Newsweek has previewed the upcoming political memoir of Hank M. Paulson Jr, the former Goldman Sachs CEO and the third Treasury Secretary during the Bush Administration, who became the point person during the financial meltdown in October 2008. Entitled On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System, the memoir is Paulson's account of his actions during the global financial crisis that saw the collapse of the venerable investment bank Lehman Brothers and the teetering of the world's financial markets.

While Newsweek points to a number of sure to be bantered about quotes, I was most struck by Secretary Paulson's utter contempt for members of the Republican leadership.

Paulson delivers a continual and biting critique of Republicans. Right out of the gate, he takes a swipe at Sarah Palin, saying that while he encourages everyone he works with to call him Hank, when she did it over the phone during the campaign, “for some reason, the way she said it over the phone like that, even though we’d never met, rubbed me the wrong way” (page 15).

Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning is a “cantankerous conservative” (page 275).

Meetings with Senate Republicans were “a complete waste of time for us, when time was more precious than anything” (page 275).

Ideas that Republicans do add are “unformed,” like Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor’s plan to replace TARP with an insurance program. In a rare moment of sarcasm, Paulson goes off on the minority Whip: “I got a better idea. I’m going to go with Eric Cantor’s insurance program. That’s the idea to save the day” (page 285).

I am tempted to send the President a copy with those remarks highlighted. No truer words have ever been said.