George Hat In Hand

Man, this is pretty pathetic. Bloomberg (01.22.08), via ThinkProgress:

"The Saudi monarchy once depended on the U.S. to protect its reign and its oil from foes like Saddam Hussein. These days, President George W. Bush needs the world's biggest exporter of crude more than it needs him.

With oil at about $90 a barrel, the U.S. economy at risk of sliding into recession and American banks trying to raise cash to ride out the subprime-mortgage crisis, Bush has become a supplicant for Saudi financial help."

Bush Becomes Supplicant for Saudi's Aid to Help Avoid Recession

This one hurts. "While listening to American policy needs, officials in Saudi Arabia and in other Persian Gulf kingdoms were often as interested in who would follow Bush as in what Bush wanted."