Tim Noah: Cynical Bush won't tell the truth

Slate's Timothy Noah has a very interesting look at one reason why Bush isn't telling the nation the entire truth about the $1 trillion-plus cost of privatizing Social Security:

Until now, Bush has seemed either too dumb or too stubborn to recognize that Social Security privatization will necessitate either hitting up taxpayers or reducing Social Security benefits. But watching Bush in today's press conference, I realized that there was another possibility: Bush is simply too cynical to acknowledge practical realities of which he is well aware. Maybe he figures that accommodating those realities simply isn't his job. Maybe he's thinking: Let Congress get the blame for insisting that two plus two equals four!

Link.

If this is indeed the case, Bush is much more wily and scary than people previously believed. Read the rest of the piece for more on this theory.