McConnell body slams Obama's support for "gradual[ly]" higher gas prices
By Soren Dayton Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Gas Prices | Mitch McConnell — Comments (53) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
This morning on the Senate floor, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell drops the hammer on Barack Obama:
“Yesterday we heard the Democrat nominee for President suggest that rising gas prices aren’t the problem. Let me say that again: the Democrat nominee for President suggest that rising gas prices aren’t the problem. The problem, he suggested, is that they’ve gone up too fast. He said he would prefer a ‘gradual adjustment.’
I had somwhow missed that Obama supported higher gas prices. But it's true. Watch it:
Incidentally, I find it odd that Obama would say that "the President hasn't had an energy policy" when he voted for President Bush's energy bill.
McConnell's full statement after the jump.
American Families Need Relief, Not More ‘Gradual Adjustment’ in the Price at the Pump
‘Yesterday we heard the Democrat nominee for President suggest that rising gas prices aren’t the problem. The problem, he suggested, is that they’ve gone up too fast. He said he would prefer a ‘gradual adjustment.’
Washington, D.C.— U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday regarding the Democrat majority’s failure to address the need for increased production and support for a ‘gradual adjustment’ upward in the price at the pump:
“Yesterday we heard the Democrat nominee for President suggest that rising gas prices aren’t the problem. Let me say that again: the Democrat nominee for President suggest that rising gas prices aren’t the problem. The problem, he suggested, is that they’ve gone up too fast. He said he would prefer a ‘gradual adjustment.’
“The position outlined by the Democratic nominee shouldn’t be a surprise to most Americans, given that Washington Democrats have repeatedly refused to allow increased energy production here at home — even though, as we all know, increased supply leads to lower prices.
“It’s as if they are doing everything in their power to keep gas prices from going down.
“Whether it’s shutting down domestic exploration in large areas both onshore and offshore, instituting a moratorium on oil shale development, increasing the gas tax, or refusing to pursue coal to liquids, Democrats long ago implemented a ‘gradual adjustment’ on gas prices that's reflected today in the $4.05 Americans are paying for a gallon of gas.
“I know that Kentucky families don’t need a ‘gradual adjustment’ to their pocketbooks.
“They need a solution for their pain at the pump.
“We've seen a lot of recent converts over the last few months suddenly advocating for lower gas prices. But their longtime advocacy of limiting domestic supply and increasing the gas tax has brought us to where we are today.
“And recycling the same failed ideas from the 1970s and increasing our reliance on Middle Eastern oil only makes the problem worse. Let me be clear, at a time of record high gas prices, we don’t need to tax them higher or make American consumers more reliant on Middle Eastern oil.
“The American people want us to address high gas prices. And we should do so in the only way that will have a lasting impact—by increasing domestic supply in an environmentally responsible way and increasing American jobs in the process.
“When our friends on the other side agree to the same, we'll believe that they're serious about lowering gas prices. Until then, we'll be left to conclude they all support the ‘gradual adjustment’ advocated yesterday by their nominee.”
He has that never-ending mulligan the MSM gives him that always starts with, "let me clarify, what I meant to say..."
over the past several weeks McConnell has become a hero. Being a hero in this Congress is a tough task. Keep it up!
MelZ
to forget this statement from Obama.
Jindal in 2012!
It gets a little tiresome to hear so many people hollering about drilling ANWR and the OCS, building more refineries, converting the oil shale, even about building nuclear power.
I'm sorry to say this, but I really am tired of hearing all this. It's totally obvious that any of these measures will, given time (and a lack of legal challenges) reduce the energy prices that Americans have to pay, and also reduce our dependence on foreign suppliers.
With me so far? It's obvious that those things will work.
What should also be obvious, and what Obama inadvertently revealed, is that the Democrats simply don't want energy costs to come down.
The Democrats' policy objective in regard to energy is for Americans to use less of it than they do today, ideally much less.
And they have this objective not out of political opportunism, but because they honestly believe it's the right thing to do. We disagree on the end, not the means.
There can't possibly be a more stark distinction between the two parties in this election.
Americans want lower gasoline prices. Republicans want to deliver lower gasoline prices.
But Democrats believe the world will be a better place if Americans drive smaller cars shorter distances than they do today. And they intend to use higher gasoline prices to make that happen.
"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,"
The centerpiece of all liberal approaches to the energy problem (especially in the short term) is conservation. You get that from Obama himself:
"I went to Detroit, I stood in front of a group of automakers, and I told them that when I am president, there will be no more excuses — we will help them retool their factories, but they will have to make cars that use less oil.”
— Barack Obama, Speech in Des Moines, IA, October 14, 2007
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/energy/
And from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC):
http://www.nrdc.org/energy/default.asp
And one way to make consumers conserve something is to raise its price and make it more expensive to buy.
You go to the people and say "I want your vote." They say "I want you to put my fuel bill back where it was a year or two ago."
Then you'll say "I need you to buy a hybrid, drive fewer miles, and turn your thermostat down in winter and up in summer."
Then they say, "No, stupid, we want YOU to go out to the deep water off our coast and pull out the oil that the Chinese are stealing from us now!"
Your move.
it seems that the policy of limiting deep water drilling in our own coastal water gives a bonanza to the Chinese.
I would like to know if the big opposition to drilling are receiving support, indirectly, from Chinese oil lobbyists.
Not that all those opposing drilling are corrupted, or even stupid. Jeb Bush opposed drilling off the Florida coast, which at the time reflected the majority opinion there.
But now with outrageous gas prices, I wonder if NIMBY opinion has changed.
the prodigal blackhedded son has returned!
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
debate material on a silver platter.
Jindal in 2012!
McCain's ability to may hay out of Obama's appalling energy remarks is somewhat hindered by his own bizzare opposition to ANWR drilling.
Is there any way to get him to see the light on that one?
---
Finrod's First Law of Bandwidth:
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it takes the bandwidth of ten thousand.
"Always be honest with yourself. Even if you are honest with no one else."
--me
It is high time Republicans drive this point home. Actually, it is overdue. During the debate about whether to suspend federal gasoline taxes, Obama opposed the measure. His stated reason: lower prices would lead to more consumption. In other words, Democrats want less consumption and the way to achieve it is higher prices...not market-driven higher prices, mind you, but increases caused by taxes and envrionmental regulations and fanaticism.
McCain doesn't need to be a squish here. Everywhere he stops he must drive home the point it is Obama who wants higher prices to achieve his version of utopia, even if it serves some warped morality at the expense of lower income people's pocketbooks.
I won't hold my breath about McCain, but Republicans in Congress have an opening.
Thank you, Mitch. Keep preaching it.
Higher prices are okay, but not just yet. And if some of that higher price is going to the oil companies, then we need to take it back and rebate it to the people. And we need to look at all options, but drilling and nuclear and more coal are off the table. He's forever pandering or double-speaking or both.
Of course the libs are always major hypocrites over energy. They want you and me to change our ways, while they go off doing the same they always did. "We need energy alternatives, but not if it will spoil the view from my yacht." "People need to conserve, but it doesn't count if I use private planes and limousines to deliver speeches about the need to conserve." "Sure I'm still heating and cooling all my mansions, but I'll offset that by donating a few bucks to Al Gore Inc." etc.
Higher prices are okay, but not just yet.
You can stop after the comma. As a matter of fact, "yet" is way overdue in their view. The Dems' show trial of oil execs failed miserably as their would-be victims blurted out things such as "drill" and tip-toed toward an accurate assessment of blame. I honestly don't know whether Waxman's failed inquisition was literally shut down or the left-wing press pulled the plug as it came too close to a truth.
I don't know if McCain has the skill or inclination to walk through this opening, but members of Congress and right-leaning interest groups can hammer the Left to Hell and back and appear poised to do it.
we have about thirty different youtube clips which should be devestating from Jeremiah Wright to Iran to gas prices to stopping weapons systems to his stutters and his appointees and my quote below..
is ANYONE going to make an ad about any of this?!! I mean we should be putting up one of these youtube clips every day and changing them out once a week for max exposure..
"Small town folks get bitter after which they cling to guns or religion, or antipathy to people who aren't like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment"- Barack Carter Obama
of higher gasoline prices. Break it down. Show what lack of domestic production has done on a cost basis. Show what failure to produce nuclear power has done on a cost basis.
Show Obama passively applauding higher fuel prices in words and deeds.
This can turn the election rapidly. Then again, I'm a member of the Stupid Party (with notable exceptions, Sen. McConnell among them).
it should be pounded home everyday until election day. I'm shocked HRC didn't do this. Hopefully McCain realizes that attacking BHO policy views does not make him a racist.
Jindal in 2012!
Well in Barry's defence he ment he wanted it to be like the raise we've seen since Dems took Congress and Senate, where over 2 years of failed government gas goes up $2, So Lets go $8 gas by 2012.
Voting for the Sexy(Pres) - Sexy(VP) Dream Ticket
Jindal/Palin 2012
Ok, show of hands... how many of us are actually surprised at all by this? I thought so.
Stand up, and let's acquit ourselves like men.
Why the lack of imagination?
Energy policy is so tied in with itself. One thing that France did that I think we should do is switch over to being nuclear powered. We do that and a lot of our problems can be rolled back. The Tesla Roadster shows that good electric cars can be around. If we had a boat load of energy from nuclear power plants we could effectively start to switch away from gas.
As we all know though, Dems effectively block nuclear power at every road. If they were really for stopping global warming they'd be doing this. The Roadster gets an equivalent of 135 mpg. The SUV EV1 gets 150 mpg. They get like 200 miles on a single charge. The dems just don't want us to live what they believe to be "in excess." As soon as we get a friendly environmental choice like using nuclear power in conjunction with new electric cars they block the nuclear aspect. What happened to global warming being the most dangerous thing in the world? There can be only one greatest threat in the world to us. It's like Highlander.
"If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism." - Ronald Regan
Did he really say that out loud? How much more of the democrat strategy will he spill? His puppet master must really be getting tired.
Maxine Waters got snickers over her comments on socializing the big oil companies. This liberal is going to take over your companies.
Now Obama needs to cover his pile,after admitting "they" wanted the prices up. Is this another way to control the American people? You betcha!!!!!
Sen. McCain, please take notes - & action. Gas prices are artificially inflated because of the OPEC cartel & wild speculation on the commodites futures market. I don't know what would be involved to remove oil from commodities futures trading; I do know, however, what can be done to break the OPEC cartel's stranglehold - drill here, drill now, & lower prices. There is no functional reason for gas prices to have soared to the level they're at now, & it's a gift to Sen. McCain & other Republicans if they will just use it & put the Dems on the defense, defending continued dependence on OPEC oil.
...sorry to keep popping up like some demented contrarian gopher, but in this climate of ever-rising gas prices the idea of a more gradual rise might not be ideal, but it's not so terrible in the eyes of people (like, uh, me) who are spending 15-20% of our "disposable," non-rent/utilities cash on gas.
It's not that I think Obama should've said what he said the way he said it, it's just that thinking it will strike the majority of Americans as something awful belies the fact that many of us are just waiting for the gas-inflation to slow down a little bit.
I think that posts like this might hint at a bit of unconstructive, detached cocooning going on. Watch out for that. There are avenues open for bashing Obama, but choose them carefully and with a more discerning eye, maybe.
placed in lukewarm water before it is boiled also die.
try again
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
A frog. If you drop a frog in a pot of boiling water it hops back out; but not if you put a lid on the pot.
"Always be honest with yourself. Even if you are honest with no one else."
--me
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
This isn't a substantive comment, but I'll note that in your analogy you're parroting the argument of the pagans in that you think things have to be really, REALLY bad for people to see the light.
This really wasn't an obscure reference. I normally blame myself for people not understanding what I'm getting at, but, geez...
Look, we have a situation where gas prices are spiralling out of control (the boiling water we're in). The US Congress, which is in large part responsible for the spiralling costs, has blocked every single attempt to jump out of the pot. No Nuclear. No drilling. No alternative petroleum production (coal to oil, oil shale, tar sands). No natural Gas. No burning domestic waste in power plants. That would be the lid.
"Always be honest with yourself. Even if you are honest with no one else."
--me
...and there are technologies we can employ to mitigate the crisis to a certain extent that are being blocked. But you have to be really out of it to not notice that ecocrats aren't hoping for an energy crisis to bring about a new renewable energy age. Which was my point. Which is unassailable, because that's what certain groups really are counting on.
gas and don't eat much. They are a tiny minority and they don't do laundry much either. Notice the stains on their non-dry cleaned and non-starched shirts.
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
...but notice their amazing ability to post on blogs. A truly miraculous adaptation.
Perhaps it's just late, but I don't see what this has to do with my explanation of a point I made earlier. I really don't see how it has to do with that point, either.
I'm not disagreeing with your comment about the ecocrats. I just don't see how it applies.
As for the "no nuclear" you agree with, I'd really have to know why you feel that way before smacking down your objections to nuclear power, and this is not the thread for it.
"Always be honest with yourself. Even if you are honest with no one else."
--me
have blocked us from utilizing our own resources and resourcefulness. Carter, Clinton, dem party house majorities and/or dem party senate filibusters are SOLELY responsible.
To say "Congress" is to follow an MSM tactic to hide true blame.
Truly. When they want to blame the GOP they say GOP. When they want to protect dem majorities, they say, Congress.
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
Were it not for the strong minority of GOP Reps in Congress who agree with the Dems on this matter.
I'm not happy with either party. I'm just less unhappy with the GOP.
"Always be honest with yourself. Even if you are honest with no one else."
--me
I have followed this closely. Only in one vote a few years ago, 8 repubs made the difference in the HOUSE. But even there, the dems would have needed no repubs to defeat the bill via filibuster.
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
...more a criticism of Republicans over the years more than anything else. Which would be fair, and any supporter of a party is going to take issue with their side's aggressiveness. Democrats have been the de facto minority party for a while, and so if they are blocking legislation there's really no reason Republicans couldn't have done more if they'd really pushed.
The fact is that no party runs the senate with less than 60 votes.
The facts back me up. 30 years worth.
Your words (vague ones like "consider", "de facto", "really pushed")
"pushed"
forty damn votes can't be pushed
its the rules
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
air and declare them all at fault and declare oneself above it all..."
Well, let me defer to Ronaldus Magnus:
"So, I urge you to speak our against those who would place the United States in a position of military and moral inferiority. You know, I've always believed that old Screwtape reserved his best efforts for those of you in the church. So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride - the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil." - from the Evil Empire speech
Raven, dems benefit too much from the pox on both houses arguments/conversation enders.
The dems are vile and at fault.
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
I take a slightly nuanced position (I really hate to say that after the way that term has been abused). I don't blame them both equally. But if any blame applies to a person or group, then let them take that blame.
The Republicans are at fault for more than just actual votes. They are at fault for allowing the Dems to get away with so much by not fighting harder. They are at fault for not being proud of their principles and fighting for them.
I like Reagan and Lieberman and Jindal, not because of what they said or their positions or even because I agree with them (I don't, a lot of the time), but because they very much believe what they say (said) and the positions they take (took). And it comes across.
The Republican Party, as a whole, has only ever, in my lifetime, been worthy of a statement like that for a very short time starting with the Contract With America and ending with Monica Lewinsky. They let Billy distract them and it all went to pot.
"Always be honest with yourself. Even if you are honest with no one else."
--me
the Dems to hurt this country. The repubs vote 95% for a free energy market. More repubs in office to be the majority and vote and defeat dem senate filibusters is what we need.
When we send a mixed message to the inattentive voter, they have an out.
There is no mixed record on this issue.
The dems have been the agents of our enemies. The GOP has not.
Its the blame America First libs that say America "allows" others to do evil and then blame America for evil when we act.
That "allow" word bothers me.
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
I think the context of what I said was clear. I was speaking politically and tactically and in terms of how people who are spending a lot of their income on gas are thinking. How I'm thinking. I'd rather a slow change than what I'm seeing now.
There is no solution to the current problem, except, perhaps, our Fed reserve policy. Even then...
And, gamecock, you're a very good egg so I'm saying this all with respect.
of thirty years sitting in the dem party's self suicide stew. If the USSR or UBL or Iran had decided to try and handicap the USA in 1978-2008, they could not have done a better job.
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
...if the Republicans hadn't had majority control for a wide swath of that period. And yes, the USA has filibusters and whatever to provide the minority party with blocking powers, but really this is a truly American debacle.
It's really more a push-me-pull-you situation than anything else. If we had moved decisively in the Democratic direction, or the Republican direction, things would be better (albeit in different ways).
The tug of war keeping us right there in the middle and away from a distinct course of action is what happened. IMO.
Ah. I see now. Remember: pessimists never solved anything. It is said that pessimists gave us the parachute. In truth, pessimists merely pointed out that if you fall from a great height, you'll die. An optimist said to himself "I can fix that!" and voila! The Parachute.
There is ALWAYS a solution. We just have the added problem of the Congress (and the Senate) blocking every one of those solutions.
"Always be honest with yourself. Even if you are honest with no one else."
--me
...to posit a simple solution to a problem when you also posit an insuperable obstacle to said solution.
book that didn't occur within 10 years its also convenient to predict things that can't be disproven until after one dies.
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
http://thehinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
www.race42008.com
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
I thought I said "Congress". Am I misreading my own posts?
"Always be honest with yourself. Even if you are honest with no one else."
--me
I wonder if President Obama will hit us with a series of gradual tax increases or just cram it all in his first year.
~~
Obama's guiding principle: "I reserve the right to revise and extend my remarks."
He could have said, "It's good that it shocks people into the reality of how serious this is, but it's bad that..." He is completely inept when it comes to speaking extemporaneously - he only sounds good when he's reading a speech. That's why McCain wants a bunch of town hall meetings.