Bush, Lay, Texas tea

April 26, 2006
by Ellis Henican

It was an unfortunate accident of timing, hatched in the Texas oil patch.

But the juxtaposition yesterday was too striking to ignore.

Here was the former Enron chief, the pasty-faced Ken Lay, pleading for his freedom on a Houston witness stand. And there was former Midland oil man George W. Bush, who never once struck anything but a big dry hole, trying to convince Americans that he too is outraged by $3-a-gallon gasoline.

It wasn't proving an easy sell for either man.

"Americans understand, by and large, that the price of crude oil is going up and that the prices are going up, but what they do not want and will not accept is manipulation of the market, and neither will I," Bush said.

Now, this tough talk might have been convincing if the man hadn't just presided over five-plus years of a presidency where he gave the oil people everything they desired.

Who could possibly believe the tough talk now?

The polls say hardly anyone.

(The rest is here.)