Below The Beltway

President Bush is back in Saudi Arabia meeting with our “friend” King Abdullah:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — With the price of oil hitting record highs, President Bush will use a private visit to King Abdullah’s ranch here Friday to make a second attempt to persuade the Saudi government to increase oil production so that American consumers can get some relief at the gasoline pump.

“Clearly, the price of gas is too high for Americans and it is causing a hardship for families with low income,” the White House press secretary, Dana Perino, told reporters aboard Air Force One on the way here from Jerusalem.

“We do count on the OPEC countries to keep adequate supplies out there so the president will talk with the again with the king about that,” she said.

(…)

In an interview with CBS Radio before leaving Washington, Mr. Bush was asked what he would tell the king this time that he did not say when he was here last.

“That I didn’t say last time?” he asked, adding, “The price is even higher.”

Umm, yea, try $ 127 a barrel, George.

But, sorry, it looks like your friend Abdullah isn’t gonna help out:

Saudi Arabian leaders made clear Friday they see no reason to increase oil production until their customers demand it, apparently rebuffing President Bush amid soaring U.S. gasoline prices.

During Bush’s second personal appeal this year to King Abdullah, Saudi officials stuck to their position that they are already meeting demand, the president’s national security adviser told reporters.

“What they’re saying to us is … Saudi Arabia does not have customers that are making requests for oil that they are not able to satisfy,” Stephen Hadley said on a day when oil prices topped $127 a barrel, a record high.

The Saudi government indicated that it is willing to put on the market whatever oil is necessary to meet the demand of its customers, Hadley said.

But even then, he said, Saudi leaders say increased production would not dramatically reduce pump prices in the United States.

Probably not.