T. Boone Pickens, Unrepentant Character Assassin
[media id=6675] T. Boone Pickens has been in the news a lot lately pushing his so-called "Pickens Plan" which seeks to reduce America's reliance on f
T. Boone Pickens has been in the news a lot lately pushing his so-called "Pickens Plan" which seeks to reduce America's reliance on foreign energy imports. Some aspects of the proposal are laudatory and actually quite brilliant, and some aspects are just downright stupid. But this post isn't about the merits of the idea; it's about what Pickens has to say when asked to reflect back on his role in bankrolling the insipid swift boat smear campaign against John Kerry. On this front, the billionaire oilman reveals his true, slimy colors. In this 60 Minutes profile, the cameras follow Pickens to the 2008 Democratic National Convention and capture his visibly uncomfortable encounter with the man he spent $3 million destroying.
"You spent $3 million funding an advertising campaign that, in some people’s mind, was representative of dirty politics, smear politics, character assassination, all of that. At this stage, do you have any regrets?" Rose asks.
"None," Pickens says.
Asked if he'd do it over again tomorrow, Pickens says, "What I knew then, I know that same thing now. And nothing has changed my mind."