Watch Norm attempt his hand at facts
Unfortunately he's picking the wrong ones.
First of all I never said that Bush is the only factor in current oil prices. I did say that you could choose to judge him that way. But those statements are different.
On top of your other factors for prices of oil, another that is frequently cited is uncertainty about the stability of the Middle-East. I've seen estimates that this contributes about $10/barrel to the cost of crude. Is that the only factor in price increases? Of course not - in fact you correctly label some others. But it is a big component (by the above estimate about 1/3 of the rise from 1999 to the present) and it is a component largely caused by this administration.
As for our popularity in the Middle-East, I just doublechecked and I'd named the wrong country. Jordan didn't like us much in 2002, we only got a favourable rating from a third of them. Of course that was a darned sight better than the 15% we're at now. There are lost causes and really badly lost causes. One of our traditional friends there is Egypt - and why not, when we give them $4 billion/year? Well 98% of them dislike us these days. Our best ally is Saudi Arabia, you might remember them as the people who you said would never support attacking us because it isn't in their interest. Our support there dropped from 12% to 4%. When 96% of a country that we really depend on dislikes us, we've got a problem.
Now you don't seem to see this as a problem. You're willing to write off the support that we had in the Middle East. You're willing to ignore the fact that our wars have caused uncertainty which is bad for oil. You're willing to not think about how we get out of this mess.
But then again, you're an idiot.
Ben
