The thing that struck me about O’Neill in his interview was how seemingly unaware he was that he was saying things that could be considered critical of the president. He’s telling the truth and can’t imagine that he would be punished for that. He obviously doesn’t know the Bush administration as well as the rest of us do.

While in the book O’Neill comes off as constantly appalled at Mr. Bush, he was surprised when Stahl told him she found his portrait of the president unflattering.

“Hmmm, you really think so,” asks O’Neill, who says he isn’t joking. “Well, I’ll be darned.”

“You’re giving me the impression that you’re just going to be stunned if they attack you for this book,” says Stahl to O’Neill. “And they’re going to say, I predict, you know, it’s sour grapes. He’s getting back because he was fired.”
“I will be really disappointed if they react that way because I think they’ll be hard put to,” says O’Neill.

Is he prepared for it?

“Well, I don’t think I need to be because I can’t imagine that I’m going to be attacked for telling the truth,” says O’Neill. “Why would I be attacked for telling the truth?”

Now the treasury department is investigating and the White House Spokesman is accusing O’Neill of breaking federal law.

Let the smearing begin.

Oh, and buy the book O’Neill didn’t get a dime for.