We knew the headline Bush Issues Federal Ban on Racial Profiling was too good to be true.

Bush's new racial profiling policy sounds like a campaign move geared towards increasing his minority support. But it will only reach those who can't read between the lines.

President Bush issued guidelines today barring federal agents from using race or ethnicity in their routine investigations, but the policy carves out clear exemptions for investigations involving terrorism and national security matters.

...Arab-American and civil rights groups said the exemptions in the White House policy would give the authorities legal justification to single out Middle Easterners and others who may fall under suspicion, and they questioned whether the new policy — issued as "guidance" — would be aggressively enforced.

"This policy acknowledges racial profiling as a national concern, but it does nothing to stop it," Laura Murphy, director of the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in an interview. "It's largely a rhetorical statement. The administration is trying to soften its image, but it's smoke and mirrors."

To show you just how little change Bush and the Justice Department really intend, read this statement by White House Spokesman Scott McClellan:

"The way the president looks at it," a White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said, "this is about stopping the abuses of a few, and today's action should only strengthen the public's confidence that the vast majority of law enforcement officials have earned and deserve credit for the job they do in protecting Americans."

The abuses of a few? Is he kidding? It's been rampant all over America for years. Driving While Black. Driving While Hispanic. Driving While Muslim.

Further, what isn't a terrorist-related offense to Aschroft these days? Not much.