Did Bush or Paulson have a clue what they were doing? It’s an intriguing question. James flagged up the view of Bush’s speechwriter Matt Latimer that Paulson, not Bush, was to blame. But, in this month’s Vanity Fair, Todd.S. Purdum flips the coin.
Based on interviews with Paulson, conducted as the bailout unfolded, the article’s a brilliant piece of long-form journalism: describing the chicanery on Capitol Hill as Paulson, Tim Geithner and Ben Bernancke sought desperately for a deal with Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank. Paulson was in no doubt that Congressional Republicans were responsible for the foul up. At the height of the crisis he told Purdum:
“Republicans, in particular in the House, were very vulnerable, and so it was against their philosophy, against everything they’d been saying about markets. And because the Democrats would rub their noses in it and say, You know, we’re working with Paulson.
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