Oilman Plays Ozone Man - Maureen Dowd

[applegrove]

February 4, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
Oilman Plays Ozone Man
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON

"The Saudi ambassador summoned me to the embassy on Thursday, across the street from the Watergate.

.... SKIP

The prince, dressed in long white robe and checkered headdress, explained that last fall, when Condi Rice was in Jidda, the Saudis and the U.S. launched a "strategic dialogue," which included a promise by the Saudis to pump more oil. And now the president promises that the U.S. will need less oil.

Which way are the desert winds blowing?

I told the prince it was politics. W. is just mouthing conservation arguments to offset Americans' disgust at the obscene profits of Exxon Mobil and Halliburton, high gas prices and a conflict in Iraq that Rummy now gallingly dubs "the long war." Shouldn't it be "the wrong war"? (Halliburton never gets punished for bilking the Pentagon. The Army just awarded the company a $385 million contract to build detention centers for the Department of Homeland Security.)

.... SNIP"

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/opinion/04dowd.html?pagewanted=print

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

1. Wouldn't love to know what Cheney's nickname is for MoDo?

I can picture him with a dartboard in his office with her face on it.

Chalk up another great editorial for Ms. Dowd...

[Lisa]

5. I think he called her "the Cobra"?

I don't know if he's used it recently, though. (His nicknames seem to shift over time.)

[rodeodance]

2. "Conservatives were so gobsmacked by W.'s.." Rush, Novak responses

Conservatives were so gobsmacked by W.'s promise to have the government drum up nonpetroleum energy options ‹ Robert Novak huffed that it not only violated G.O.P. free-market philosophy, but it also had "a lengthy pedigree of failure" ‹ that the vice president had to swiftly lumber onto conservative radio shows to praise drilling and gas guzzling.

Asked by Rush Limbaugh if drilling in Alaska was now out, Mr. Cheney said: "No, it's not off the table by any means. We'll keep pushing it because we think it makes eminent good sense."

Asked by Laura Ingraham if he agreed with Tom Friedman that the administration should impart pain with a gas tax, Mr. Cheney demurred, "Well, I don't agree with that." He said that he and W. are "big believers" in the market and letting the market work, and that people "make decisions for themselves in terms of what kind of vehicle they want to drive, and how often they want to fill up the tank, and from the perspective of individual American citizens, this notion that we have to 'impose pain,' some kind of government mandate, I think we would resist."

W.'s energy secretary, Samuel Bodman, clarified that the president's words shouldn't be taken literally. He said the aim of replacing 75 percent of Middle East oil imports with alternative fuels was "purely an example" of an action that could be taken.

[rodeodance]

3. Free article at this site.

http://topplebush.com/oped2520.shtml

[Uncle Joe]

4. Al Gore is Ozone Man,

per Bush's daddy circa 1991-1992, I do not think Bush has done anything to warrant such a complimental slam.