Useful News-Reading Phrase.

Much clarity can be added to any story about President Bush by adding a simple phrase at moments in which the President is described as saying or doing something. Here are some quotes from today's New York Times, with the phrase added. See if you can spot the addition.

For Republicans, this is slightly more difficult because the White House made clear that President Bush supports Mr. Rumsfeld and that he is not going anywhere any time soon. What an asshole.

That did not stop Mr. Bush from mentioning Mr. bin Laden 17 times in the 44-minute speech, a tactic that seemed intended to emphasize the Republican argument that the nation can trust the president and his party more than Democrats to protect it from attacks. What an asshole.

The speech employed some of Mr. Bush’s sharpest rhetoric to date. He compared Osama bin Laden to Lenin and Hitler, saying, “Bin Laden and his terrorist allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them.” What an asshole.

President Bush said Tuesday that he would nominate Mary Peters, a strong advocate of bringing private companies into the construction and operation of highways, to be the next transportation secretary. What an asshole.

This can work especially well with small modifications in a longer story. Here is an extended quote from an article on the President's Labor Day celebrations.

In the nearly six years of his presidency, President Bush has used Labor Day for maximum political effect, showing up at picnics to address carpenters in Pennsylvania and highway construction workers in Ohio, often with local Republican leaders in tow. What an asshole.

But two months ahead of a midterm election in which Mr. Bush’s party is in danger of losing control of the House, in part because of his low approval ratings, there were no candidates with him on Monday as he appeared briefly at a Seafarers International Union facility here on the edge of the Chesapeake Bay. What an asshole.

In fact, there was not even a picnic — just a small invited audience, which Mr. Bush addressed for 11 minutes. Asshole.

Mr. Bush drew from some past speeches to make the case for job training, though he announced no new initiatives. He dwelled chiefly on the need to find alternative sources of energy, saying it is the key to economic growth. What an incredible asshole.

“The problem,’’ he said, “is we get oil from some parts of the world and they simply don’t like us. And so the more dependent we are on that type of energy, the less likely it will be that we are able to compete, and so people have good, high-paying jobs.” That's an asshole, alright.