READING BETWEEN THE LINES

President Bush Discusses the Economy and Protecting Americans From Terrorism
The Oval Office
October 5, 2007


THE PRESIDENT:

I want to thank members of my economic team for coming in the Oval Office this morning (I'll let grammarians argue whether I should have used the preposition into instead of in...the preposition in conveys an entirely different meaning, I know) to bring some good news here for America's families and America's working people.

You know, I am really pleased with the economic news, but I don't take good news for granted.
(I didn't take the good news for granted when I was selected by the Supreme Court to be your president, or when I got my diploma at Yale.)

I understand people are worried about their mortgage payments, or concerned about sending their child to college.
(But that's life in the big city.)

I know that people are concerned whether or not they're going to have enough money to meet their needs.
(But that's life in the big city.)

And so my call to the United States Congress is, keep taxes low.
(And I'll continue to keep expenses and borrowing high.)

If you want this economy continue to grow, and if you want to reinforce the fact that we've got -- entrepreneurship is strong and people are working, don't raise taxes.
(I'll let grammarians argue why, as your president, I use so many fragments when I speak.)

And I'm looking forward to working with the Congress to set priorities on how we spend the people's money, but I also am going to make it very clear to people in Congress that we're not going to raise their taxes on the working people.
(Just keep spending the taxes of the working people like there's no tomorrow.)

And so I'm real pleased. I thank you all for coming in to bring this good news to me. It's -- this good news is a real tribute to the hardworking Americans, the people out there working hard to put food on the table.
(Instead of on the floor.)

I want to say something else. There's been a lot of talk in the newspapers and on TV about a program that I put in motion to detain and question terrorists and extremists. I have put this program in place for a reason (Although I have very little myself), and that is to better protect the American people. And when we find somebody who may have information regarding an -- a potential attack on America, you bet we're going to detain them, and you bet we're going to question them (and you bet we're going to cause some pain to extract what's inside them!) -- because the American people expect us to find out information -- actionable intelligence so we can help protect them. That's our job.

Secondly, this government does not torture people. You know, we stick to U.S. law and our international obligations.
(AFX News Limited:
US acknowledges torture at Guantanamo; in Iraq, Afghanistan - UN
06.24.2005, 11:37 AM
GENEVA (AFX) - Washington has, for the first time, acknowledged to the United Nations that prisoners have been tortured at US detention centres in Guantanamo Bay, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq, a UN source said.)

Thirdly, there are highly trained professionals questioning these extremists and terrorists. In other words, we got (I know...bad English again) professionals who are trained in this kind of work to get information that will protect the American people. And by the way, we have gotten information from these high-value detainees that have helped protect you.
(Don't ask me to tell you what information. That's my secret.)

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!