State of Delusion - Krugman, NY Times 2/3/06

[Coastie for Truth]

So President Bush's plan to reduce imports of Middle East oil turns out to be no more substantial than his plan — floated two years ago, then flushed down the memory hole — to send humans to Mars.

But what did you expect? After five years in power, the Bush administration is still — perhaps more than ever — run by Mayberry Machiavellis, who don't take the business of governing seriously.

Here's the story on oil: In the State of the Union address Mr. Bush suggested that "cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol" and other technologies would allow us "to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East."

But the next day, officials explained that he didn't really mean what he said. "This was purely an example," said Samuel Bodman, the energy secretary. And the administration has actually been scaling back the very research that Mr. Bush hyped Tuesday night: the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is about to lay off staff because of budget cuts. "A veteran researcher," reports The New York Times, "said the staff had been told that the cuts would be concentrated among researchers in wind and biomass, which includes ethanol."

Why announce impressive sounding goals when you have no plan to achieve them? The best guess is that the energy "plan" was hastily thrown together to give Mr. Bush something positive to say.

<<<snip>>>

[sellitman]

1. Not registered. Can't read article.

Oh well.

[LincolnMcGrath]

2. I am registed,but i will not pay for "premium subscription"

[GR]

5. Yes, You Can....

Go to Technorati and search....All NY Times OP ED Columnists are eventually available somewhere that way....

http://www.trueblueliberal.com/2006/02/03/state-of-delusion/

[Loge23]

3. Best recap of the SOTU so far

Krugman takes apart the SOTU piece by piece.
Apparently, according to Krugman, WH staffers eliminated any in depth mention about the idiot's plan for health care (there is none) and instead throw in this nonsense "good news" about alternative fuels. To quote:
"The best guess is that the energy "plan" was hastily thrown together to give Mr. Bush something positive to say."
"So Mr. Bush's speechwriters were told to replace the health care proposals with fine words about energy independence, words not backed by any actual policy."

Of course, no mention about Katrina basically equals an admission of failure. Then, the usual delusional "good news" about Iraq.

Krugman writes: "this administration is all politics and no policy. It knows how to attain power, but has no idea how to govern."

[GR]

4. Read The Full Article Here..

http://www.trueblueliberal.com/2006/02/03/state-of-delusion/

[natrat]

6. the village idiot spoke thursday

Mr. Bush also renewed his promise from the State of the Union address to reduce oil imports from the Mideast, even as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries objected and after Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman said Mr. Bush's words should not be taken literally.

In a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, Mr. Bodman said the goal of replacing 75 percent of Middle East oil imports to the United States with ethanol and other energy sources by 2025, a headline from the State of the Union address, was "purely an example" of what might be done.

On Thursday, Mr. Bush went even further in calling for independence from Middle East oil in a speech on scientific innovation and research.

"I'm confident that we'll be able to say to the American people when this research is complete that the United States is on our way to no dependence on oil from the Middle East," Mr. Bush said to applause from several hundred employees and Republican supporters at 3M headquarters here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/03/national/03bush.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[skooooo]

7. Mayberry Machiavellis

This about sums it all up for me.