He didn't really mean what he said

The words were hardly out of his mouth.

WASHINGTON - 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.

What the president meant, they said in a conference call with reporters, was that alternative fuels could displace an amount of oil imports equivalent to most of what America is expected to import from the Middle East in 2025.

But America still would import oil from the Middle East, because that's where the greatest oil supplies are.

I did hear yesterday that a bunch of Bush's buddies, including the Saudis were pretty ticked off about the speech, but jeez -- as the LA Times said yesterday, Middle Eastern oil is only 10% of our supply even now, so cutting it 75% wouldn't be that big a deal.

[A hat tip to Kevin Drum]