Ron Suskind's Book on Paul O'Neill

So who caught "60 Minutes" last night? For those who don't know, former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill was on last night talking about his contribution to a book expose by Ron Suskind on the Bush Administration. Among the revelations, all backed up by documentation:

A war against Iraq was planned as early as January 31, 2001, and the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks that September gave Bush and Cheney the excuse to pursue it.

Discussions were underway as early as March 2001 on how to divide oil rights after Saddam Hussein was ousted from power.

O'Neill repeatedly tried to explain the effects of various economic statistics to Bush, and the President seemed completely disengaged.

Had Bush's early tax relief not been enacted in 2001, O'Neill insisted, the economy still would have grown sufficiently enough in 2003 to allow an easy restructuring of Medicare and perhaps Social Security.

When Bush himself questioned another round of tax cuts for the rich, Karl Rove told him to stick to his supply-side economic principles, much to O'Neill's dismay. Rove won the President's, er, mind.

What effect will this have on the election? Idealistically, plenty; realistically, I don't know. Because not everyone watches "60 Minutes," and there's no guarantee that this story will linger. The CIA leak story didn't. :-(