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COPYRIGHT 2004 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.
In 1981, David Stockman, Ronald Reagan's budget director, invited the financial journalist William Greider to the White House and told him that the President's controversial and far-reaching tax-cut package was a "Trojan horse" designed to reduce the top tax rates on the wealthy. Greider reported this comment in The Atlantic Monthly, and the flap that ensued prompted James Baker, Reagan's flinty chief of staff, to summon Stockman to his office. "My friend," Baker began, "I want you to listen up good. Your ass is in a sling." The only way for Stockman to save his job, Baker explained, was for him to have lunch with the President. "The menu is humble pie. You're going to eat every last mother f'ing spoonful of it. You're going to be the most contrite sonofabitch this world has ever seen." Just in case Stockman hadn't got the message, Baker added, "When you go through the Oval Office door, I want to see that sorry...
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