This weekend, Bob Woodward told “60 Minutes”‘ Michael Wallace that the Saudis were planning to fix the U.S. election for George Bush by driving down gas prices by flooding the world‘s oil supply. The Saudis‘ ambassador admitted as much yesterday when he said he received similar requests from Bill Clinton before his 1996 reelection campaign and Jimmy Carter before he was routed in 1980 by Ronald Reagan.
The Saudis have made it no secret that they can gain access in Washington by simply buying off politicians after they leave public service, sending the message around D.C. that, if you take care of the Saudis, the Saudis will take care of you.
A few years back, Republicans blasted Bill Clinton for raising millions of dollars illegally from communist China. Those illegal actions were very troubling to me as a member of the United States Congress at the time. And these current allegations that are being leveled at the Bush White House and the Saudis are equally troubling. And even though Bob Woodward seemed to back off his claim a bit today by saying that all the Saudis really wanted to do was give America a stable economy this year, Americans have heard too many stories about cozying up to the Saudi royals from Washington politicians.
These Saudi royals are the same ones who funded terror cells and who blocked U.S. investigations that could have brought bin Laden to justice before the September 11 attacks.
Keep your eyes on the prices at the pump this summer. And if record prices we‘re facing begin to fall, expect more protests from John Kerry, even though he‘s trying to have it both ways by bashing the president for not doing enough about bringing down record-high prices. And also count on investigations from MSNBC and SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY to uncover whether it is a true fact that billionaire Saudi royals are working behind the scenes to rig the election process through which we select our president.
It‘s one more story of shady Saudi dealing and it‘s tonight‘s “Real Deal.”
'Scarborough Country' airs Sunday-Thursday, 10 p.m. ET on MSNBC.
