"BLIND, DEAF PEOPLE OBJECT TO BEING COMPARED TO BUSH ADMINISTRATION

Demand Apology From Paul O'Neill
After former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill likened President George W. Bush in his Cabinet meetings to a 'blind man in a roomful of deaf people,' representatives of the blind and the deaf demanded a prompt and total apology from the former administration official.

'Blind and deaf people have had a lot to contend with in the past, but this remark represents a new low,' said Lois Pankow of the Coalition for the Blind and the Deaf. 'To be compared to President Bush and his Cabinet is at the very least hurtful and quite possibly slanderous as well.'

While Ms. Pankow would not confirm that the blind and the deaf intended to take legal action against Mr. O'Neill for his remarks, she said, 'We are quite confident that any court would decide that being compared to the Bush administration has damaged the reputation of the blind and the deaf, perhaps irreparably.'

Moments after Ms. Pankow's statement, Mr. O'Neill released a statement of his own, apologizing for his comments: 'What I meant to say was that the Bush White House was like a roomful of monkeys banging away on typewriters, trying to write the complete works of William Shakespeare.'

But moments after his apology was released, a representative of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) blasted Mr. O'Neill for his new remarks, saying that they had 'defamed the reputation of monkeys everywhere.'

For his part, President Bush today released a statement comparing himself to 'rubber' and Mr. O'Neill to 'glue.'"