Posted on 04/24/2006 4:59:57 AM PDT by FerdieMurphy
Did I say you?? The fact of the matter is most people will not conserve. Take a drive on the freeway & see how many people drive 55, which will save a ton on gas useage. Hardly any, at least here in CT.
This will surely send his approval ratings even higher
No, but why should that get in the way...
SQUID to Bush: BS!
You are right and this is what I find most discouraging about this whole mess. I don't like paying higher prices any more than anyone else here, but, to be honest, it isn't going to break me. I can find a way to manage it. What is most discouraging is that this situation is an opportunity for our party and its leader to take some initiative and show some leadership, and he is taking a pass on that. I know the government doesn't (directly) set prices on gasoline, but there are things we can implement on the energy production side of the equation. Get moving on those things, and make a case to the public that these are sensible and useful measures. Don't sit back and say, sorry, nothing I can do. That is a prescription for failure and massive political defeat in the Fall. It sounds eerily like the infamous "malaise" of the doomed Carter presidency.
What could those things be? Exactly what many here have suggested. Eliminating "boutique" fuel blends that cause inefficiencies in the refining process. Allow increased utilization of domestic supplies. It makes no sense to me that Castro can drill for oil 90 miles off the Florida coast yet we have wackos agitating to stop American companies from exploring within 200 miles of the coast. Expand refining capacity by easing environmental regulations and curbing excessive litigation and intervention that prevents new refinery construction and expansion of existing capacity. Move towards alternate fuels by passing incentives to allow economical use of alternatives, like plug-in hybrids and ethanol production. Granted, many of those things won't result in immediate relief, but they will move us in a direction away from the one we seem to be heading.
Even if there isn't a thing in the world a chief executive can do about gas prices, you grab the mike at the bully pulpit and pretend you can, for gosh sakes.
In Bush's shoes today, Klintoon would be all over the tube jawboning the fuel crisis to death to make it look like he was doing something.
The politically-tone deaf and detached Bush wouldn't "stoop" to do an iota of this......which is why the public will vote DemoRat in the mid-term election.
I feel like I'm going mad.
Leni
Uhh...Thanks. I can't see the price of gas over here under my rock...
"Even if there isn't a thing in the world a chief executive can do about gas prices, you grab the mike at the bully pulpit and pretend you can, for gosh sakes."
Oh. I thought Republicans were for free market economics.
I've been looking at new cars recently.
I just cannot justify the cost difference to buy a hybrid model. I don't drive enough for the fuel savings to offset the thousands of extra dollars spent on a hybrid.
Perhaps if they really WANT us to drive hybrids, they should lower the price.
Leni
The environazi's are killing us...
They don't need to lower the price of something that's in demand. I'm starting to agree with another poster (possibly on another gasoline thread) who said that Freepers' grasp of economics wasn't all that solid.
You want the president to do something, or at least "sound like" he can do something about gas prices. Yes, I understood your point.
You can be SURE that those whiners all get HBO, Cinemax, and EVERY channel offered by their cable company and don't throw a fit every time the cable service prices go up (every 3 months).
I'm p.o.'d about the gas prices too.
Now, this is just ignorant slander. " he can't or doesn't know how to negociate." He is suberb with congress, probably the best since LBJ. He has gotten a lot done with tiny margins. You must watch soap operas instead of c-span.
Exactly, red meat for the sheeple.
Most if not all of the things you listed are already happening. I agree, too, that those are good things.
The one thing I think he really needed to push on (and did) was to break open the process to build new refineries, and that did happen and there are new refineries to be built. That's going to take a while.
I don't like high prices either, and I'm feeding a brand new five thousand pound V8 SUV that has a healthy appetite. But there still seem to be a lot of people willing to pay the prices, and until that changes, it's all just a bunch of bellyachin'. Traffic hasn't changed any.
If there is anything that can truely damage the GOP's prospects in 06 I think rising energy costs is it. If people start paying 3$ plus at the pump regularlly they are going to start screaming and a do nothing congress isnt going to impress anyone..neither will hearing where self important boobs sit around and scold oil execs for "excessive profits".
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