2arrs, 2ells

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I’m trying to sort out the chronology here.

1)  Obama (correctly) suggests that being a bit more proactive on car maintanence could do about as much in terms of saving gas as offshore drilling.  (Yes, I know about this article suggesting that it would likely only be about a third as much.  The article doesn’t account for the delay and rising demands.  If you factor those in, the numbers come out a whole lot more evenly.  But the point is that offshore drilling is more a gimmick than a energy magic solution.

2)  McCain’s people start giving away tire gages that say “Obama’s energy plan.”  On one hand, it’s a smear and isn’t a real representation of Obama’s plan.  On the other, at least some people get a useful tool out of this one—which is better than the campaigns previous round of smears.  Rush Limbaugh is particularly gleeful about Obama’s suggestion about inflating tires.  Ideologically, I’d expect Limbaugh to like a solution that involves personal responsibility—but I forget that Limbaugh isn’t an idealogue.  He’s a windbag.

3)  Obama says, “It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant,” referring to Limbaugh and McCain’s strategists.  This angers ignorant people who can’t parse a sentence and think Obama is talking about their beliefs.  He wasn’t.  He was talking about the guys who mock established fact for the sake of a talking point. A tire gage 1) is a useful tool that could help your gas mileage and 2) is not in any way representative of Obama’s energy policy.  The attack is sort of funny—but it’s not the kind of funny that has a kernel of insight.

4)  The RNC and McCain campaign urge Obama to call for Congress to return from summer recess to pass an energy package.  That’s right.  The supposedly small government guys are now mocking a call for individual responsibility in order to pass a massive government giveaway.  Except that this is a giveaway to the oil companies, so apparently that’s okay.

(via squashed)