Bush Speech--Not
If you, like me, have had people sending you an "advance copy" of a speech Bush is giving today, and been shocked at its contents, you're not surprised to know that it's a joke. It's a speech Jimmy Carter gave as President. With Bush now telling us all to stop driving, that's the joke. Where did it come from? ABCNews' The Note, a daily update with a sense of humor but nonetheless a serious news source. But they gave no indication it was a joke. Jon at AmericaBLOG is not amused.

To me the funny part is the continuing Bush-Cheney flip-flopping on whether conservation really is important, a shift the Note tries to chuckle at here. The only problem, if there is one, is that it fooled some that excerpted their favorite parts and sent them around--I got a chain of those--leaving out the tell-tale phrases ("there is a malaise afflicting America.") that would have tipped off those of us over 30.

But beyond that, it's amazing to reread that Carter speech, no doubt a political mistake of the highest order, but a remarkable set of things for a President to say. Too bad the very forceful plan for energy independence was not implemented in full, and so did not work. We still face that problem, but not so much a "crisis in confidence." Unless you count this as such a beginning.