Gas Price Hypocrisy
In continuing to point out the alternative universe that exists between how the media and Barack Obama were outraged over high gas prices during the Bush years (reference my previous blog: "Just a lot of gas..."), and now how the high cost of gas is portrayed as really no big deal.... let's compare what the media and Obama had to say during the Bush presidency, versus how they view things in a different light during the current Obama reign:
Funny how some are calling the highest gas prices we have experienced to date a "good thing." Even the President himself finds it amusing that an owner of an SUV - with Obama pointing out that an SUV gets "eight miles to the gallon" (sorry, Obama, this flippant remark is not true of any SUV's..), jokingly tells this person to get a "hybrid SUV." No solution to high gas costs mentioned. Obama just brushes off the question with a few obnoxious chuckles.
During the Bush years, the media and Democrats were outraged when gas reached prices of $2.80 per gallon. The furor increased when gas prices rose into the $3.00-plus range. Now we are seeing the cost at the pump in the $4.00 plus area - with the possibility of going to $5.00 per gallon or higher. Yet, no anger or demands for solutions. No holding the President accountable. Why?
Ah, the hypocrisy of the media and the President. Ya gotta love it.
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65 Comments
Tom Bal - May 09, 2011 8:27 AM
I didn’t know for instance that by raising the price of gas I’m saving people’s lives.
On one side there’s the President and then there is his campaigning twin.
Both with 2 different versions of what’s going on both a MSM favorite.
I just bought a new vehicle my first Hi bred the first thing they told me was Even though it’s called a Hi Bred don’t use the cheaper gas It will ruin your motor not to mention it does nothing for the environment.
Even Al Gore has flipped his position on this. I believe his words were ethanol does nothing to help the environment as a matter of fact it can be worst then pure gas. I was wrong it’s a waste..
What exactly was the cash for clunkers for?
All it did was spend more of my tax dollars for someone else to buy a new car.
How the media can turn this into a good thing while the rest of the country is suffering because of the cost of gas is beyond reason.
Where are the hard ball questions?
If President Bush was sleeping with the large oil companies as they said well what’s Obama doing?
Besides nothing as usual.
He may not have a magic wand but he does have a pen
It may take 10 years to find and develop oil reserves but it only takes a signature to
Reopen the gulf and other wells. Let’s work on alternatives while we stabilize gas costs not to mention our dollar which is another reason the cost is so high.
And that is a reason worth repeating. It’s a useless piece of paper
Why can’t they the media for once be the voice of reason for the American public
referee33 - May 09, 2011 9:55 AM
referee33 - May 09, 2011 12:12 PM
referee33 - May 09, 2011 12:16 PM
jhayett - May 09, 2011 8:34 PM
jhayett - May 09, 2011 8:49 PM
http://www.newser.com/story/106003/al-gore-corn-based-ethanol-was-a-mistake.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40317079/ns/us_news-environment/t/al-gore-votes-not-science-led-me-back-corn-ethanol/
Need more?
referee33 - May 09, 2011 11:01 PM
irked - May 09, 2011 11:29 PM
do you not get ?
referee33 - May 09, 2011 11:35 PM
Peter123 - May 10, 2011 12:34 AM
Hybrids and Cash for Clunkers have absolutely nothing to do with ethanol. There are vehicles which are built for "Flex Fuel," which means they can use E85... but that's completely different from a hybrid.
Hybrids get better mileage by using the car battery to help the engine out instead of burning more gas. The hybrid is liquid fuel/electric, and has nothing to do with alternative liquid fuels (biodiesel and ethanol).
Cash for Clunkers was a gift to the automotive industry, as well as an attempt to improve the mileage of vehicles on American roads. Better mileage is better mileage, regardless of whether you're burning gasoline, diesel, or ethanol. Whichever fuel is being used, less of it will be used.
Corn based ethanol was never a long-term option for anyone who wasn't putting the subsidies into a bank account somewhere. Similarly, biodiesel from soy doesn't get us where we need to be. Those were the easy place to get started, prove the concept, and get the infrastructure in place. Second and third generation biofuels actually gain ground on oil.
Brazil goes a long way in supplying energy with ethanol from sugar cane. The high sugar content makes it more viable. Jatropha and other inedible crops which grow in areas that won't grow food are being used for green diesel and biodiesel. The next step is cellulosic ethanol (from non-food carbohydrates) and algal oils into green diesel and biodiesel.
And the Gulf of Mexico has been reopened for drilling. Just with more safety regulation. http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/01/nation/la-na-deepwater-permit-20110301
Peter123 - May 10, 2011 12:56 AM
I recall talk then about high prices driving people to more fuel efficient vehicles and driving innovation in biofuels. In fact, the line I remember from then was that American auto makers had put so much effort into the gas guzzlers we wanted (Hummers, SUVs, etc.) that they were losing out on the new car sales to foreign manufacturers that favored fuel economy.
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2008/06/rising-gas-pric/
And in the previous blog post, the articles mentioning Barack Obama had him calling for a commission to investigate price-fixing, commodities speculators, and others abusing the markets. Then, once he was in office, he asked the Attorney General to investigate price-fixing, commodities speculators, and others abusing the markets. Sounds like he's taking his own advice. He sees that high gas prices suck (like he said in the campaign event in the video), and he's doing something. Maybe not what you want, but something.
In the articles cited, other Democrats took a more direct approach of attacking President Bush (especially John Kerry in 2004). Polls showed that people blamed the guy at the top. Not the same as Barack Obama and the media attacking President Bush.
jhayett - May 10, 2011 5:47 AM
Tom Bal - May 10, 2011 7:04 AM
Your question was only one of many reasons he gave another was that it cost more to produce the product then it may have been worth which he also stated was not environmentally sound.
Reason being the amount of heat to make such product cost more than the product saved in gas.
An EPA report also came out at the same time noting that Eternal was not environmentally safe as once thought.
It was a campaign issue he said he used to try and get the farm vote in Iowa and Tennessee.
I will try and find the speech for you.
We have known for five years now that it takes more energy to make a gallon of ethanol than it produces. I believe the number is 2.4 BTUs to make 1 BTU of Ethanol
We should have stopped making ethanol years ago."
http://skinnyreporter.com/goreadmitserrors.html.
Hope this helps but you are right he does like 2nd generation of ethanol.
There are also members of environmental groups that disagree with him. Hope this helps
Tom Bal - May 10, 2011 7:36 AM
Sorry for using the wrong word. .
I don’t see where I said cash for clunkers had anything to do with ethanol.
My cash for Clunkers line had moved on to a different subject
Yes he may have said to help the auto Industry but the program was set up to 1 help the auto industry 2 stimulate the economy 3 environmental reasons their reason remove carbon foot print. Remove guzzlers from the road.
When you traded your vehicle in the car you bought had to get more miles to the gallon I don’t remember what the cut off was. But if you had a car that got say 17 miles to the gallon the one you traded in for had to get better mileage. The government had and still has a web site to see what vehicles would be allowed.
Under this web site one of the sub titles is “Why fuel economy is important”
Now I am still trying to find the site that shows where any SUV made gets 8 mile to the gallon like the president stated. This may take a while..
geno53151 - May 10, 2011 9:30 AM
Also, I am very upset that I can't afford a VOLT. Why do I have to pay more in gas taxes to maintain our roads than the "rich" using the same roads but less gas, therefore paying less gas taxes?
I thought we were to tax the wealthy.
ExToDResident - May 10, 2011 1:15 PM
What I find curious is how the refineries are always having problems (perhaps if the oil industry would reinvest in infrastructure instead of just paying dividends to its investors) increasing the price of gas higher. Tell me exactly what a president can do to affect the price of gas.
I agree with ending the subsidies, why should an industry need the tax payer to subsidize them when they are making record profits. Where is the logic in that.
geno53151 - May 10, 2011 5:14 PM
FORMER House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday blamed the "two oil men in the White House," President Obama and Vice President Biden and their Democrat allies in Congress for gas prices exceeding $4 a gallon. "
Peter123 - May 10, 2011 5:32 PM
Your Flex Fuel vehicle won't run on E85? That's horrifying (especially as the whole point is that it's supposed to run on anything from E85 to unleaded gasoline). That's the worst kind of deceptive advertising.
I apparently read your Cash for Clunkers line differently than you intended it. Looks like we generally agree about what was going on there, though. Worth the investment or not, directionally it did those three things. Per Wikipedia, the trade-ins had to get below 18 mpg with new vehicle mileage of 22 mpg or higher. That's using a government database of mileage for used vehicles.
The 8 mpg was insensitive use of hyperbole. I don't imagine any vehicles in relatively good shape get such terrible mileage. If I were picking out an arbitrary low mileage, I would say either 5 or 10 mpg... so it's possible that was part of the question he was asked.
Moving on to the actual point, if you have a larger vehicle than you need, you have made a choice to pay more in gas. Higher prices exacerbate the situation, but it's a personal choice. If anyone thought gas prices were stable and low, they haven't been paying attention. There are plenty of pickups and the like being driven by people who don't need them. If President Obama's remarks in the video weren't directed at people making choices like those, please provide the context. Who's he talking to?
Tom Bal - May 10, 2011 7:44 PM
As a matter of fact he just came right out and said I would not use it if you don’t have to .
Just too many problems in the long run.
ahemmer - May 10, 2011 8:11 PM
The point is, that when Bush was president, the press and Dems blamed him personally for high gas prices. That was the message from the media. There was the fingerpointing from the likes of Pelosi and Obama.
Now, with Obama in the White House, blame has been deflected. Why, it must be a conspiracy - from a recent "Face the Nation":
"Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Sunday called for a grand jury investigation into possible wrongdoing in relation to rising gasoline prices, and urged the government to actively fight "the kind of illegal speculation and trading and hedge fund activity that may be driving prices up."
In an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation," Blumenthal commended President Obama for forming a task force aimed at rooting out fraud or manipulation in the oil and gas markets, but argued that stronger actions were required."
Ah, so when Bush was president, gas prices rose cuz all his buddies were evil oil guys - intent on making even MORE money! Yeah! That's it! But when Barry O. is prez, why, the evil oil companies and others are trying to make profits and must be investigated!!! Just don't look at Obama for help....or blame.