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Republicans really seem to like that ‘tire gauge’ thing

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The other day, Barack Obama mentioned to voters in Missouri that there are things individuals can do to help conserve energy, including bringing their cars in for regular tune ups, and keeping their tires properly inflated. It seemed like a rather unremarkable thing to say.

But at this point, Republicans can’t seem to stop commenting on just how remarkable they think this is.

McCain criticized the tire-gauge recommendation on Friday, and Newt Gingrich described Obama’s remarks as “loony toons” during a Fox News interview. This morning on ABC, McCain said, “It seems to me the only thing [Obama] wants us to do is inflate tires” to improve gas mileage.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, still auditioning for the role of VP, has taken to using a tire gauge as a prop in his speeches.

Pawlenty a few minutes later pulled a prop out of his pocket.

“Barack Obama stood up at a speech recently and said that one of the things that is really important from energy policy from his standpoint is to check the pressure in our tires, so here’s a tire gauge and you can go out in the parking lot here and check your tires. Now, that’s an interesting thing — we want you to have good pressure in your tires, you know, it will very mildly add to your fuel efficiency — but checking the air pressure in your tires is not an energy policy for the United States of America,” Pawlenty said.

Even by Republican standards, this really is odd.

Now, someone sent me a transcript yesterday of Obama’s specific remarks in Missouri, and he apparently said the amount of energy to be saved by routine auto maintenance is comparable to the savings we’d get from the GOP’s coastal drilling policy. I have no idea if that’s true — it may very well not be — and I’ll be happy to let energy policy experts weigh in on whether Obama exaggerated the significance of scheduled car care. If he did, Obama should obviously drop this line from his speeches.

But oddly enough, that’s not what McCain and his surrogates are complaining about. They’re insisting, over and over again, that tire pressure is the entire Obama energy policy. Who, exactly, is supposed to believe such transparent nonsense? What kind of lunatic would someone have to be to think, “The entirety of Obama’s position is making sure our tires are inflated”?

Obama, unlike McCain, has unveiled a very detailed energy policy. It’s actually one of the best parts of Obama’s entire agenda. It’s online, and while McCain’s aides may struggle with some of the big words, it’s actually not that hard for grown-ups to understand.

And yet, the right wants a tire gauge to be the enduring symbol of the campaign? Seriously?

Consider a counter-example. McCain was talking about skin cancer the other day.

McCain emphasized that skin cancer is preventable, and implored Americans to wear sunscreen, especially over the summer. What’s wrong with this advice? Not a thing. It’s a smart, sensible thing to say.

But imagine if Obama and his surrogates said the entirety of McCain’s healthcare policy is sunscreen application. McCain doesn’t really care about cancer, they could argue, he just wants everyone to run out at get some SPF 30. Those vying to be Obama’s running mate started holding up bottles of Coppertone during their speeches, saying things like, “We want you to wear sunscreen, you know, it will very mildly improve your chances of not getting sick. But wearing sunscreen is not a healthcare policy for the United States of America.”

This, of course, would be insane. And yet, that’s pretty much what’s become of Republican campaign rhetoric of late.

Only 93 days to go until Election Day.

Digg it!

Comments

  • rege

    says:

    You see, McCain and the Republicans don’t want people to take personal responsibility. They prefer the federal government to “solve” our problems with give-a-ways to the oil companies.

  • Steve

    says:

    Okay—you want an expert? Fine.

    When I graduated from high school, I went to work in the “gum mines” of Akron, Ohio. You “non-gum-miners” would know them as tire factories.

    An underinflated tire can reduce your car’s fuel-efficiency (mileage) by about 5%, and can decrease the life-expectancy of the tire by as much as 35%. Now, add to that the issue of safety—an underinflated tire places excessive stress on the steel “belts” that are in the tread and side-walls of a tire; tread-separation at highway speed results in a blowout (which can flip a car, pickup, van, or even an SUV).

    Then there’s a secondary issue. If you want to buy tires more often, you should also at least know that it takes a lot of stuff to make a tire—and that there’s not much in the way of natural rubber in a tire’s composition these days. Besides a few chemicals and some lamp-black, the main ingredient in that tire is oil.

    OIL—as in the stuff that John McLie and his petroleum pals want you to believe has nothing to do with proper tire inflation. That’s because if you use more oil, they make more profit. Conservation (as we’ve seen over the past couple of weeks) results in lower prices, and they make less profit.

  • Harold in Buffalo

    says:

    The amount of air in our nation’s tires will never equal the quantity of air in the heads of John McCain and his fellow Republicans.

  • james k. sayre

    says:

    Republicans seem to think that “Kill, kill, kill, drill, drill, drill, bomb, bomb, bomb” is an energy policy…

    We’re being ENRONed again: this time by oil futures contracts speculators who are unnecessarily and very profitably driving up the price of crude oil and hence retail gasoline prices. Curious as to why you are suddenly paying over four dollars a gallon for gasoline? No, it’s not due to “supply-and-demand,” no, it’s not due to “OPEC,” nor is it due to “peak oil.” It’s due to totally unregulated electronic oil futures trading in world markets. Check out the very lucid article that explains the unseen financial machinations in oil futures markets written by F. W. Engdahl on May 2, 2008, entitled, “Perhaps 60% of Today’s Oil Price is Pure Speculation.” It may be viewed at .
    http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/engdahl/2008/0502.html

    In a nutshell, he suggests that the Bush Administration dropped the ball in January 2006, when they allowed totally unregulated electronic trading of oil futures contracts in New York. Previously these electronic trades had been made at the London Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Futures Market. With that decision by the Bush Administration, all of the world’s oil prices were then opened to upward pressure from speculative futures contracts. In essence, oil futures contracts made by speculators, banks, hedge funds and pension funds all competed with real demand on the spot markets and had the effect of driving up both wholesale oil prices and retail gasoline prices. Speculators have made billions of dollars on their trading of oil futures contracts. All of their profits come right out of our pockets.

    Even with a stable oil supply, there is a slow worldwide increase in demand for oil, which creates a long-term upward pressure on oil prices. However, with the relentless saber-rattling and war-mongering by Bush and Cheney in the last several years, and the more recent war talks by McCain and the Israelis, the oil futures markets are rife with speculation and paranoia. This war talk keeps ratcheting up the prices on the oil futures contracts and hence the wholesale spot market prices. It is an endless spiral of greed and paranoia.

    As long as there is no tough and effective oversight of the electronic oil futures markets by the Bush Administration, the oil prices will climb endlessly. These oil prices will be quickly followed by hikes in the retail gasoline prices at the pump. The 60% speculation share of the $4.25/gallon gasoline price, is about $2.55/gallon, which is what we consumers are paying to these oil speculators as a “service fee.” Not a bad “fee,” since the speculators produce no usable goods or services…Just a few large greedy oil futures traders helping themselves to your gas money.
    Without this added-on oil futures “service fee,” you would be paying about $1.75/gallon for gasoline. Write, call or smoke-signal your Representatives and Senators today and suggest that they read the June 2006 report by The U. S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations entitled, “The Role of Market Speculation in Rising Oil and Gas Prices.” Then demand that they investigate and then force the Bush Administration to firmly regulate the computerized oil futures contracts trading in New York, London and Dubai.

    This electronic oil price futures scandal is costing US drivers about $969,000,000.00 per day! That number is based on 60% speculation fee of a gasoline price of $4.25/gallon and on US 2004 consumption of 380,000,000 gallons/day. Tell you Senators and Congresspersons to simply shut down this unregulated electronic oil futures contract trading market. Then the price of gasoline will slowly drop to about $1.75/gallon…The only way that oil price futures contracts make money is if the price of oil goes up in the future, say, 30, 60 or 90 days later. This futures market serves no social need. It is just for corporate greed. The corporate speculators are probably also gaming/ENRONing the wheat and corn futures markets the same way.

  • mellowjohn

    says:

    back when one of my kids was in pre-school, i accompanied his class on a pre-thanksgiving trip to a hear-by turkey farm. all the kids (and adults, too) got a big kick out of the fact that when one turkey said “gobble-gobble,” it set the whole flock to saying “gobble-gobble-gobble.”

    the way the republicans all spout the same talking points – sometimes within mere minutes of when they first emerge – reminds me of that trip to the turkey farm.

  • Capt Kirk

    says:

    It’s truly amazing the chew toys that these dogs attack and the positions they end up taking. Once the party of “personal responsibility” and “common sense”, they Republicans can only go against Obama no matter what he says. It’s absolutely true that if all drivers exercised regular routine maintenance including keeping their tires evenly inflated it would save immensely on gasoline. This would seem the very essence involving personal responsibility for automobile owners, yet the Republicans are all going on about how silly it is today.

    There is nothing more to McCain’s energy policy than giving the big oil companies whatever they want. Sounds like more of the same to me.

  • Roddy McCorley

    says:

    I gotta say that even if a tire gauge were the whole of Obama’s energy plan, that would be a big step up from the people whose energy plan seems to consist mainly of invading other countries that have oil.

    Which would you rather give up, America? Your tire gauges, or your children?

  • tomj

    says:

    One thing we don’t know is how much oil would be found by offshore drilling, and by what percentage this would increase supply. We also don’t know when this would happen.

    But McCain wants action “now”!

    But a cynic who doesn’t trust government to actually do anything might want to take matters into their own hands.

    Start with tire pressure. Under-inflated tires wear out faster and reduce your gas mileage, they are also potentially dangerous. For each psi of under-inflation you lose about .4% of your gas mileage. So 5 psi would be 2%. At $4/gallon that is 8 cents, or about half the gas tax holiday. But this goes year round and can’t be repealed. The higher gas prices go the more you save.

    A dirty or clogged air filter can save up to 10%! Do the math, and you could save 40 cents per gallon.

    A proper tune-up could save even more, up to 30% for some problems.

    It would be great if Obama kept pushing this by asking why conservatives are against conservation, and why republicans are trying to discourage personal responsibility.

    He could even package it up by saying “We need relief now. Congress is out of town for the next month and John McCain knows it. But we can all act now, on our own. If we personally take steps to conserve, by simple maintenance, we will save money and gas right now. If enough of us act, supply will increase because demand will go down. That will cause a drop in the price of gas for even more savings.”

  • daenku32

    says:

    If we could save just 5% on average for each gasoline consuming contraption, we would save 169 million barrels of gasoline a year.

    And I bet majority of vehicles on the road are running under inflated.

  • zeitgeist

    says:

    That this is happening is no surprise, nor is it a surprise when it works. Democrats have such incredibly short memories.

    In 1988, the midwest farm economy was struggling. Through a variety of bad incentives, states like Iowa had lost most of their economic and biodiversity and were down to growing just two commerical crops: corn and soybeans, both of which were being produced in record numbers, creating a downward spiral in per bushel price.

    Among many, many other points to his agricultural policy, on a trip to Iowa Mike Dukakis noted that it might be wise for Iowa farmers to diversify and noted that Iowa would be well suited for numerous other crops like Belgian Endive.

    Everything about that statement was true (and, given the recent American willingness to expand the menu and the locavore movement seeking more locally-grown foods, arguably Dukakis was prescient – I have seen endive at farmers markets here this year). Yet the right relentlessly mocked Dukakis over that statement, doing real damage by making him a pointy-headed small-thinking ivory-tower elite.

    That episode is entirely analogous to the tire inflation issue. In case anyone hasn’t realized it yet, the graduates of the Atwater-Rove school of hard knocking continue to refine their evil potion, with each election becoming a “greatest hits” version of elections past. Everything they are doing, have done, and will try to do to Obama is merely a reply – often more brazen – of what was done to Dukakis, Gore, Kerry and others like Ford and Cleland. Which makes it all the more disturbing that the Democratic team isn’t totally ready to hit each pitch out of the park immediately.

    Which brings us to Steve’s other point: didn’t McCain make an endive-tire inflation sort of statement when he said, stealing from Baz Luhrmann’s hit recording of a graduation speech, “wear suncreen”?

    Of course McCain’s statement was of a type with endive and tire inflation. Why does it not hurt McCain? Um, duh – because we don’t make it hurt McCain. These things don’t happen by themselves – ask Rove and Schmidt, who live to make them happen. Progressives, Democrats, Good Government types – we find such pettiness distasteful. We wont attack when someone says something that is factually correct – like wear sunscreen. And that gave us 12 more years of Republican ruin instead of Presidents Dukakis, Gore or Kerry.

    I really do not like how this is playing out. Not one bit.

  • Rabi

    says:

    The funny thing is that Bush has done the exact same thing – suggesting Americans do things like turn off the AC when not at home.

    The GOP Attack Machine is out of control.

    Also, Newt Gingrich has the most fitting name ever. The dude’s such a reptile.

  • petorado

    says:

    Rege and Capt. Kirk hit on a big point: Republicans used to be the party espousing personal responsibility. In the gospel according to Goldwater, people should be personally responsible for their retirement savings. People should be personally responsible regarding procreation. Government shouldn’t have to use taxpayer dollars to intervene in irresponsible personal behavior … like getting into foreign wars to secure oil for people who can’t even maintain their damn cars. Republicans are selling out their “virtues” in order to pander the lazy people they’re supposed to be admonishing.

  • biggerbox

    says:

    What’s more, the savings from properly inflating tires are a)immediate and b)nearly free! (I assumme some modest cost for electricity to run the air compressors.)

    So, Obama, (as part of an overall policy they are pretending doesn’t exist) is proposing a way to cut our need for imported petroleum by millions of gallons, tomorrow, at no government expenditure. Sounds good.

    Perhaps someone should start accusing McCain of proposing a ‘wasteful government program’ with his off-shore drilling scheme. I mean, it’ll take real money to pay the clerks processing those leases, and we won’t see a drop of oil for years!!

    Plus, I hear that his healthcare policy is that everyone should wear sunscreen and a hat. (Sadly, the reality is not much more sophisticated.)

  • Mark Gisleson

    says:

    Speaking as another former tire builder, Steve’s exactly right about how tires affect gas mileage.

    Current Republican talking points to the contrary are amazingly stupid. Their base may not be well educated, but this is something all gearheads know.

  • Capt Kirk

    says:

    McCain: And what’s more, think of the terrible psychological effect it would have on Americans to be forced to actually care for their automobiles! The horror! We must drill and bomb until the prices go down and the average American should never have to leave his couch or sell his SUV!

  • Glen

    says:

    More foaming at the mouth Rove BS from the Ranting Repubs.

    I expect a boatload of BS till November and the MSM will lap up most of it.

  • Mimikatz

    says:

    Same thing I said before. They are subtly tying him to Jimmy Carter and the idea of putting on a sweater to save on heating. It is feminizing Obama. The manly GOP strategy is to drill, drill, drill. And the fact that poor maintenance would cause people to use more oil just helps the oil companies.

    This is also more of the culture of misdirection and distraction, making it seem like Obama has nothing to offer when in truth it is McCain who has nothing to offer.

    I wonder how well this will work, though. Common sense folks (like in the midwest) might hear Obama’s suggestion and think he’s looking ort for them. And Chevron is running a similar ad campaign about saving energy through maintenance and driving more slowly.

    It’s just more GOP appeals to the lizard brain.

  • jimBOB

    says:

    The remark upthread about the turkeys pretty much captures it. Ridiculing Obama over tire pressure is something for their side to say, so they all say it, even if it’s nonsense. The “thinking” going on on the gooper side is purely tribal anyway; that’s why they all agree with each other loudly, no matter how ridiculous whatever they are all saying together is.

    The good news is it doesn’t really matter. The electorate is a great big stupid beast, but they’ve already decided they don’t want to keep the current crew. This decision isn’t based on either fine policy judgments or on Atwater-style taunting; it’s based on the sucky economy and reignited inflation (led by food and energy costs, which may be left out of the official statistics but which have a massive impact on Joe Sixpack). They aren’t going to vote McCain, whatever desperate crap he spews.

  • Chris

    says:

    Ah, Steve, you’re falling into the standard trap of bringing logic to a gunfight: “Even by Republican standards, this really is odd.”

    No. This is *normal* by Republican standards. The Republican party does not exist to promulgate good, effective policy ideas; because a lot of people believe one party (hint: not the one itching to invade Iraq, slashing taxes for the rich, and making billions from oil; just the one *enabling* the other party to get away with those things) tries to promulgate good, effective policy ideas, they think the other party must be at least *somewhat* interested in similar things, and just following marginally different priorities — but they’re wrong.

    The Republican party exists for one purpose: to protect Republican political and economic power.

    There’s a saying from the legal world, that a lawyer argues the law, and if he can’t argue the law, he’ll argue the facts, and if he can’t argue *either* the law or the facts, he’ll call the other lawyer names. (I’ll admit there’s a chance I have the law-then-facts part backwards, but it’s practically immaterial, as I’ll explain next.)

    The thing is, when you see John McCain and Newt Gingrich and anyone else from the GOP (or any of our own douchebag traitorous senators and representatives bitching about offshore-drilling limits instead of actually contesting Republican bullshit) mocking Obama for recommending Americans use a tire gauge to conserve energy, it’s for one goddamn reason, and it’s a good one:

    Because ridicule is a fantastic political weapon.

    “Even by Republican standards, this really is odd.”

    By logical standards, yes, this is really odd. Even by political logical standards, it’s really odd.

    But by Republican standards, this is par for the course. Think of all the shit Republicans have used in the past twenty years to distract voters. We’re talking about a party that has, in the past, pushed “arguments” such as: Bill Clinton got a blowjob! Hillary’s a lesbian! Al Gore is an elitist! Michael Moore is fat! Al Gore is fat, too! John Kerry looks French! John Edwards is a pretty boy (and worse)! Bill Clinton is gay! (granted, quoting Ann Coulter, who’s pretty much a projectile slur machine, is like shooting fish in a barrel) Howard Dean is angry! Barack Obama is black! John Edwards is whipped! Nancy Pelosi is from San Francisco! Barack Obama is an uppity n—–!

    And, of course, this week’s “instant classic”: “Barack Obama is too thin!”

    This is what Republicans *DO*.

    And they do it for one reason: because it works to protect Republican political and economic power.

  • zeitgeist

    says:

    sadly, Mimikatz, it appears that about 80% of American men and probably a good third of the women have lizard brains. After all, someone is keeping Big Brother, Spike TV, and Bret Michaels Rock of Love on the air, right? Someone kept Hummer in business for a decade, elected W twice, and made Toby Keith a millionaire while the Dixie Chicks can’t get a record of their played without putting a dollar in the jukebox. Someone watches WWE and Monster Truck competitions, goes to (and works at!) Hooters, and believes that Saddam had something to do with 9/11. Add all of those up and you’ve got a lot of lizard brains who are eligible to vote!

  • Angellight

    says:

    It is a derelict of duty by Media and Obama surrogates that they are not telling the Whole Story — that McCain initiated this race argument by posting a web video on his campaign site with Barack’s face on a $100.00 bill, Statute of Liberty and the four Mt. Rushmore Presidents, when Obama responds to this insult, McCain cries foul that Obama is calling him a racist. This is uttler nonsence and a set-up by Media and McCain Camp! Barack had every right to respond. But, as you can see, this story is not being told in its entirety. We need to keep MSM honest and call them on this one-sided story!

  • JS

    says:

    The point is that the republicans are all riding around in SUV’s paid for by taxpayers, and all have a driver to take care of tires, filling up with gas etc (at taxpayers expense) so how would you expect them to know the basics about tire pressure, just like they do not know the price of milk, bread etc.They are completely out of touch and someone should be telling them this.

  • SaintZak

    says:

    “I really do not like how this is playing out. Not one bit.”

    I’ve been critisized on this board for suggesting that the Obama campaign (and leading Democrats) go on a savage, unmerciful attack. It may be two late. THIS works. Everything coming out of the McCain camp and the Republicans is designed to make Barack Obama look foolish. We can come on boards like this and find this shit outreagous, but they know the audience they’re playing to very well. And it works. They have managed to turn Obama’s overseas trip into a liability (and Obama has come close to making excuses for it), Everything that has happened in the last two weeks has been carefully designed to build up and layer after layer. Obama is turning into a joke. Once that happens its over. Over.

    When John McCain aired that dishonest ad about Obama’s cancelled trip to visit troops in Germany, the Obama campaign should have hit back so hard that nothing was left of John McCain except a smear. Lie it or not thats what it takes to win an election these days…and the Democrats have once again rolled over and played dead.

  • Goldilocks

    says:

    Along with properly inflated tires a large swath of Americans should consider properly deflated emotions. The emotional pressure in this election campaign is indecently high. It’s all emotion, guffaw and puerile mocking. No one is benefiting.

    A sane energy policy has two components: production and efficiency. Without the efficiency component, production is a mug’s game. Without rehashing all the technical details, which are available at Obama’s website, it’s obvious — at least to those with a few brain cells ticking over — that every improvement in efficiency yields a reduction in cost immediately. Why mock something so obvious?

    And, to put it into an extreme perspective, considering that the total energy received by the Earth from the Sun in forty minute is equal to all the energy consumed from oil in a year (or something as extraordinary as that — I can’t put my finger on the source for that at this instant), if we covered the Sahara Desert, which doesn’t seem to be much in the way of useful production these days, with solar panels we could provide the whole planet’s electricity needs till the end of time. Now a project like that could, surely, not be so easily blown off as a tire gauge.

  • zeitgeist

    says:

    Why mock something so obvious?

    To hide its obviousness. When you work for ExxonMobil and Chevron (11.68B and 11.6B in quarterly profits, respectively – the first and second largest such figures on record ever) you don’t want people to conserve. You want to keep them addicted, have occasional supply shocks to the price goes up like a rocket and then halfway back down like a feather to a new, higher baseline – but keep the shocks managable enough that few ever are scared straight and break the habit. The focus is on new supply so you can feed their addictions, to the benefit of your bottom line, for longer.

  • Martin

    says:

    We’re Americans, dammit. We consume, we don’t conserve. Obama’s energy policy has us conserving, the Repubs is based on consuming. So they need to get us more to comsume, whether it be off shore drilling or invading another country. What’s so hard to figure out?

  • Goldilocks

    says:

    Record profits, supply shocks, rocketing and manipulated prices, feeding addictions — it all rings so true. Is it hopeless then?

    What’s the point of all this wealth, profit and consumption? I mean, beyond a decent living, what’s the big deal about so much money? It baffles me.

    When I try to get inside the skin of what Republican political and economic power means for these kinds of people, I’m stuck. I don’t see what the attraction is. I mean seriously, on a personal level, what’s so obsessively great about it that it’s worth selling your soul to the Devil for? Because that’s what these kind of people are doing.

    Money itself is neither here nor there, after basic needs are satisfied, but if it turns you into a selfish, people-hating, disrespectful monster, what’s the point?

    The glaring difference between the McCain gang and Mr Obama’s team is in terms of decency, altruism and genuine caring for others. The former lack it, the latter have it. Surely ordinary people can see that. And enough of them to see this thing through.

  • Megalomania

    says:

    “The Tire Gauge” thing.

    At one time I used to be an air gauge freak. Basically because I always had a slow leak in my tires. Very funny, no not really, couldn’t afford new tires at the time. Yep, I was a geeky kid then working for three bucks an hour in an electronics factory in the third shift on the south side of Chicago way back in the sixties.

    This is a good one, like even back then I was the only white guy working on the assembly line, the rest were Spanish, Mexican, or Latino, what ever. The Spanish guys used to call me “Hey Picnhie Flaco” They had leaky tires too. Yuk, Yuk, but you get my point, no, well Mexicans were here in droves way back when its nothing new. Second it is a political plan by the rich richies and it is not working to well when we can’t count them. Sort of like the rich richies don’t want you to know how much tax dollars they profiteer.

    Heck, back then air was free. Remember when you could go to the gas station and have an air gauge right on the hose. Still do today but you have to pay anywhere from a quarter to a buck just to put air your tire. That to me is the flag of progress, one has to have a good job making good money to be able to have good tires to get them checked when you change your oil. Today I could go to McDonalds for a quick meal and have an SUV full of Mexicans pull up along side me to do the same. Their tires are a lot better now, but we still can’t count them.

    But those Black guys, you know the low riders, those kids that just got their new wheels, slumped down low and cool, with shock absorbers three feet off the ground, have those spinning hubcap wheels that work in reverse and now the tires are made so flat they look like they always need air anyway. Sheesh…are they are making fun of Obama and the blacks…you bet they are…But us White kids had a lot of fun with our fifty seven Chevys sick shifts. But gas was only 17 cents a gallon then. How times have changed but passions don’t…

  • Michael7843853

    says:

    Proper tire inflation was mentioned for safety and fuel efficiency in the manual for the written test I took to get my temporary license in 66. McCain is banking on lazy Americans thinking that Obama is trying to lay a liberal guilt trip on us. For the excessive amount we are paying for gas these days we could bring back full service and throw in a free car wash(less wind resistance).

  • Hannah

    says:

    My hubby’s response to the tire inflation thing: I think the Republicans need to change the air in their HEADS.

    Speaking of tire inflation and heads, there’s the McCain exploding head thing from Jon Stewart.

    And Steve/CB, good analogy with the McCain/sunblock thing. That is exactly what the Rs are doing with Obama’s comments.

    One more thing – I’m betting a lot of McCain’s “base” is into cars & trucks -either their own, NASCAR, etc. I’m wondering how many of those folks will think McCain is insulting their intelligence, since they know that proper maintenance and tire inflation is important and will improve mileage.

  • jen

    says:

    Governor Arnold did an advertisement months back about how to increase fuel efficiency and maintaining proper tire pressure was one of them.

    Why aren’t the Democrats or MoveOn creating infomercials correcting Republican lies?????

  • DK

    says:

    I have to agree with those here who have suggested that the Obama campaign should start attacking more vigorously. However, I disagree that he should be attacking using Rovian tactics and attack on made up stuff. There is plenty to attack him on without making stuff up.

    For example, Obama could lay waste to McCain on his energy policy (if you can call it a policy).

    Americans hate oil companies and Bush/Cheney (former oilmen both). McCain has received more money from oil companies than Obama. McCain’s policy is the same as Bush/Cheney. The American public should be asking themselves, why do oil companies want their republican stooges to pass legislation to open up more offshore drilling when they haven’t bothered to drill on the rights they already have? I’ll tell you why, it’s all about locking up the mineral rights as soon as possible. Who should American’s trust on energy policy – certainly not McBush.

  • Bill

    says:

    The point is that properly inflated tires are no substitute for an energy policy that features proven and needed sources as nuclear, natural gas, coal, and DRILLING! This is the program that the McCain campaign can use to win this year, if they can get it in gear. Once we get our proven methods back on line, the more exotic and not yet sustainable methods can be used to replace what will work for now. People who are opposed to this, (Barry, Nancy, Ted) are actually opposed to American economic and political power.

  • jonb

    says:

    Funny. Most of the comments here are simply rabid attacks calling Republicans bad names. Nobody noticed the the comparison here is entirely bogus. McCain didn’t claim that putting on sunscreen would entirely negate Democrats’ arguments about health care. Obama *did* do that about Republicans and drilling.

  • zeitgeist

    says:

    jonb, you should probably actually read source material, not just Republican talking points.

    Obama made the perfectly factual statement that if every driver had proper tire inflation it would save more gasoline than the increment it is predicted that we would obtain from maximizing our domestic drilling.

    He did not say it substitutes for an entire energy policy (although I suppose if you are admitting that drilling is all the Republicans have got it may sound that way). He did not say we shouldn’t ever drill anywhere. He simply compared the amount we would save by good maintenance – at virtually no cost.

    Care to explain how it is now wrong to make a simple, factual statement?

  • Bruno

    says:

    Zeitgeist asked a few trolls and confused Republicans to answer the following question: ..Care to explain how it is now wrong to make a simple, factual statement?

    Because Facts have a liberal bias, and conservatives simply can’t force themselves to go there. It’s too painful. When they drink a glass of Rovian Kool-Aid, they have enough bravado to challenge the truth. All they need to do is listen to Rush Limbaugh, or watch any winger on Fox News, and they’ll be informed about – as Bush’s adviser said himself – “we make your own reality”

    Too many Republicans can’t understand the concept:

    “You are entitled to your own opinion; you’re not entitled to your own facts”

    “Although you’re entitled to your own opinion, not every opinion has the same value”

    PS: I did not say ALL Republicans. There are quite a few sensible Republicans and Conservatives; we just don’t hear from them too often.

  • joey

    says:

    YOU POSTED THIS STEVE…DID YOU FORGET???

    from CB……”….Is making sure your car tires are inflated properly to save energy and gas money “loony tunes?” The federal government doesn’t think so. Neither does the auto industry.
    The Department of Energy estimates that (based on gas costing $3.96/gallon), “you can improve your gas mileage by around 3.3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure” which would ultimately save “up to $0.12/gallon” or, nearly the amount of the federal gas tax ($0.18/gallon), a tax Gingrich supports repealing. Moreover, the auto industry agrees with DoE’s assessment.
    But more importantly, Obama is correct to suggest that inflating tires properly and getting regular tune-ups “could save all the oil that they’re talking about getting off drilling” — and by a long shot. According to the Energy Information Administration, if Congress lifted the moratorium on offshore drilling, by 2030, oil crude production in the “lower-48? outer continental shelf will increase by about 200 thousand barrels per day. By contrast, the production offset based on Obama’s proposal will likely approach 800 thousand barrels per day, immediately….”
    \

  • Hans P.

    says:

    Sounds like good news if “the tire gauge thing” is the big focal point of the Republicans criticism. It seems to suggest that they can find nothing wrong with the rest of Obama’s energy policy.

  • Flüge Phuket

    says:

    Voting Mc Cain would mean a backspace in all American endeavors, except in killing people for oil.
    How about Obamas plans in this case?
    Obama is very popular here in Germany. But the medias here don´t tell us about his unpopular attitudes towards gun possession, war in afghanistan or death penalty. Anyway I think 1. he will be a good president 2. you can´t become president of the US when you don´t make this concessions.

  • SickofBushMcCainLiebermann

    says:

    It’s a known fact under inflated tires decrease gas mileage. Guess theses gasbags don’t belong to AAA. Then again, why conserve everything you can when you can drill drill drill.

    why should they worry when the are so full of hot air themselves.

  • Diogenes

    says:

    It’s more than just tire inflation. I’ve worked in the transportation industry. If you have a big fleet of cars, regular maintenance of those cars/trucks/buses really does make a big difference. The savings on gas alone make up for the cost of the maintenance. Add to that the extra years and miles you can get out of a vehicle, and you’re really looking at some savings. Think about how much it costs, in terms of energy (read oil burned for electricity) to make a car. If you can get a couple of extra years out of it due to good maintenance, then you’re definitely saving some oil.

  • Benson

    says:

    “is comparable to the savings we’d get from the GOP’s coastal drilling policy”

    He said that a properly inflated tire and regular tune-ups could save as much as the oil Republicans are talking about recovering. About a third of Americans have under-inflated tires and according to the average travel time and fuel efficiency, inflating those would save about 6.5 million gallons a day.

    http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NGFhODY5MTY0OGEzYjdmNWU2YWQyOTIzMzk3ZGQ4ZmU=

    The Green River oil shale formation alone produces 20 million barrels a day if drilled.

  • Benson

    says:

    And he wasn’t just talking about the “coastal drilling policy”. He was talking about all drilling:

    But 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’d actually save just as much!

    As long as 6.5 million gallons total is equal to 20 million barrels from one deposit alone, that makes sense.

  • Loonytick

    says:

    To all of the above. Lets see, last week Obama was all for inflating our tires. This week he is for drilling offshore. I can hardly wait for next week.

  • Gekkobear

    says:

    Did McCain say that using sunscreen could replace the benefits of health insurance? Of course not. If he said that sunscreen and preventing skin cancer could fix the health care problem, or could eliminate the rising costs of health care; then you’d have a comparison…

    Did Obama say that proper tire pressure and tune-ups could save all the oil they (Republicans) are looking at drilling for (i.e. billions of barrels)? Yes, yes he did. Is this true, or nearly true, or possibly true?

    well, tune ups are much less interesting than they were 15 years ago. The computers now tell you when you’re having issues that a tune-up would help most of the time, so you’re only supposed to go every 50K miles, not every 15K. And proper tire pressure can make a difference of (if all 4 are off, and badly off) 3% at most. Maybe 25% of cars on the road have one tire mis-inflated, few will be able to gain more than 1% with inflation. And nearly every car on the road will show a warning light if it needs a tune-up so you’ll already know about that…

    How long will it take to save 800 billion barrels of oil when we have 25% of cars gain 1%? 40,000 years of tune-ups and tire pressure and we’ll save all the oil they’re talking about drilling. Will we still be using oil 40,000 years from now?

    But don’t mind me. Keep pretending that Obama didn’t say what he said, and that it wasn’t as inane and idiotic as it was.

    I’m sure that Obama’s new policy will be a humdinger. Not this policy, it’s old news, heck, days old so of course it’s gone and forgotten; and not last week’s drilling for compromise, but the one he’ll have in another couple of weeks once he reworks his message yet again.

    His third answer on any issue (usually contradicting his first two) tends to be the most impressive answer he comes up with. I think his first two positions on any issue are just practice…

  • John Nail

    says:

    Apparently from what I can see online from car experts the simple fact that inflating tires properly WILL impact gas mileage 3-5%. Maybe as much as 10% if they are underinflated to start with.

    So if you mileage is 5% better then your cost per mile is 5% less and miles per tank 5% more. Make sense?

    So if that is the case then a $4 gallon of gas with bad tire inflation is equal to a $3.80 – $3.85 gallon with proper inflation.

    Guess what? That $.15 -. 20/gallon is essentially the same as $.18 per gallon that McCain’s stupid gas tax holiday would save without costing the Highway Trust Fund $10 Billion.

    In fact it is 8-9X the $.018 per gallon that Bush’s own people have said offshore drilling would save per gallon in 7-10 years when the oil comes online…and you can save it now…at no cost but a quarter at the air machine!!

    Be patriotic, save money and get your tires checked!!! 🙂

    Maybe the tax rebate checks should come with a bonus tire gauge or Obama contributors can get a souvenir Obama tire gauge for a $25 donation….. Oh sorry that might be too arrogant or presumptuous for the Republicans….

  • Benson

    says:

    John,

    Except not all tires are underinflated. Only a percentage of Americans keep theirs in such condition. And Obama didn’t say that the tire inflation would be equal to offshore drilling — he said drilling in general.

  • Harriett in Manhattan

    says:

    In December 1966, when John McCain requested his first combat assignment in Vietnam, Barack Obama turned 5 years old and was enjoying the freedoms a child should enjoy.

    As Obama turned 7, McCain had survived a burning jet fire on the USS Forrestal and had just flown his 23rd bombing mission over communist North Vietnam.

    In 1973, as Obama reached age 12, McCain was finally released from a prisoner-of-war camp in the Hanoi Hilton.

    At age 15, when Obama was still in high school, McCain became the commanding officer of a Naval Training Squadron in Florida. He turned a poorly managed military unit into a distinguished, combat-ready team.

    When Obama reached the legal age of 21 and was experimenting with pot and cocaine, McCain declined an admiral promotion and ran for and was elected to Congress.

    By 1987, Obama was a young man of 25 and McCain had assumed the office of senator from Arizona (after a successful four-year tour in the U.S. House of Representatives).

    At age 36, Obama looked on as Sen. McCain was named one of Time magazine’s 25 most influential people in America.

    Whom do we choose as our next leader? Do we choose a man with proven military and political achievements, or a man with little experience other than a stint as a community leader and junior senator? Decisions, decisions!

  • pdxpunk

    says:

    Nothing is funnier than seeing these Obamanics try to justify/explain/rationalize the inane spewing of their chosen one. Please, O! is a freaking idiot at best, a drooling buffoon and poster boy of BS PC advancement at the very least…That the dimorats here are so dishonest as to try their varied schemes to make O! not be painted as the maroon he is–WITH HIS OWN WORDS– is just priceless. I cannot wait until he gets stomped by McCain in the GE and the screeching hits fever pitch. Please, dimos, ask more of your party and stop being such GD liars and sycophants…

  • H Andrew Thornburg

    says:

    Obama – math and science challenged and it shows in his energy non-policy.

    Tap the stragetic reserve for votes and increase our vunerabilty in an emergency. The reserve is less than 60 days supply. If we have a hurricane or worse a successful attack on the Saudi transfer facilities (we have already had an unsuccessful attack in 2006 – shades of the 1994 attack on the WTC) we are going to be SOL under an Obama administration).

    Tax the US oil companies which will be simply be passed on to the consumers in the form of higher higher prices as it was in the 1970’s. It will also decrease US oil companies attractiveness in the capital markets when competing with Shell and BP.

    Do not go nuclear which is the cleanest and less thermally polluting than any source except hydro to produce the electricity needed for hydrogen fueled and electric cars which will be the cars of the future. Wind and solar should be pursued but their potential is limited and years off.

    Do not emphasize clean coal and oil shale even though we have a three hundred year of supply of these energy sources which can produce hydrocarbon liquid fuels until we are able to convert our vehicle fleets to cleaner sources.

    Do not address the supply side of the energy problem while 70% (and increasing every day) of our petroleum based energy is coming from overseas and our balance of payments cost is $700 billion per year.
    Introduce the windfall profits tax which failed in the 1970’s.

    ANWAR’s annual savings in foreign exchange would equal 35% of all of our annual exports of goods and services currently produced by 300 million Americans but that in Obama’s view is not significant. ANWAR alone if it had not been blocked by Bill Clinton would now be producing 50% more energy per year than the all the existing ethanol facilities in this country. It took 30 years to build this ethanol capacity and we now have a fertilizer induced dead zome plume in the Gulf of Mexico is now larger than the state of Mass. Pelosi and Reid want to triple corn based ethanol.

    In five years Obama proposes to put 1 million hydrids on the road – oops we have 120 million vehicles on the road that use petroleum based fuels. Improved tire inflation will still leave us 115+ million cars short. The Europeans in less than 10 years have switched 50% of their cars to diesel which is 35% more efficient than gasoline and can use bio-diesel when it is finally available.

    How can anyone who knows anything about energy, technology, balance of payments issues and economics take Obama’s qualifications to be president seriously? If you want to save the world you have to know a lot about all the topics Obama has never studied.

  • EM

    says:

    I know Obama is all knowing, but just how does he know how many people don’t keep their tires properly inflated. Without knowing the number, how can even Obama calculate the savings?

  • Leodevelez

    says:

    Questions that may help in assessing the tire inflation proposal.

    1) Of the 20 million barrels consumed by the US each day, how much is for transportation?

    2) Of those used by transport industry, how much is for land transport?

    3) Of those used by land transport, how much is for vehicles with wheels (exclude trains)?

    4) Of those used with wheels, how much were used by those with under-inflated tires?

    5) Of those used by vehicle with under-inflated tires, how much can be gained by proper inflation?

  • Bender Bending Rodriguez

    says:

    Oh, my Gosh, some Republicans are exaggerating Obama’s moronic tire inflation remark! Well, hold onto your monocle, Grandpa, because that’s what happens in politics. Remember when — just for one example of hundreds — John Kerry in 2004 tried to frighten voters by saying over and over in his stump speeches that Bush wanted to “ban” stem cell research? Seems you guys didn’t mind even outright lies when it was your guy telling whoppers.

    You get no sympathy when you deserve none.

  • fesick

    says:

    “You see, McCain and the Republicans don’t want people to take personal responsibility. They prefer the federal government to “solve” our problems with give-a-ways to the oil companies.”

    Rege,

    Are you serious? Republicans don’t want personal repsonsiblity? Well, I can’t say it’s a stretch though. Today the two biggest parties are serving one side.
    The Democratic party of today is the party of the nutroots, marxists, socialists and communits and appeasers.
    Today’s Republican party is the party of yesterdays Democrats – neocons.

    There is not true limited government, personal responsiblity conservative base anymore.
    No, making sure inflating your tires is not an issue of personal responsilbility. It’s an issue of car maintenance. I mean, when you go to full service stations don’t they check your tire pressure anyway?

  • Robin Pearl

    says:

    Obama is on the right track calling for Americans to keep tires properly inflated.

    Americans CAN do something about the energy crisis. With everyone working together to solve the problem, even something that seems little, like proper tire inflation, can grow to a savings of $ 14 billion a year, which doesn’t seem small at all.

    Tires will stay properly inflated even longer with high-purity nitrogen.

    High-purity nitrogen is more stable than compressed air. This allows tires to stay properly inflated longer and leads to increased gas mileage, improved tire life and reduced carbon emissions. High-purity nitrogen also can provide a safer ride, with better handing and stability.

    PurigeN98TM high-purity nitrogen guarantees results. Check us out at: http://www.purigen98.com/bluegas.htm

    Robin Pearl
    President

  • victor

    says:

    You dumb — s go ahead and waste your vote on obama, but mark my words, energy costs will soar, there will be no fix, economy will crash, and there will be a terrorist attack on our home soil that will make the new york attack seem insignificant. Think very hard about what you want vs. what the reality of the situation is. Dont put your children at risk over a pipe dream of national health care ( wont happen) and shouldnt happen, and the dream of world peace (sorry, wont happen). Be glad that we are the most powerful nation on the block, and we should yield this stick to keep the peace on our soil.