Bush blames Congress for inaction on energy, housing bills

'"U.S. President George W Bush, hoping to inoculate his party and his presidential legacy from election-year anger over the economy, heaped criticism on the Democratic-led Congress on Tuesday for “letting the American people down.”'

HAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahaha!!! Leave it to bush to pretend it wasn't him that let the country (and world, to an extent, not that we expected anything but lunacy from him) down, but to try and blame it on others. What a total and complete loser.

Bush is renowned for his failure to act on anything related to the environment -- its destruction aside -- and was utterly blasted at the last UN climate conference where he was called some wicked names and told where to put his 'plan' (which was actually nothing but a report that suggested energy use would peak within 50 years!).

But hey, no doubt in a minute we'll have redacted come on and, true to form and taking a page from his loser president, will blame all this on the British, or Buddhists, or something equally unrelated.

"His call this morning for Congress to act is disingenuous at best"

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Leave it to Harry Reid and the Democrats to pretend that their inaction on these issues has hurt us.

lunatic maybe, but he is not lying. He is right that congress shot everything down and mostly for political reasons. His one proposal of drilling in Alaska was shot down due to environmental concerns. The housing crises was mostly caused banks and lending institutions being forced to lend to people they would have otherwise not lent money to, which was led by the current congress.

I can understand hating the guy, but a lot of this is not his fault. And, I highly don't think he is smart enough to have caused much the problems he is accused of.

We see how george bush's actions on this country for 6 years has led this country down the track of destruction and financial disaster.

Then when the Congress tried to do what the American people wanted, george bush vetoed every effort.

So I can see how the Congress doesn't do his bidding and followed his failed ideas.

george bush's legacy will be something of an embarrassment.

I see some have already forgotten the (cough) 2006 elections. They sure showed President Bush, didn't they?

Unbelievable, does this guy ever look at himself in the mirror, or NOT blame anyone else?

"But hey, no doubt in a minute we'll have redacted come on and, true to form and taking a page from his loser president, will blame all this on the British, or Buddhists, or something equally unrelated."

Bush's detractors constantly point out he polls as low as 30 percent.

Congress is at 20 percent.

So I guess I blame the media here :)

Seems Bush would rather send more young Americans to get killed in Iraq than insure American kids.

Also seems like Bush has about zero interest in helping out American homeowners who have lost bigtime in the subprime disaster that happened on his watch.

He'd much rather hand bilions to a bunch of bankers.

Why do the sad bunch of deadend Bush supporters STILL not realize how Bush is screwing them royally??

The rest of us have only seen it happening (and been laughing) for, lessee...the last 5 years now? :-)

Heh, the chickens are coming home to roost and it's not going to be pretty for the Sarges, Superlibs and redacteds of this world.

redacted - "Bush's detractors constantly point out he polls as low as 30 percent. Congress is at 20 percent. So I guess I blame the media here :)"

Oh, if only all JT posters were so simple minded to buy that. :-)

The No. 1 reason Congress is polling so low is because Bush's flailing vetoes are stalling legislation that will benefit Americans.

As I implied in my above post, Bush doesn't give a damn about ordinary Americans.

[PS: I bet I'm going to be labeled a 'Bush Hater' for...pointing out the truth :-) ]

But Exxon is posting record profits so dubya has done something right.

sushi sake wrote:"The No. 1 reason Congress is polling so low is because Bush's flailing vetoes are stalling legislation that will benefit Americans."

If his vetoes are "flailing" (?) shouldn't it be easy - and worthwhile - for the Pelosi-led Congress to challenge him more often and in wee bit stronger form than with "symbolic resolutions"??

I mean, Bush is a "lame duck," has been since Jan 07.

Why can't "liberals" bring about the changes they promised?

Pelosi said folks paying 2.00$/gallon for gas was something they would change, off the bat.

Are the America-obsessed here going to argue gas is actually cheaper since the Dems won control of Congress?

No, it's sushi who is flailing here, like his boy Barack.

Text from Bush's Rose Garden Address :

"One of the main reasons for high gas prices is that global oil production is not keeping up with growing demand. Members of Congress have been vocal about foreign governments increasing their oil production; yet Congress has been just as vocal in opposition to efforts to expand our production here at home.

"They repeatedly blocked environmentally safe exploration in ANWR. The Department of Energy estimates that ANWR could allow America to produce about a million additional barrels of oil every day, which translates to about 27 millions of gallons of gasoline and diesel every day. That would be about a 20-percent increase of oil -- crude oil production over U.S. levels, and it would likely mean lower gas prices. And yet such efforts to explore in ANWR have been consistently blocked.

"Another reason for high gas prices is the lack of refining capacity. It's been more than 30 years since America built its last new refinery. Yet in this area, too, Congress has repeatedly blocked efforts to expand capacity and build more refineries.

"As electricity prices rise, Congress continues to block provisions needed to increase domestic electricity production by expanding the use of clean, safe nuclear power. Instead, many of the same people in Congress who complain about high energy costs support legislation that would make energy even more expensive for our consumers and small businesses. "

I'm not sure that the ANWR area should be off limits for drilling. But I have a feeling even if the petroleum companies find oil, they would rape us just as much as they are right now.

Watching how profits rise over $30,000,000,000.00 for each 3 months and they continue to charge prices as high as they do. Petroleum companies would just have access to more oil to screw us out of our hard earned money.

The housing crises was mostly caused banks and lending institutions being forced to lend to people they would have otherwise not lent money to, which was led by the current congress.

No one was forced to do anything and the current problems go back to the Reagan era when the financial sector became the engine of US growth, replacing manufacturing. It attracted a lot of bright people like Michael Milken back in the late 1980s. When he went to jail for his "junk bonds" few regulators had the ability to understand the complex transactions he had created. Ditto for Enron which looked highly profitable until the day it went bust and wiped out a lot of people's life savings.

The financial services industry has lobbied for deregulation for the past two decades and achieved significant success, no doubt aided by large campaign contributions (to both parties). In a real estate bubble, all home owners had to do was refinance their mortgages and use the instant equity they gained on paper to pay for a remodel and maybe a vacation as well. Americans are going to have to learn to live very differently now.

GWB's problem is that he touted a "great economy" reflected in continuous job growth. The numbers, in fact, were not all that great but now the trend has dried up there is nothing to crow about, just a mountain of debt that will have to be paid off.

redacted - "They repeatedly blocked environmentally safe exploration in ANWR."

I can't believe you can actually put up Presidential mumbo jumbo like this on JT and expect to be taken seriously.

You're actually implying here that words from your Prsident's lips might bear even a semblance of truth or reality.

That, between you and me, is freaking hilarious!

"They repeatedly blocked environmentally safe exploration in ANWR.

Probably because dubya and co would profit from that as well. Isnt he here in the Me picking up his bonus checks. And whats this news about Iraq having 50 billion in a swiss account but american tax payers are still footing the bill for reconstruction.

Thanks again dubya

In late 2007 an article appeared in the Toronto Globe and Mail which observed that "for too long, Americans have been gorging on cheap credit and foreign oil, and all the things that go with that lifestyle--monster homes, big cars, and big-screen TVs. For 15 years the U.S. economy has been a magnet for global products and credit. Now the patient is overindulged, his credit card maxxed out."

While economists and financial pundits have offered more sophisticated analyses in more measured words, that kinda nails it. The tax refund checks now being doled out by Uncle Sam will simply keep this going a little while longer. But something has to change.

Betzee quotes Canadians for an article about American energy policy.

dxxjp has been in the ME too long and apparently gone native, parroting the conspiracies the locals are so fond of.

Sushi sake can only come with denials and silly taunts.

Here is another link, to another article, by an American, and one who has researched the subject:

"It may surprise Americans to discover that the United States is the third-largest oil producer, behind Saudi Arabia and Russia. We could be producing more, but Congress has put large areas of potential supply off-limits. These include the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and parts of Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. By government estimates, these areas may contain 25 billion to 30 billion barrels of oil (against about 30 billion barrels of proven U.S. reserves today) and 80 trillion cubic feet or more of natural gas (compared with about 200 tcf of proven reserves).

"What keeps these areas closed are exaggerated environmental fears, strong prejudice against oil companies and sheer stupidity. Americans favor both "energy independence" and cheap fuel. They deplore imports -- who wants to pay foreigners? -- but oppose more production in the United States. Got it? The result is a "no-pain energy agenda that sounds appealing but has no basis in reality," writes Robert Bryce in "Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of 'Energy Independence.' " http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/29/AR2008042902394.html

I knew such a long post had to be a cut-and-paste redacted, you yourself can only author one-liners. Arguments and evidence have to be supplied by others.

In fact, a look at the map will reveal that, realistically speaking, opening up ANWR will do a lot more for the Chinese than for Americans. Geographically speaking, it's simply much easier to get Alaskan crude to Asia than America. This is because you have to bring that oil down from Alaska through the Panama Canal and then up to Houston. Why? Well, Houston is home to the majority of American oil refineries. In short, this whole impatient notion that putting aside environmentalists' concerns would be a boon to hard-pressed American consumers now feeling pain at the pump is absurd.

The oil price increases are hitting Americans much harder than Europeans because our lifestyle is based on cheap oil. I heard it yesterday when a colleague who drives an SUV 40 miles each direction was denied permission to telecommute two days a week. She had a fit; "How was I supposed to know gas prices this high would go up when I bought my car three years ago? I can't afford to work here wah, wah, wah!!!" Ah, but she had no choice given the debt she carries to finance consumption purchases which is highly representative of the American lifestyle in this day and change. "I owe, I owe, so off to work I go..."

My father never got a credit card until it became impossible to rent a car without one. I can remember his saying on many occasions, "It just encourages people to spend money they don't have." Indeed, merchants of debt. Those who fell into that trap are now having to face the consequences of their actions. The economic downturn which everyone is trying to blame on someone else reflects less the problems of public debt than ballooning private debt.

DXXJP - "Probably because dubya and co would profit from that ( safe oil exploration in ANWR )

And 300 million other Americans. Sheesh.

"Isn't he here in the Me ( Middle East ) picking up his bonus checks?"

No, he isn't. Any other questions?