Thursday, May 01, 2008

The Tank of Gas and Cup of Coffee Show

A local news station in N. Carolina got wonderfully snarky in documenting Hillary's gas station photo op, and provided video:
But Clinton faced her toughest challenge yet at a gas station in Indiana, where she squared off against a coffee machine. The cup of joe proved elusive, and the senator from New York threw in the towel.

After admitting she hadn't used a gas pump in years, Clinton asked the store manager to help her pour the cup of coffee she wanted.
Hope she's more skillful with a gun than with that coffee machine!!

But seriously, this gas station photo op deserves the derision. [AP Read about it here] She rides into the gas station in a large pickup truck, followed by a Secret Service motorcade (including SIX Suburbans and two squad cars) and a green SUV containing the media. The behemoth truck gets $63 in gas, and the cameras roll. This is the person claiming Obama is all show and no substance? Give me a break. This is a case of a Democrat luring Democratic followers down the Republican ideological path.

Clinton is aligning herself with McCain's views on the gas tax holiday reduction. Her new ad says she wants to use big oil's windfall profits to suspend gas taxes. That's no solution. It's not even a bandage. Obama is not in favor of it, and if you are wondering how on earth anyone could oppose it, watch this video. He's making a lot of sense. He suggests that without the added tax, demand for gas could go up and actually end up raising the price. That's why it's no solution.

He has also produced a campaign video with a similar (but shorter) message,  read the content below.
I’m Barack Obama and I approve this message.

I'm here to tell you the truth. We could suspend the gas tax for 6 months, but that’s not going to bring down gas prices long-term. You’re gonna save about 25, 30 dollars…or half a tank of gas. That’s typical of how Washington works. There’s a problem, everybody’s upset about gas prices – let’s find some short-term, quick-fix, that we can say we did something even though, even though we’re not really doing anything.

We cannot deliver on a better energy policy unless we change how business is done in Washington We've got to to the oil companies and look at their price-gouging. We’ve got to start using less oil and that means raising fuel efficiency standards on cars and developing alternative fuels.

That’s the real honest answer to how we’re going to solve this problem. That’s what you need from a president, someone who’s going to tell you the truth.


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4 comments:

DrDon said...

I have to say that Obama is slowly winning me over. I'm still not convinced he'll actually be able to make as big a difference as he thinks he can but at least he is saying intelligent things.

This gas tax stance of his is right on and I give him credit for it because it is not necessarily a popular stand. Still, he's absolutely right. While a few cents here or there would help, this country needs long term solutions.

Of course, you live in the heart of oil country. What do people there think? Do they tend to side with big oil or, despite the fact that many of their livelihoods depend on it, are Texans sick of the gouging and spin as well?

Blueberry said...

As for Texans, it's hard to characterize them as a group. I live in a little liberal pocket, very different from the rest of it. Much of the state is very, very conservative, into property rights, low taxes, and the bottom line. Even in this liberal area, there's a strong independant (libertarian) strain -- we've got lots of Ron Paul Democrats -- they don't want to be told what to drive, and they want any tax cut they can get!

As for livelihood, I have personally spent most of my life torn between my own ethics and my employer's business. I hope to resolve these issues before I die, but know that I might not. I believe that many people are torn in this way (people with conscience) -- but there are many people (in this state and others) who think War for Oil is worth it, so Go Big Oil and Big Business (as long as they also get a tax cut).

Blueberry said...

I should clarify that the "War for Oil" people and the Ron Paul people are NOT the same ones. Ron Paul is against this war. That's the one thing I agree with him on (plus he wants to impeach Bush) (so that's two things).

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

She is such slime.