So begins the conflation of two already confusing issues: A man on the street told me today that he had watched 60 Minutes last night, where Bob Woodward told the tale that Bush had shown the Saudis an advance copy of the sekrit war plans, in exchange for Saudi pledges to lower oil prices in time for the November election.

Now, Woodward has made these two separate accusations, but nowhere have I been able to find such a linkage. Never mind the fact that, separately, the charges are small beer and not the indictments of Bush administration tactics that critics are hoping to expose. Wedding these null-value attacks into an alleged and incorrect linkage now possibly adds another wad of refutable crap that will forever be circling the clogged toilet bowl of lies that credulous "anti-war" types lap at.

Because of course it's all about oil, see. Never mind the facts, just make allusions to Saudis and oil and that's enough for another anti-Bush smear. I'm surprised that Haliburton didn't profiteer on the contract to photocopy the sekrit war plans for Prince Bandar.