So what was the major idea that people seemed to take away from the State of the Union address? Apparently it was this:
We must also change how we power our automobiles. We will increase our research in better batteries for hybrid and electric cars, and in pollution-free cars that run on hydrogen. We’ll also fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn, but from wood chips and stalks, or switch grass. Our goal is to make this new kind of ethanol practical and competitive within six years. (Applause.)
Breakthroughs on this and other new technologies will help us reach another great goal: to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025. (Applause.) By applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleum-based economy, and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past. (Applause.)
Got that? “Replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025,” and “make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past.” Sounds great, right? I couldn’t believe what I was reading (since I can’t bear to watch Bush actually speak, mostly because of his utterly distracting coke jaw — check out this piece to see what I mean, or just Google “coke jaw bush” if you have somehow missed this annoying tic). I mean, here’s a guy who is so entrenched in the oil business that he is best friends with the Saudi Royal Family and basically started a war in Iraq so Halliburton could control the oil fields of a soverign middle-eastern nation, and he’s now saying he wants to make “dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past.” Incredible. I thought maybe the guy was turning over a new leaf, that he realized that EVERY TIME he had a 50-50 chance to make the right decision in the past six years, he made the wrong one and was now determined to correct that record.
But once again, it all turns out to be a shell game.
ONE DAY after Bush’s State of the Union address, his aides came out to clarify his statements. I would imagine quite a lot of you never heard this, and I certainly would have missed it if I hadn’t gotten an e-mail from Media Matters regarding the “retraction.” You can read the whole story here, at the Miami Herald, but here is the key section from the article:
Bush vowed to fund research into better batteries for hybrid vehicles and more production of the alternative fuel ethanol, setting a lofty goal of replacing “more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025.”
He pledged to “move beyond a petroleum-based economy and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past.”
Not exactly, though, it turns out.
”This was purely an example,” Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said.
He said the broad goal was to displace foreign oil imports, from anywhere, with domestic alternatives. He acknowledged that oil is a freely traded commodity bought and sold globally by private firms. Consequently, it would be very difficult to reduce imports from any single region, especially the most oil-rich region on Earth.
Asked why the president used the words ”the Middle East” when he didn’t really mean them, one administration official said Bush wanted to dramatize the issue in a way that ”every American sitting out there listening to the speech understands.” The official spoke only on condition of anonymity because he feared that his remarks might get him in trouble.
Even when this guy seems to tell it straight out, he’s still lying. Why did I ever doubt it?