Op-Ed Columnist: Behind Closed Doors By WILLIAM SAFIRE, NYTimes

When George W. Bush was running for president, he was inspiring on the subject of privacy. But it was not your privacy or mine he was talking about. He has gone all out to keep his administration’s energy-legislation deliberations from public scrutiny.

The administration’s eagerness to slam the door in the snoopy public’s face will now be argued before the high court during political primaries and probably decided in July, right before the issue-hungry Democratic political convention.

Are Republicans out of their collective mind? Why the hots to hide? …

If “freedom” is the word Bush and Cheney want as the hallmark of their administration, they should begin with freedom of information.

Note this is THE William Safire, arch-conservative, who notes that what was “sauce for the Clintons is sauce for the Bushies.”

Safire hands Dean a couple of memorable quotes and presents the argument Dean should have made when the issue of his records blew up. mjh