[sturm und drang]

Bush's version of his relationship with Lay:
"(After the election)... that's when I first got to know Ken. …"

Lay's version of his relationship with Bush:
"(During the election) "But I was very close to George W..."

Bush's version of who Lay supported in the election:
"He was a supporter of Ann Richards in my run in 1994"

Lay's version:
"(I) did support him."

So Bush isn't lying? These statements don't contradict? Really? Bush isn't lying, desperately trying to distance himself from Lay and the Enron scandal? And if so, this isn't as important as where Kerry was on Christmas Eve in 1968? Really? I bet those tens of thousands of jobless, savings-less Enron workers might disagree.

My, what partisan glasses you all seem to be wearing.

Here's more from the (emphatically Republican) Dallas Morning News:

"In distancing himself from Enron, President Bush said that CEO Kenneth Lay 'was a supporter' of Democrat Ann Richards in his first race for Texas governor in 1994.

"But records and interviews with people involved in the Richards campaign show that he was a far bigger Bush supporter.

"Mr. Lay and his wife gave Mr. Bush three times more money than Ms. Richards in their gubernatorial contest, according to a computer-assisted review of campaign finance reports by The Dallas Morning News. … Mr. Bush, a Republican, collected $37,500 from the Lays in his successful bid to unseat the Democratic incumbent, state records show. Ms. Richards received $12,500."

—Wayne Slater, "Lay Gave More To Bush," Dallas Morning News, Jan. 12, 2002