Did The American Public Actually Hear/Comprehend Bush's Threats on Iran and Syria?

Since Bush's surge announcement the other night (***see Ed. Note below), I've had occasion to talk with more than three dozen people, online and in-face, to assess their reaction to the president's "new way forward" that happens to sound like the same ol' shit. I don't count anyone posting here, however, because I've posted about the Iran-Syria connection many times since last Wednesday night.

Granted, very few said they bothered to watch and/or listen (I don't believe any of the major broadcast networks televised it on Wednesday, January 11th) yet all said they knew the basic content of the speech and Bush's even-more-halting-than-usual overview of the military "surge" into Iraq.

What I found remarkable, however, was that even among those who told me they got most of their information on the speech from a newspaper report OR a news program that I could confirm DID mention Bush's threat against Iran and Syria, only one of these 40 or so people appeared to know about Bush's threat.

Sure, lack of attention paid probably plays a big role. However, I can't blame that alone. I noticed that several TV and radio news programs, including those that offered some analysis of Bush's choice of words, barely noted the Iran-Syria issue; many did not tackle it at all or did so separate from or incidentally from a comprehensive report about the "surge".

This bothers me. People need to know the cheat cards Bush has up his sleeve. I also wonder if the public would not be far more disturbed about Bush's surge plans (and even in the "friendliest to Bush" of the polls, a clear two-thirds majority oppose the surge) if they had gotten the Iran-Syria tail-wagging.

What's your experience? Do those you communicate with outside of political blogs, for example, seem to understand that Bush is threatening war on two additional fronts?

[Ed. note: Who the hell chose to position Bush in front of a wall of books when, despite the president's claims that Albert Camus' "The Stranger" made for good light reading, there is little if any indication he reads anything? No, I'm not just being catty or sarcastic here. The "on his feet", in front of the book shelves staging seemed every bit as out of place for this man as did his Jerry Bruckheimer-staged landing on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, sporting a crotch-stuffed flight suit with that egregious "Mission Accomplished" banner the Bushies, including Tony Snow-job, keep lying about."]