Let the Caribou Eat Corn

In an effort to deflect criticism from his support for drilling in ANWR, the President spent time yesterday sucking up to corn-growing yokels in Iowa by endorsing ethanol as a substitute fuel. This an echo of the same shameless displays that go on every four years during the Iowa Caucuses, where primary opponents fall over each other to be the biggest advocate for ethanol subsidies. As my good friend Ben Lieberman has written, the case for ethanol as an alternative to gasoline is an extremely poor one. Bush is already getting failing grades and daily attacks from the environmental movement. With nothing left to lose he might as well stand on principle.