revolving doors whirling. Lay hired President Bush’s cabinet members James Baker and Robert Mosbacher as they left office. After President Bush’s ’93 Gulf War victory tour of Kuwait, Baker and other members of his entourage stayed on to hustle Enron contracts. The Clinton administration also threatened to cut Mozambique’s aid in ’95 if the world’s poorest country awarded a pipeline contract to a different company. Enron got Bush to contact Texas’ congressional delegation in ’97 to promote a corporate welfare program in which U.S. taxpayers finance political risk insurance for the foreign operations of corporations such as Enron. Enron plants around Houston—which surpassed LA for the title to the nation’s worst air—are “grandfathered” air polluters that exploit a loophole in state law to avoid installing modern pollution-control technologies. Earlier this year the Houston Astros inaugurated their new Enron Field, which was financed with $180 million in public tax dollars and $100 million from Enron. In return, Enron landed tax breaks and a $200 million contract to power the stadium. Topping Enron’s political wish list in Texas was deregulation of the state’s electrical markets. Bush signed this dream into law in ’99.

http://www.tpj.org/pioneers/kenneth_lay.html

[struggle4progress]

23. the Texans for Public Justice 2002 press release

http://www.tpj.org/press_releases/enron.html

A detailed breakdown of Enron-related contributions to the Bush and Richards campaigns ...

[htuttle]

16. Kick!

:kick:

[Sweetpea]

17. Great post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LTR]

19. You have been nominated for the front page!

Congrats!

:toast:

[devilgrrl]

20. Hmmm, I wonder what the rest of the tape looks like.

Bet there's a lot more to it.

Great clip though.

[Poiuyt]

21. You should send this to Keith Olbermann

He would make hay with it and wouldn't have to worry about copyrights.

[htuttle]

22. He would have access to the entire tape, too

Or somebody at MSNBC would. The story dropped off the face of the earth after it ran just one day. They were busy stoking up Iraq war fever at the time, IIRC.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

24. Send it to Wonk...he would host it at BPilgrim's site

[Karenina]

25. Kick!

:kick:

[htuttle]

26. Kick for "Accountants Gone Wild!"

:kick:

[htuttle]

27. Another kick for the morning crowd

:kick:

[spinbaby]

28. Is this the footage BBC was playing this morning?

They had footage of Kenny Boy in a crowd at some kind of a party. Bush the Smarter was at his side and Bush the Dumber was a couple of steps ahead.

[htuttle]

29. I've seen a still image of that footage, I think

If it's this one, according to this caption it was taken at a baseball game:




Or maybe this one?

[spinbaby]

31. No, not those

I just rummaged through the BBC Web site and they don't have it there, either. But they showed it on their news early this morning.

[htuttle]

30. Here's another Bush/Ken Lay clip from Henry Waxman's committee

Ken Lay discusses his political support of George W Bush at a 2003 Enron employee meeting.

http://www.house.gov/reform/min/video/mov_enron_clips.htm
(RealPlayer)

Direct link (about 5.4 MB)
http://www.house.gov:80/reform/min/video/mov_enron_lay_bush.rm

[jono]

32. Kick

:kick: