Being unable to rid myself of yesterday’s Bush quote from the calendar, I’ve been trying to find out what the context was. I haven’t been able to find it (he made the remarks before he was in office, but (I think) after he had been appointed), but I did find these remarks, which seem likely to be along the same tack. For instance,

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we had a good discussion. I had a very good discussion with Vicente Fox. And Secretary Abraham had a very good discussion with his counterpart from Mexico. Mexico has to make the decision as to whether or not they will be willing to allow foreign capital to explore for oil and gas in their country. That’s the Mexican decision to make.

I encouraged the President to begin allowing foreign capital to explore for natural gas in Mexico. It would be to our benefit. Gas is hemispheric. An MCF of gas found in Mexico is beneficial for the United States and Canada, even though it’s found in Mexico. And the Vice President and I have had discussions with Prime Minister Chretien about exploration for natural gas.

A good energy policy is one that understands we’ve got energy in our hemisphere and how best to explore for it and transport it to markets. So, you bet, we’ve continued discussions with Mexico, as well as Canada.

He’s still clearly an idiot, but he’s been coached better. I encourage anyone who is looking for a reason for suicide to browse through the white house news releases. I have glimpsed only the merest fraction of the horror that is there, and it’s, well, horrific.

Also, apparently, The White House didn’t exist before January 2001. What if I want to know what that other guy did in office? Do we lose all those handy records of Executive Orders and press releases and whatnot every time the administration changes? I rather hope not. It sucks enough if they’re off somewhere else. It would suck quite a bit more if that stuff’s completely inaccessible.