Demagogue

A reader going by the name Winthrop Maine has submitted the following point

President Bush acknowledged in his press conference that concerns over stock-market risks are affecting perceptions about the private accounts he seeks to incorporate into the Social Security system. To sooth that concern, he announced that his private accounts would allow investments in US Treasury Bonds, which, Bush reminded his audience, are "backed by the full faith and credit of the United States."

Yet in the same press conference, Bush described current payments into the Social Security system as going toward today's retirees and other government programs, leaving nothing for future retirees but "file cabinets full of IOUs" – creating the impression that debts owed the Social Security system might not be honored.

Therefore, one of the following conclusions must be true: a) Bush does not know that those "IOUs" are, in fact, US Treasury Bonds – in which case serious persons should dismiss his very competence; or b) he was intentionally trying to mislead the public by playing the solvency of US Treasury bonds both ways.

For the record, A and B are not mutually exclusive.