Lay blames others while taking "full responsibility"

It's the Reagan defense.

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Lay blames others while taking "full responsibility":

"HOUSTON: Enron founder Kenneth Lay, taking the stand for the first time in his fraud trial, told jurors he took 'full responsibility' for the Houston energy company's collapse, even as he went on to blame others for the company's misfortune.

Lay, 64, showed more hard edge than charm as he singled out short sellers who bet Enron's stock price would sink, skeptical media reports and disclosures about theft by finance chief Andrew Fastow as responsible for Enron's collapse.
He also, ever so subtly, cast blame for the market unrest that led to Enron's collapse on the resignation of the man who has sat at the defense table with him for 13 weeks, prot�g� and former Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling."