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Since when do Republicans oppose routine auto maintenance?

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Barack Obama reminded an audience yesterday that American consumers can save money and improve fuel efficiency by keeping their tired inflated and getting regular tune-ups. I thought this was just common sense, and one of those simple steps that everyone already knew about.

Apparently, Republicans have decided that it’s worthy of mockery.

“[Obama] suggested we put air in our tires to save on gas,” McCain told a group of voters. “My friends, let’s do that, but do you think that’s enough to break our dependence on Middle Eastern oil? I don’t think so.”

Well, Obama didn’t say we could break our dependence if we inflated our tires; he said we could save money and improve fuel efficiency. It won’t “break our dependence on Middle Eastern oil” if we open up more of America’s coastlines to oil drilling, either, but it’s suddenly become the basis for McCain’s entire energy policy.

But it seems Republicans really are worked up about this tire thing. Here’s Newt Gingrich on Fox News this afternoon.

“[Obama] has a position that’s frankly ludicrous,” Gingrich said. “We saw him yesterday. He suggested if we all inflated our tires, that we would solve the problem. Think about it. You ought to take that clip. I think that clip is far more devastating than today because it’s loony toons. What is he thinking?”

While Gingrich ranted, you could hear one of the Fox News personalities laughing a bit, as if the notion of routine auto maintenance, as a method of improving energy efficiency, was necessarily hilarious.

I feel like I’m missing something here.

Ben at TP set the record straight.

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.

Doesn’t Gingrich fancy himself something of a policy intellectual? Why on earth would he go on national television to denounce common sense as “loony tunes”?

I’m sure there are some grown-up Republicans left. If they wanted to step up and help their party appear less ridiculous, I’m sure the nation would be awfully grateful right about now.

Comments

  • Mimikatz

    says:

    Two words: Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter in a sweater, in fact. What Obama is suggesting is kind of a girly thing, while real manly men drill, drill, drill. Get it?

    It has nothing to do with what will actually save people money on gas, which is of no concern to the GOPers, who,. after all, want the oil companies to prosper. It is just more of the ridiculing, feminizing GOP lizard brain sh*t.

  • Roddy McCorley

    says:

    Boy, what won’t that Obama guy say??? Next thing you know, he’ll be claiming he invented one of the internets!

  • Patrick

    says:

    I’ve been wondering what the Mount Vesuvius Of Ideas has been up to. He must have had to have thought real hard to come up with this zinger. What an intellectual giant. Hopefully some of his own lava falls on his head.

  • SteveA

    says:

    Barack, how about going one better and figure out how much fuel we would save if everyone drove at the posted speed limit.

  • FreeProton

    says:

    Roddy at #3: that’s it exactly, though! This unfortunately is one of those Achilles’ heel quotes that can be divorced from reality and repeated over and over and over, a la Gore’s “internet invention” thing. “Obama claims that he can end our dependence on foreign oil by keeping Americans’ tires inflated. John McCain thinks that it will take more than that. Who will you vote for?”

    I can hear it now. I sincerely hope that Obama’s “change” includes not succumbing to bullshit of this sort.

  • Racer X

    says:

    …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…

    There you go again, using facts to try to rebut an argument which doesn’t make sense to begin with. Silly Democrats.

    Media people? If you’re out there… this would be a good time to let the viewers know what the facts are. Or, just keep talking about McCain’s latest video hissyfit.

  • Racer X

    says:

    Gingrich: “We saw him yesterday. He suggested if we all inflated our tires, that we would solve the problem.

    And of course, that would be Newt telling another lie. Did Obama say it would “solve the problem”? No.

    Fortunately, I doubt if anyone on the fence will believe Newt’s latest whopper, even if plays great in the Fox bubble.

  • Racer X

    says:

    Why on earth would [Gingrich] go on national television to denounce common sense as “loony tunes”?

    Because that’s what the right wing media pays its whores to do?

  • DrDave

    says:

    I received a solicitation call from Gingrich’s PAC today. After they played the recorded message, I talked to some hack named Jim. After 5 minutes of conversation with him, I can assure you that yes, they are as stupid as they seem.

  • SF

    says:

    This is just further proof of what SB wrote, re: McC’s “pinata” approach to attack politics. McC’s mockery, and Fox News/Gingrich me too echoes, are proof positive of how desperate and bankrupt their campaign is. O comes across as in touch with real life Americans, aware, smart, a practical problem solver, a good householder, somebody who pays the bills and minds the budget. Save gas, even a little? A good, citizen-centered idea. Meanwhile, there are big policy things to do, which he is also talking about — i.e., alternative energy sources. Let the neo cons rave: every syllable shows how elitist they are (when, for example, was the last time McC or any of them even thought about car maintenance or paid bills themselves?) etc.

    Note: there’s a lot of what psych profs used to call “transference” among neo cons, accusing the other side of doing what they do. The contradictions and obvious self delusions should be noted more often, in the MSM of course, but since it seems incapable, here.

  • cnmne

    says:

    Slowing down from 75 to 60mph will improve fuel economy by 25% (or more). No drilling, no new technology, and we could do it tomorrow. Of course, no politician is going to suggest such a thing. Everyone hated the 55mph speed limit. So, common sense doesn’t always win the day.

  • Michigoose

    says:

    Somebody on NPR, I think on Talk of the Nation, was discussing this today, so maybe the MSM will pick it up as a “Actually, he’s right about this” type of story.

    Nah, never happen. . .

  • Racer X

    says:

    I think they should mandate 2 things on all new cars: An MPG gauge (which would be required to be accurate), and a tire pressure readout (not just an idiot light).

    Those two things would save ten times what McCain wants to get from drilling. And of course they 1) pay for themselves very quickly, and 2) reduce carbon emissions.

  • Capt Kirk

    says:

    What kind of an idiot doesn’t keep his tires properly inflated and check them regularly?

    An elitist Republican idiot who probably also drives 2 of the biggest SUVs imaginable everywhere he goes.

    Newt Gingrich?

    Right!

  • Capt Kirk

    says:

    Democrat: If we just slowed to to the speed limit we’d save 25% or more.

    Republican: Obey the law? You gotta be kidding! That’s for celebrity sissies like Obama! I say we put America over the barrel and DRILL DRILL DRILL!!!

    Against a platform this strong, what are Democrats to do?

  • PQuincy

    says:

    RacerX is right…this is utterly consistent (both McSame’s and the echo chambers’ reactions). Their campaign is not making mistakes, or excluding context, or quoting selectively: they do do all those things, of course, and they will continue to, but what we are seeing is the post-Rove standard Republican approach: ignore what your opponent actually says, while loudly and sneeringly attacking something quite different that is vaguely connected with what s/he said. These attacks — coming one after another — are clearly and obviously based on outright lies (like Gingrich’s comment, which attributes to Obama something he didn’t say), of course, but that’s irrelevant to their strategy.

    To respond with facts, with “that’s not true”, or even more ineffectively, “that’s not what I said”, is simply to fall into their discourse: they’ve set the agenda, and laid out the field.

    Obama’s been right, therefore, to ignore the details of the smear ads, and to pivot the issue to “why doesn’t McCain have anything to say about himself”. This must be done constantly, and energetically in all public venues. Paying attention to the content and substance of pretty much anything coming from the Republican campaign — which in my mind includes pretty much everything from ‘conservative’ columnists like Brooks and Kristol right through to Limbaugh, Drudge and all the rest, not to mention Dana Perino, the RNC, and the McCain campaign itself — is not just futile but actively counterproductive. (I’ve blogged on Brook’s approach over at TPMCafé, but I’m sure nothing I’m saying is original). It is probably valuable to have the media — especially the non-national media — point out the sleaziness of it, but that’s secondary. (In this sense, the blogs are a good place to dissect the sheer mendacity of it all, because the media has learned to look in the blogsphere for quick analysis and pointing out of howlers, so don’t stop doing it here.)

    But in public, everyone supporting Obama should respond to invitations to ‘respond’ or ‘analyze’ the content of Republican smears in one way: “Why doesn’t McCain have anything to say about himself, today? Why is he only talking nonsense about his opponent? Why is McCain playing only attacks? Why don’t Republicans tell us about McCain?”…that’s the refrain, and we have (sadly) to be just as monomaniacal about it as the right-wing noise machine.

  • joey

    says:

    Gingrich really thought he was getting one in there…which turns out to be “Hey stupid…you wanna start eating your words now or later. Look who’s laughing now. Too much viagra makes you stupid…just look at Rush.

  • majun

    says:

    The problem is that Republicans are genetically predisposed to reject any human behaviour that is not greedy and self-centered at its heart.

    Remember Cheney’s comment about conservation, “Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy.” There you have it, conservation is sissy stuff and real men drill.

  • tomj

    says:

    I posted this at matt yglesias yesterday, I never imagined that McCain would repeat his comment, but he did soften it a bit from yesterday. Yesterday he suggested that properly inflated tires was a stupid idea….

    Energy efficiency is something that would help the individual instantly, but it wouldn’t necessarily reduce world consumption.

    Today, McCain blasted Obama for suggesting that consumers make sure their tires are correctly inflated. Imagine that. This is one of the easiest ways to raise gas mileage of any automobile. But for those interested in more info:

    http://www.fueleconomy.gov/FEG/drive.shtml

    It is politically dumb to point out that anyone could reduce their own energy costs today, without waiting for Congress, Obama or McCain. But when the gas tax is 18 cents, you only need to get about 5% efficiency to save that.

    Every psi of underinflation costs you .4% efficiency. A clogged air filter could cost you 10%!

    …..Anyway this is a self help issue, and Obama could tie this into his campaign message, but he has a blind spot by not pointing out how simple things could save as much or more in fuel costs.

  • thorin-1

    says:

    Here’s an interesting thought. Every MSN outlet has been running a least two stories a day for the last 3 months on ‘how to save money at the pump’ and proper tire presure has been #1 on EVERY reporters lips.

    How much do you want to bet a lot of MSN reporters (the people who actually literally did these stories) are suddenly going to forget about them and start parrotting the new RNC line that checking tire pressure is bad.

  • libra

    says:

    conservation is sissy stuff and real men drill. — majun, @22

    Well… a drill is a phallic symbol, just like a gun. You get to McCain’s age, you need every bit of image help you can get…

    (yeah, yeah, doubtful; it’s “blue” Friday again. Personally, I much prefer it to Kevin Drum’s Friday cat blogging. So there!)

  • Glen

    says:

    It’s all about your money.

    Republicans are all about helping big oil make MAXIMUM profits.

    Republicans are all about screwing the MAXIMUM amount of money OUT of the middle class.

  • Galen West

    says:

    c’mon, you all can’t really be surprised. if Hussein X isn’t advocating drilling off the coast, then it won’t help at all. and besides, airing up your tires is an elitist, tree-hugger thing to do.

  • Bruno

    says:

    Someone should make a website, with a calculator on it so people can figure out ‘how’ much money you can save by doing all the steps Obama (and common sense) can save you:

    tire pressure
    tune up
    air filter
    closing your windows
    taking the roof rack off, if you’re not using it
    obeying the speed limit.

    I bet it would add up to quite a bit of savings

    I also like the idea one of the posters mentioned:

    MPG read out, as well as a tire pressure read out. making them dummy proof with pretty colors. Red for better stop now to green for you’re doing great.

    The republicans will remember that one, especially if you coordinate the colors with the terror alert system.

  • Fred Pachinko

    says:

    In the early 70’s some bean counters that were going after “Consolidated Freightways” the biggest trucking company in US at the time as a client. They suggested the company could save 100,000 dollars a year by making sure tire pressure was checked all the time and filled to max. The company did and saved over a $1,000,000 the first year. These were like 1970 dollars and gas was maybe 35 cents a gallon.

  • slappy magoo

    says:

    personally, I’d love to hear the condescending Obama say “funny, *I* don’t recall saying properly inflated tire would solve all our gas problems. I remember saying it would *help.* And it *would.* You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think Newt & John McCain are distorting things I actually said to make me look bad. I believe that’s called “gop politics as usual.” To that end, I want to thank SENATOR McCain for making so many ridiculous statements, I don’t have to risk distorting what HE says to make him look bad.”

    then, Obama should start listing them, and only stop when he exhausts himself.

    but ultimately, does it matter? As I keep saying, the GOP isn’t out for a knockout punch. It’s the kitchen sink strategy: throw out 1000 accusations – distortions, rumors, lies whatever. No one will believe ALL of them. But if enough people believe at least ONE of them, plant seeds of doubt, just enough, they don’t even have to vote for McCain, they just have to stay home on ELection Day, & McCain just might squeak through. And with these GOP jackasses, a squeaker’s as good as a mandate.

  • The Answer is Orange

    says:

    I say if Mr. Gingrich wants to drive around on with his tires fapping, that’s his affair.

    Of course anyone who knows jack shit about cars (and this includes people who make up the GOP base) now thinks he’s another East coast egghead. Well played sir.

  • Franklin

    says:

    Someone needs this information in a major newspaper. And Obama needs to keep repeating it.

    A lot of independents are still making up their minds, and are very reasonable people. Show them the evidence and they will come.

  • Bruno

    says:

    Franklin said:…A lot of independents are still making up their minds, and are very reasonable people. Show them the evidence and they will come.

    The reasonable independents have already made up their mind and know Obama is the best choice.

    The so called undecided voters>/b> who claim to be independent should not be allowed to vote, because they don’t have enough intellect to make that decision. They’re merely former Republicans who are ashamed to admit they voted for Bush, twice.

    I’ll be more than happy if those independents stay home because they are frustrated with McCain.

  • SDnavyPRIDE

    says:

    If I remember a more complete context of Obama’s “Inflate your tires” comment:
    His point was that keeping the tires properly inflated (which many of us don’t) will save you just as much money_a few cents per gallon_as opening up new offshore drilling sites. This is savings you can have tomorrow without having to wait for oil companies’ infrastructure. I would also throw in that by not flooring the accelerator every chance you get, will also save you an even larger percentage. Keeping highway speeds around 60 is a law that people have talked about.

  • mim

    says:

    >This unfortunately is one of those Achilles’ heel quotes that can be divorced from reality and repeated over and over and over, a la Gore’s “internet invention” thing. “Obama claims that he can end our dependence on foreign oil by keeping Americans’ tires inflated. John McCain thinks that it will take more than that. Who will you vote for?”

    This is exactly what I think will happen, FreeProton. As for context, who needs context?

    Brace yourselves for worse. Media Matters reports that two slander books are coming out on Obama.

    “Note: there’s a lot of what psych profs used to call “transference” among neo cons, accusing the other side of doing what they do.”

    That’s projection, SF. Transference is how you feel about your therapist based on how you felt about other important people in your life.

    And the king of all projection talking points is “they’ll say anything to get elected.”

  • toowearyforoutrage

    says:

    Dang, Newt.
    Just when McCain puts the “maverick” label up for grabs, you decide to line up for big oil’s bloated teat too, huh?

    The GOP is truly running on fumes. They don’t even pretend to have any independent minds of their own anymore, do they? Who’s their idea guy? Their out-of-the-box visionary?

    Jindal? Could be, but maybe exorcism as health care is a little too far ahead of its time. Amazing how fast a house of cards can be blown down.