Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2008 > August > 05 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USFree air from people who know a thing or two about the topic
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just got a call from Scott Johnson, chairman of the Cobb County Republican party. He and a few friends have decided to fill the Election Day lull with a bit of guerilla theater.
At noon, Johnson and fellow GOPers — U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey will be one, state Sen. Chip Rogers another — will plant themselves at the Chevron at Roswell and Johnson Ferry roads, and offer tire pressure checks for the gas station’s patrons.
The idea is to demonstrate what Republicans say is an overemphasis on conservation — and an underemphasis on offshore drilling — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
But if you ask politely, the volunteers may scrape the bugs off your windshield, too — just as in olden days.
The Cobb display is far from an isolated event. On Monday, at an Obama appearance in Michigan, supporters of Republican John McCain passed out tire pressure gauges.
But Caroline Adelman, the new spokeswoman for the Obama campaign in Georgia, said that, for most people, the high cost of gasoline isn’t a proper topic for ridicule. Keeping tires properly inflated is hardly the core of Obama’s energy plans, she said, but it is something recommended by people who know something about cars.
She passed us this paragraph generated by NASCAR two years ago:
“With gas prices now hovering around $3, smart drivers care. Savvy consumers are seeking to increase fuel economy and the life of their tires by paying more attention to those rubber objects that are attached to their vehicle…With escalating fuel prices, the time is now for drivers to focus on simple things like proper tire pressure to maximize tire performance and increase fuel economy.”
Here’s the top of a Detroit Free Press piece on the politics of energy symbolism:
Over the past few days, McCain’s campaign has needled Obama for saying that keeping tires inflated would save enough oil to obviate the need for expanded offshore drilling. Republicans tried to link Obama’s comments with Jimmy Carter’s exhortations to save on heating bills by wearing sweaters.
“We could save all the oil that they’re talking about getting off drilling if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups. You could actually save just as much,” Obama told a rally Thursday in Springfield, Mo.
The Republican National Committee offered Monday to send reporters tire gauges as a stunt to mark Obama’s birthday, and McCain’s campaign sold an “Obama Energy Plan” tire gauge for a $25 donation.
“We need to offshore drill for oil and natural gas. We need to drill here and we need to drill now,” McCain said Monday at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania. “We’re not going to achieve energy independence by inflating our tires.”
But the numbers give Obama a strong argument.
Tire pressure checks have been a key fuel-saving tip that automakers, tire companies and government experts have recommended for years. On its fuel economy Web site, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that underinflated tires can shave up to 3% from a vehicle’s fuel economy.
Services »
Comments
By Copyleft
August 5, 2008 11:05 AM | Link to this
Isn’t it odd that “conservatives” find the idea of conservation so laughable?
By Matt Jennings
August 5, 2008 11:09 AM | Link to this
Republicans are on the take from the oil companies and are determined to give their masters what they want. They don’t want conservation or alternative energy because it doesn’t pad the oil companies’ bottom line.
The fact is offshore drilling will do nothing for gas prices for years.
By Churchill
August 5, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this
Wrong, Matt. But at least we will soon find out. Since your guys have caved, we will be able to see. All Bush had to do was lift the presidential ban and prices started to fall. Tell the truth, you know nothing about markets. You libs have lost this one.
By NObama
August 5, 2008 11:19 AM | Link to this
The Obama campaign reminds of a tire that has lost its pressure.
By Wxyz
August 5, 2008 11:29 AM | Link to this
Police are denying FOX news reports that Skip Caray apparently was killed while at his bird feeder in his own back yard, according to police. “He was not attacked by orioles, cardinals, or bluejays” a police spokesman said. “No foul play or foul balls are suspected. Mother nature only.”
By gttim
August 5, 2008 11:50 AM | Link to this
“overemphasis on conservation”
Coming from the party that has blocked increasing fuel efficiency standards, renewable energy legiclation and most conservation legislation for decades, this is laughable. Proper conservation efforts 20 years ago could have helped now.
And all drivers should be checking their tire pressure, changing their air filters and keeping their cars tuned up. It actually will have a greater effect on what they spend on gas per month than any offshore drilling.
Of course the GOP has no concrete ideas for getting gas costs down other than more cheap leases and tax credits to the oil companies- which will not help, so they try to divert with their childish attacks. Hopefully the people spending over twice for gas than before the 2000 elections will start to see the GOP for what it is.
Of course, a lot of the increased price in a gallon of gas also has to do with the decrease in the value of the dollar. We could also reduce the price by starting to keep out government spending within its means and paying off our national debt. That would have a huge impact. I don’t see the GOP talking about conservative fiscal beliefs too much anymore. Either cut spending or increase the taxes on the people who can afford it. Bush and the GOP have got to quit spending our children’s future!
By Rarl Kove
August 5, 2008 11:59 AM | Link to this
How does checking tire pressure produce more oil? Obama is a fool and so are his hangers-on at the AJC. Obama and the democratic party is beholden to the Marxist-environmental lobby. The American people want to drill here at home. It is all sour grapes for the left.
By RJ
August 5, 2008 12:00 PM | Link to this
These Republican theatrics stir the blind believers and generate skepticism among the inquisitive. The following facts are offered for the latter group to consider.
Fact#1…even if Congressional approval had been granted last week the oil would not be available until six to ten years hence. Fact #2… Big oil companies currently have drilling rights to over 40 million acres on and off shore. Why aren’t they exercising those rights? Fact #3…Big oil gets billions yearly in government subsidies. Fact#4 …Big oil contributes to Republican candidates more than any other group.
These latest moves are based upon a strategy of seizing advantage from anxiety of the moment, another wedge tactic. These shameful and deceptive strategies are based upon a belief in an inattentive and ignorant electorate.
Do not let your viewpoint be shaped by spin and deception. Consult the nonpartisan factcheck.org, which is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, for unbiased analyses of both sides’ claims and counterclaims.
By xyz
August 5, 2008 12:24 PM | Link to this
Dim witted theatrics play well to the Hee-Haw crowd. They certainly know their base.
By pat pullar
August 5, 2008 12:25 PM | Link to this
I have finally read a post that has some sense and that is RJ with facts, not theory and not spin or rhetoric. Thank you RJ.
By Abomi Nation
August 5, 2008 12:41 PM | Link to this
Remember the Republican idea of a great energy plan?
In 2005 the Republican Congress and President Bush gave us extended daylight savings. Yep, that was the extent of their energy policy.
Of course recent studies show this did the opposite, it increased our energy usage.
Ask them about that while your getting your tires inflated.
By Wxyz
August 5, 2008 12:56 PM | Link to this
Air pressure? How? The gas stations have made it impossible. Those pathetic air hoses are good only for sticking up GOP rear ends. Make the air hoses ubiquitous and maybe we Americans will use them, and maybe McCain wont look like Jimminy Cricket. Am I the only one who has noticed that? McCain and Jimminy Cricket were SAB (seperated at birth).
By Churchill
August 5, 2008 1:10 PM | Link to this
Remember when Nancy Pelosi vowed that she and her democrat minions would have a comprehensive energy policy that would end our dependence on oil? I remember she said it all the time, including her big speech she gave when she was sworn in as Speakerette. Both sides share blame. At least the Republican party has a plan. At least they are trying to do something about it now. All the left has to say is “No We Can’t.” Most Americans agree that you guys are on the wrong side of this issue. Peace.
By gttim
August 5, 2008 1:19 PM | Link to this
“Remember when Nancy Pelosi vowed that she and her democrat minions would have a comprehensive energy policy that would end our dependence on oil?”
How can the Dems in theSenate do anything when the GOP is obstructing every bill? They vote against cloture on everything, although the little hypocrites were the ones screaming “Up or down vote” when they were filibustered by Dems on the rare occasion.
By Churchill
August 5, 2008 1:39 PM | Link to this
You can thank the lib democrats for that “procedure” in the Senate. They started that trend when they were in the minority. There was nothing wrong with it then, right? Plus, the Democrat party has not put forward a comprehensive, realistic energy plan. You should pay more attention to history there, gttim. Most of the American people obviously are. Peace.
By steve
August 5, 2008 1:54 PM | Link to this
RJ is right. Drilling offshore will take years. Right now every drilling ship is booked up solid until 2013 and it takes five years to build a new one. The price of oil is falling due to a decrease in demand and the speculators who are fleeing the oil market. Bush and Cheny went all the way to the supreme court to keep the minutes from their first energy policy meeting secret. Why? Because they met with big oil and the decider decided that oil was the only way and everyone else and the country be damned!
By Spark Plug
August 5, 2008 2:09 PM | Link to this
You gotta love the brain-dead myrmidons and dinosaurs that scream “tune-ups.” Fuel injection, improved ignition systems etc. have, pretty much, made what yore granpappy called a “tuneup” obsolete. Of course, Obama, a half-lily white yuppette, has’t a clue about this. He is so ignorant he couldn’t even pump gas into his SUV without his chauffeur and wife to wipe his buttocks.
By Churchill
August 5, 2008 2:16 PM | Link to this
Steve doesn’t understand markets, either. If the government approves more drilling, then the infrastructure, in the oil industry, will be there. It will take less than 3 years to start seeing some, not all of it, but some new oil flowing. The 7-10 year number has been thrown around by libs and their lib-media friends. If you think this is only about price, stevie boy, then you have missed the entire idea of getting off foreign oil. It is simple. We need our own resources. If we have it why are we paying someone else for it? Think of this steve, imagine all the union type jobs that will be created. You guys love those, right?
Obama’s plan would give us relief when, 12, 15 or 20 years? See, that is why you guys are losing this battle. Your side want all this alternative energy. So do I. But the technology has not been perfected. So what are supposed to do. All suffer until the technology is ready? That is a miserable plan, alas it is all being offered by the left. The Democrat Plan is nothing less than collective suffering.
By Taking the Conserve out of Conservative
August 5, 2008 2:46 PM | Link to this
All I hear from the GOP is “Say no to wind, say no to solar, say no to 55 mph or inflating tires, say no to long-term energy solutions… we can drill our way out of this problem.” Republicans only need one more drilling before our country is fixed and hopefully that will be this November.
By Churchill
August 5, 2008 3:21 PM | Link to this
If all you hear is no, then you are not listening, TCOC. The right is all for alternative sources, but in the mean time we must drill here. If drilling is so horrible, then why doesn’t Obama call for a world wide ban on drilling? Let me get this straight. Only drilling here is bad? Is that it? The dirty little secret is that the libs want this country taken down a notch. We are too big. Too Powerful. And it is not fair to everybody else, they say it all the time. Well, if they can cut off the fuel of our economic engine, then they are closer to their goal. You guys have attempted to blame the right for this energy crisis. All the while it is the left that is doing everything it can to stop exploration. The American people are waking up to this little game. Your guy, Obama, knows it and Pelosi, who just told her minions that they could support drilling if they are in a tight reelction fight, knows it. Drilling is not the only answer, but it is a big part of it.
By Rarl Kove
August 5, 2008 3:29 PM | Link to this
Inflating tires and getting tune ups in cars that no longer require tune-ups is a long term solution? Who is sayinng no to wind. The only one I can think of saying no to wind farms is the Hero of Chappaquiddick, Sen. Ted Kennedy. He strongly opposed and shut down a wind farm off the coast of his New England compound. Try again, sport.
By Copyleft
August 5, 2008 3:43 PM | Link to this
Obama’s plan would give us relief when, 12, 15 or 20 years? See, that is why you guys are losing this battle. Your side want all this alternative energy. So do I. But the technology has not been perfected. So what are supposed to do. All suffer until the technology is ready?
That would be a more compelling argument if the right hadn’t been fighting AGAINST such alternative development for the past, oh, about 30 years now.
We’d have kicked the foreign-oil habit years ago if the Republicans hadn’t blocked every effort to reduce our dependence.
By Believer
August 5, 2008 6:32 PM | Link to this
You surely did not expect better from those Republican pinheads, did you. After all, they’d need an education in order to get promoted to a task such as pumping gas.
By How Do U Spell Relief
August 5, 2008 6:40 PM | Link to this
Here’s a thought, why don’t ya’ll chill the fkuc out, deal with it, it is what it is, nothing going to change peeps like you will be whining about the government or the weather until the Almighty zaps you bye-bye