Molly Ivins: Kicking the Oil Addiction: Bush Lied, Again

[Dudley_DUright]

I like to think that Republicans are having fun. They’re such cards. What a wheeze, what a jape. Talking about energy independence in the State of the Union address! President Bush said “America is addicted to oil” and we will “break this addiction.” Oh what a good trick to see if anyone thought he actually meant it!

I’m not going to embarrass the perennial suckers who fell for it by identifying them, but I assure you they include some well-known names in journalism. Boy, I bet they feel like fools, having written those optimistic columns pointing to how Bush had made a fine proposal—cut oil imports from the Middle East by 75% by 2025—and people should take it seriously and stop dissing him.

Of course, the next day the administration trotted out Energy Secretary Sam Bodman and Alan Hubbard, director of the president’s National Economic Council, to assure us the president didn’t mean it. Bodman explained, “That was purely an example.” A “for instance.” Like, we could set a goal like that. Actually, we could do that without breaking a sweat: set fuel efficiency standards at 40 miles per gallon in 10 years (hybrids already get higher mileage now), and you save 2.5 million barrels a day, just what we import now from the Mideast.

According to Knight Ridder, “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 into trouble.”

more...

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060206_state_union_medicare_oil/

[Dunvegan]

1. Gotta love Molly...

Molly Ivins writes:

I tell you, this bunch of cutups just keeps the fun coming. Just a few weeks ago, the House of Representatives cut $16 billion from Medicaid over 10 years, which means states will increase co-payments on poor people and drop preventive care—which will cost more in the long run, but what the hey. They also cut $12.7 billion in student aid and loan programs over five years, because who needs that? And cut $1.5 billion in child support enforcement in the next year, which is positively brilliant and will result in a drop of at least $8.4 billion in child support collected over the next 10 years. Oh, and a measly cut of $577 million in foster care over five years, making it harder to take care of neglected and abused children, who probably did something to deserve it in the first place.

Now here’s a little howler: Bush proposes cutting $36 billion from Medicare over the next five years only ... wait for it ... he’s not cutting the money, he’s saving it! A $36-billion Medicare savings. That’s so clever.

Bloody hell.

Does anyone here know of anyone else (other than those of us on DU) talking about this?

Any elders? Pre-retirement friends or relatives? Mothers? Fathers? Co-workers?

Whisky. Tango. Foxtrot?

[FrankLee]

2. Molly is undergoing chemo again

This is the third or fourth round of chemo for her.

Hope for the best.

[Dudley_DUright]

3. Third round I think

She has a lot of fans her at DU. Welcome to DU, FrankLee. :hi: