Bush’s Hypocrisy on Oil

Arianna:

There is nothing more infuriating than hearing something you passionately believe in — and indeed have been advocating for years — cynically co-opted by someone who clearly doesn’t mean it.

That’s why the smoke started pouring out of my ears Tuesday night when President Bush announced: “America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.” posting

Washington Post: “AMERICA IS addicted to oil.” It was a catchy line in President Bush’s State of the Union speech. But in truth, few administrations have done more to feed America’s oil addiction than this one — and the same can be said for this Republican Congress.

For most of Mr. Bush’s first term, Congress struggled to pass an energy bill. Last year, Mr. Bush signed one into law. Although not as riddled with pork as some previous versions, the law did not change much, either. It provided subsidies for research on some of the alternative technologies the president referred to in his speech, such as clean coal, ethanol, wind, solar and nuclear power. But it also provided billions of dollars in new subsidies for gas and oil, including inducements to drill for more. editorial