"That'll be $123.68, please!"
Posted on 10/03/2012 1:20:35 PM PDT by Rural_Michigan
BYRON CENTER, MI — Jolene Helms, standing in pajamas and a sweatshirt, was all smiles early Wednesday morning as she filled up her car for $1.84 a gallon.
Helms, a 20-year-old from Grand Rapids, rose early with a friend to fill up at the Marathon station at 8391 Byron Center Ave. SW, where the jaw-dropping price was being offered as part of a political stunt highlighting President Barack “Obama’s Failing Agenda.”
“I was floored,” Helms said as a volunteer for the anti-Obama group Americans for Prosperity, pumped her gas. “I called my boyfriend and said, ‘I got 10 gallons for $19.’ He said, ‘No way!’”
Helms, who joyously said she cannot remember the last time gas was below $2 a gallon, was one of hundreds of motorists who packed the at-times chaotic Marathon station to take advantage of the price, which switched over from $3.79 just after 7 a.m.
Annie Patnaude, deputy state director for Americans for Prosperity of Michigan, which subsidized the price difference, said the group pumped 1,000 gallons of gas in the first hour and 2,100 in the second.
In all, Patnaude said she estimates the group will pump gas for 300 motorists before wrapping up, with more than 3,600 gallons expected to be dispensed.
At $1.84 a gallon, those estimates mean the group is expected to spend more than $7,000 subsidizing motorists' gas.
Patnaude said she expected the promotion to go on until at least 10:30 a.m., and said by 9:20 a.m. cars were lined up for a mile.
Organizers said the group pumped gas for about 250 vehicles at a similar event Monday in Mt. Morris Township, outside Flint.
Vehicles flooded the station’s lot, and passing motorists not in line craned their necks and pointed in awe at the LED bearing a price unseen in years.
Politics aside, “I was ecstatic,” Helms said.
Scott Hagerstrom, statewide director of Michigan’s Americans for Prosperity chapter, said the price was chosen because gas was going for $1.84 a gallon when Obama took office.
Sitting in a massive RV in the station’s parking lot, which had giant pictures of Obama emblazoned on its side and a list of “failed agenda” items, Hagerstrom said the group wanted to highlight its own agenda with the event.
“We want to remind people that this is not the new normal,” Hagerstrom said, “this is not reality, we don’t have to accept this reality, that we can get back to lower unemployment rates, we can get back to lower gas prices.”
Hagerstrom was critical of, among other things, Obama’s decision to reject plans for the contentious Keystone XL pipeline that would have run through the central United States between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico.
Critics of that decision, including Hagerstrom, argued increased supply from the pipeline and other drilling proposals rejected by Obama would have driven down gas prices substantially.
Those claims have been disputed by others. A Bloomberg news report in February this year said the pipeline actually could have raised prices by 20 cents in the Midwest, Great Plains and Rocky Mountain states.
Still, the group’s political message resonated with Marathon station owner Rodney Brush, who stood off to the side watching as motorists crammed his lot.
“I was born and raised here in West Michigan,” Brush said, “and I just finally have kind of had enough of the direction that things are going” in the country.
Brush said his business has been hit hard by both the economy and rising gas prices.
The station’s front door sports a political sticker for former congressman Pete Hoekstra, who’s running to unseat incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
Brush said the event helped raise awareness of issues important in the upcoming election, no matter one's political persuasion.
Gas for “$1.84 a gallon isn’t our answer to the whole big picture,” Brush said, “but it’s just one thing in the whole economics of it. And as a business owner, it’s obviously been very, very tough.”
Zane McMillin may be reached through email and Twitter.
Women and children hardest hit.
Byron Center Ping to you, darlin’.
$1.84 is too high.
” A Bloomberg news report in February this year said the pipeline actually could have raised prices by 20 cents in the Midwest, Great Plains and Rocky Mountain states.”
More accurately, a study by the left wing national resources defense council that bloomberg reported on. An organization that’s pretty much opposed to any development and oil drilling.
TAG LINE BUMP!
If Obama is re-elected it won’t be long before we are wishing for 3.85 gas to be back!
My capitalist RADAR started beeping like crazy from that statement.
Yeah - the pipeline could have also spontaneously spawned unicorns & leprechauns...
They should refuse to give that price to anyone with an Obama sticker or a Democrat one. Also they should check their voter ID card and make sure they aren’t registered Dems.
Obama Admits He Wants Higher Gas Prices
___________________________________
Today I have been looking at diesels for my next car. In the states VW provides most of the option, at least in my price range. But I have a rugged driveway and really need something with AWD like a subaru. So I looked up Subaru and diesel.
I found them, in Europe. Lots of diesel Subarus. Not permitted in this country because OUR EMMISIONS STANDARDS ARE MUCH TOUGHER THAN EUROPEAN EMMISSIONS STANDARDS.
That's right we pollute less than the Europeans on a per vehicle basis.
"That'll be $123.68, please!"
An “unexpected” surprise,
gasoline prices are on the rise,
and with some luck,
They’ll go up a buck,
Which could signal 0bama’s demise.
That is quite a bargoooooon! It’s $4.08 @ various Western NY stations.
This is actually kind of a dumb protest. Gas prices in 2008, before the economic collapse, were similar to what they are now—a bit lower, but still in the high-3/low-4 dollar range. When the economy collapsed, demand for oil & gas collapsed as well, bringing gas prices down. It wasn’t a triumph of energy policy, it was a symptom of a worldwide economic crisis.
0bama’s energy policies have obviously been terrible (see: Solyndra, pipeline, off-shore drilling ban, war on coal, etc). But the suggestion that $1.84 gas in January 2009 was a good thing is preposterous
So what has changed in the past four years to double the retail price of gas?
The economy is not better, there are even more inane regulations, the mandated use of ethanol has increased, Americans are traveling less, trucking fuel consumption has dropped ...
Blame QE1, QE 2 and QE3. Blame government spending. Blame the entire Obama administration.
We can't praise any energy policy over the past decade, we really haven't had one, but the current so-called "energy policy" is not in any way designed to lower the cost of retail energy or to increase the supply of energy.
Filled up earlier today....$4.16. Radio said it is $4.50-5.00 in LA.
I agree. Gas prices were terrible then just as they are now. It just so happened they were 1.84 when Obama took office due to sharp demand reduction.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.