Even Dilbert gets it

From The Carpetbagger

From the State of the Union:

"Breakthroughs on this and other new technologies will help us reach another great goal: to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025. By applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleum-based economy, and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past."

From the day after the State of the Union:

One day after President Bush vowed to reduce America's dependence on Middle East oil by cutting imports from there 75 percent by 2025, his energy secretary and national economic adviser said Wednesday that the president didn't mean it literally.

[The president] pledged to "move beyond a petroleum-based economy and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past." Not exactly, though, it turns out. "This was purely an example," Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said.

From yesterday's Bush speech in Wisconsin:

"But the American people will be amazed at how far our technology has advanced in order to meet an important goal, which is to reduce our imports from the Middle East by 75 percent by 2025, and eventually getting rid of our dependence totally."

The reality is that we're talking about a pretty modest goal anyway. The United States gets less than a fifth of its oil from the Middle East. If we reduce just those imports by 75%, it's really only a reduction of 1.9% a year for 19 years. A "dramatic improvement" this is not. For that matter, there's nothing in the president's plan that would stop private companies from buying anyone's oil, whether it's from the Middle East or not.

I want to know is it a goal or isn't it, or does Festus just say whatever shit he feels like saying?