November 18th, 2008 "The Bush administration could take advantage of falling oil prices and plummeting fuel demand to replenish millions of barrels of crude into the U.S. emergency petroleum stockpile."

"The Energy Department said it is “examining and analyzing” the idea of buying oil for the stockpile now that prices have fallen, but no decision has been made.
Guy Caruso, the former head of the department’s Energy Information Administration who now works at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said buying the oil back at a delivery rate of 100,000 barrels a day for three and half months would have little market impact and not raise prices.

“With demand being down now, there’s a lot more excess production capacity. I think producers would love to have a new customer,” Caruso told Reuters. “I think now is an excellent time to do it, unless you’re thinking wait a couple of months and it might be lower,” he added."

Bush was certainly hellbent on it when the price was sky-high. When does cynicism cross over into paranoia? And come back?

Arf