McCain Concedes: Tire Gauges Work

After days of mocking Barack Obama for promoting tire efficiency, John McCain admits that it's not a bad idea:

Republican John McCain appeared to back down on Tuesday in his dispute with his opponent Barack Obama over tire pressure. ...

The surprise came during a telephone town hall meeting McCain held on Tuesday with voters in Pennsylvania.

"Obama said a couple of days ago says we all should inflate our tires. I don't disagree with that. The American Automobile Association strongly recommends it," McCain said.

But he kept up his broad criticism of Obama on energy: "I ... don't think that that (inflating tires) is a way to become energy independent."

Obama poked fun at McCain over the admission Wednesday:

"It will be interesting to watch this debate between John McCain and John McCain," Obama said as he campaigned in Indiana with Sen. Evan Bayh, widely considered a top-tier candidate for running mate.

Comments

[Gma11]

Poor McGrump - he's looking more and more like the Grinch.

[rollingdivision]

Properly inflating tires can improve gas mileage 3%. Of course, many people already keep tires properly inflated, and many more are at least close to being properly inflated. Let's be generous and assume that one-half of the total possible savings would be realized if we all inflated our tires properly; that's a net gain of 1.5% fuel efficiency.

Americans drive approximately 2,880 billion miles per year. If we average 24 mpg, we use around 120 billion gallons of gasoline in our vehicles. If, through perfect tire inflation, we improved our collective fuel efficiency by 1.5%, that would be 1.8 billion gallons. A barrel of oil produces around 20 gallons of gasoline, so the total savings available through tire inflation is approximately 90,000,000 barrels of oil annually.

How does this stack up against "all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling?"

ANWR: 10 billion barrels
Outer Continental Shelf: 18 billion barrels (estimated; the actual total is undoubtedly much higher, since exploration has been banned)
Oil shale: 1 trillion barrels

So, on the above assumptions, it would take only 11,308 years of proper tire inflation to equal "all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling."

Obama is a curious case. He gives the impression of being an intelligent guy, but through his unscripted comments we have learned that he knows little about history, science or mathematics. He also seems rather shockingly short on common sense, as this most recent gaffe illustrates.

[KBAR]

Information overload for DimLibs!!

Please keep comments to one or, at the most, two syllable words.

[BannedFromCommenting]

KBAR, just go back to your Faux News where you will feel nice and safe under your big rose colored glasses and wool blanket...

[PoliJunkie]

What gaffe? The one where he said: "Do these people take pride in being ignorant." That's sounds like a lot of common sense to me and many others I'm sure.

[LiberTLover]

Note Lieberman's comment 2nd paragraph.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that drivers can improve gas mileage by as much as 3.3 percent by keeping car tires property inflated. The agency also says the impact would be immediate, resulting in savings of as much as 12 cents per gallon. New oil drilling could also lower gas prices, but the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts it would take seven to 10 years to get new oil out of the ground.

Other voices supporting Obama:

-- Sen. Joe Lieberman, independen­t-Connecti­cut, who in 2001 argued against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, saying that "increasing the fuel efficiency of replacement tires for our cars to the same level as those sold on new automobiles will save drivers $90 in fuel costs over the lifetime of the tires and will save the U.S. more than 70 times the amount of oil we might find in the refuge.'"

-- Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who made a public appeal to state residents to take steps to keep engines tuned and tires properly inflated to maximize energy efficiency. "We all do have the power. Let's not wait for government," Schwarzenegger said. "Energy prices are not going back to the good old days."

[rollingdivision]

I'll do my own math and logic and not depend on politicians. Just because you have found quotes from politicians with no or incorrect information doesn't make what the one said true. Review my math, show me where I'm wrong.

[robizio]

Where'd you get your numbers? Because Obama got his from the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.

DoE : Oil drilling won't help prices until 2030, and will only decrease prices by 6 cents per gallon.
EPA: If every American kept their tires filled today, they'd save the equivalent of 12 cents per gallon.

So, to make it simple for you:

12 >6.
Now is sooner than 2030.

[rollingdivision]

22 years before additional oil in the market will have any effect, rofl. But that has nothing to do with the one's wildly incorrect claims. BTW please post a link to that information from DOE I'd love to see it.

[Grunty1]

" Of course, many people already keep tires properly inflated"

Many do, but many DO NOT. When I'm stopped at lights on the way to work, I see cars with tires that appear to be on the verge of collapse on a DAILY BASIS.

"So, on the above assumptions, it would take only 11,308 years of proper tire inflation to equal "all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling."­"

Wrong. As usual.

[JohnIII]

So how is tire pressure enforced? Check-points? Tickets?

What a racket this could be.

[NYC07]

No one is trying to enforce anything, this is a just a suggestion that any smart American should do to get an immediate increase in gas milage. Stop the whining and BS.

[Wilburrr]

I think we need to have UN inspectors checking pressure in sovereign countries. When they find insufficient tire pressure? BAM... unilateral shock and awe. No need for group consensus on this one... we just need to invade when we don't find anything..­..

[SENCvoter]

This goes to show that you are rather naive. The initiative to conserve should come from citizens themselves. Be responsible. Be respectful. These are not legal mandates, but we all do it because it does good.

[okayigive]

Checking your tire pressure is a personal choice/rec­ommendatio­n, just as all other services for the maintenance of your vehicle, not a mandate. If you knew the original question to the response then maybe you would have a better understanding of the answer. I'm not sure of the wording, but I think the question was "what could I/we do right now to cut the cost of gas? or "what could be done now to help with the cost of gas?"

[ljwaldron]

Is this why NASCAR also backs it, it just a racket?

It's personal responsibility for the greater good. If you like paying as much as possible to operate a vehicle, then don't do it. If you want to get the most of your hard earned dollar; then maintain your vehicle; including tire pressure. This advice goes back decades.

Simple...

[JohnIII]

Who doesn't inflate their tires? Is this some huge crisis that I wasn't aware of?
And who is Obama to suggest such a thing? Does he inflate his tires on a regular basis?
What about that big jumbo jet he is flying around in? I guess that's the model of efficiency.

[Le nombril]

This year's campaign will probably go down as the most juvenile presidential campaign in history.

[ThunderclapNewman]

Judging by the petty adolescent insults thrown out by McMaverick, you may be right.

[BannedFromCommenting]

And that would be whose fault?? Clearly not Obama's.

[wrathofcon]

You lefties just don't get it!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!! If a politician has to tell you to keep your tires inflated properly, YOU ARE STUPID!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!

[LiberTLover]

Excuse me, but it is the defacto leaders of the "righties" who were saying that it was such a ridiculous idea. Try 'hooked on phonics' for that reading problem of yours.

[wrathofcon]

Who doesnt know to keep your tires properly inflated, it is common sense.
Do the schools teach drivers any more?
Trust me people who live rural in areas who have a long commute to work like me, people who drive for a living, know to check their tires air press.
Maybe it is you soft little lambs who live in the city that have to be told these common sense practices

[Wilburrr]

...being able to pronounce the words is different from the ability to comprehend them.

[kdublya]

And if you choose not listen, hey it's your money...

[Eoin45]

Excuse me but Hannity and Limbaugh were all over the airwaves calling it a stupid idea, when in fact Bush's own energy department and Nascar among others have endorsed the idea saying it would save 800,000 barrrels of oil a year. So just exactly who is stupid here?

[GoGreen]

Said the individual waiting for M c C a i n to tell him which shoe goes on which foot.

[suzyhein]

he keeps flip-flopping on that question.

[xmw]

And if you righties and indys elect a republican after the mess they have put us in ove r the last eight then that makes you stupid-er!!!

[WFV]

After the Sturgis-he­y-here's-m­y-wife stunt, tire gauges look pretty good to me.

[ljwaldron]

Agreed.

[Phil123]

The article completely mischaracterizes what Obama said and what McCain said.

McCain said that having correct tire pressure gives you better mileage. That's true, and we all know this. No news here.

Obama said that inflating your tires would conserve the same amount of fuel that we could expect to get from domestic drilling. That was, and is absurd. And Obama has since flipped his position on this in response to a crisis: his poll numbers dropped 7 points since his idiotic "let 'em eat cake" remark about inflating tires.

[soithoni]

OK. good. We've got that tire-guage thing down, that's real good. Tying your own shoes, now this! It's really encouraging the progress you've made.

Before we move on, do you want to tell us the truth about off-shore drilling, or haven't you seen the light on that yet? Can you see that you're absolutely wrong on *that* too?

[tommyG65]

He's the original maverick
Not really

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHN9bLCgF7k

[Wilburrr]

I'm not sure, but I think Maverick might have been the original Maverick. Am I wrong on this? Anyone??

[PatrickforO]

M is making a fundamental mistake. He thinks he can campaign like in the old days - take a sound bite and make a slogan out of it. Unfortunately for him, the American people seem much more into serious debate on issues than they have in decades. Hey, maybe tire pressure is just a small part of a bigger picture, you think?

[olivia]

If someone takes a quote out of context like this it gets pointed out pretty quickly in the blogosphere. It doesn't work.

All Obama would have to do is run an ad with the full question and answer and everyone can see what really happened.

McCain is out of ideas. Karl Rove's formula doesn't work anymore. He cannot just tell the truth because the truth would sink him. Now what?

Lately he is not acting like he plans to win at all. He's behaving like an idiot, and an old one at that.

[pupbayer]

So far it seems to be working...­they are virtually tied in the polls which should not be the case. O should be killing him. If O wouldn't say dumb things like inflating tires would save as much as we could drill offshore, M couldn't use it. It seems to me M had tried to get O to debate or meet together at town meetings but O can't fit it in. It will be very interesting to see what happens when a debate does actually happen. It's not O's forte but M is pretty bad at it, too.

[LiberTLover]

Ths so called dumb thing he said was correct according to the Department of Energy

The facts: The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that drivers can improve gas mileage by as much as 3.3 percent by keeping car tires property inflated. The agency also says the impact would be immediate, resulting in savings of as much as 12 cents per gallon. New oil drilling could also lower gas prices, but the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts it would take seven to 10 years to get new oil out of the ground.
Other voices supporting Obama:

-- Sen. Joe Lieberman, independen­t-Connecti­cut, who in 2001 argued against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, saying that "increasing the fuel efficiency of replacement tires for our cars to the same level as those sold on new automobiles will save drivers $90 in fuel costs over the lifetime of the tires and will save the U.S. more than 70 times the amount of oil we might find in the refuge.'"

-- Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who made a public appeal to state residents to take steps to keep engines tuned and tires properly inflated to maximize energy efficiency. "We all do have the power. Let's not wait for government," Schwarzenegger said. "Energy prices are not going back to the good old days."

[bosshogg]

but if obama was k i l l i n g mcsame in polls we would be deprived of your wisdom....­..........­..........­....

[Adjuster]

What do you mean, "O should be killing him"? O is an unknown black, junior senator who is running against a white, "war hero" vet, with "26 years experience", who had a previous serious run for president, has a private fortune and has been the celebrity-­politicain­, media darling! And you think O should be killing M? This should have been a cake-walk for Johnny.

When O wins against those odds, the pundents will wonder if he really is the one.

[Oldbuck]

As I have repeated before John McCain is the only man on earth who can make George W. Bush seem of average intelligence and this is the best that the Republican has to offer. I sorry but this guy as we say in the west has not got enough scenes to pour _____ out of a boot.

[uvymopkq]

Once again Obama's ideas will save the world. What next? new air filters!

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Such a bunch of... HOT AIR.

How about buying a turbo-4 instead of a V-6?
How about linking errands?

The list of ways the US could EASILY cut 10-20% is endless.

But I will say this for proper tire inflation (and tune-ups, and fresh plugs, and a clean air filter, and some Techron fuel injector cleaner) -- it will do more for gas prices within the next 10 years than explotory offshore drilling.

[MourningDude]

And what happens when someone driving a 1976 Dodge Dart that can only pass emissions by bribing the undocumented mechanic in the barrio can't afford to buy a new turbocharged car?

Is BHO going to pay for it?

Perhaps we should use the same model enviromentalists have used for power plants the last 30 years. If a car pollutes, you can't build it. It doesn't matter whether it pollutes LESS than car it would replace that's already on the road, we simply can't afford to build new cars that pollute the atmosphere. So them everyone eventually ends up driving Dodge Darts and bribing their undocumented mechanics.

Lib-Lunacy

[k6007]

....and what's going to happen when Columbus sails off the edge of the earth?

...and, how are the wright bros EVER going to get that thing off the ground?

.......and­, these two cups connected by string a complete waste of time!

........Th­e moon!?!?? Are you INSANE!?!

Seek knowledge.­.....(hint­. They hide it in BOOKS!)

[kdublya]

Holy smokes MourningDude,

You're hell bent on finding out what's in it for you.
No fear. I'm sure the auto industry would be all over providing rebates & incentives to woo customers out of their dilapidated ways.

Jobs + new car + better mileage + tire pressure gauge.

I know. The tire pressure part sounds like more work than complaining.
But if you checked your pressure, you could move onto more important complaints!

[cobobs]

Stay alert, mourningdude. There are great car technologies coming down the pike. These things are both inexpensive and very stingy on hydrocarbon fuels.

You really care about poor people? I am surprised.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

You got a problem with reduced consumption? That should most help the poor, given the price of gas.

Your specious argument raised against tighter air pollution controls on cars is a bit dated.

BTW, my folks OWNED a '74 Dodge Dart. With a V8. But times have changed.

[rocketJsquirrel]

Oh thank God! I knew he was hard at work learning this new fangled technology stuff, but I was very concerned when he didn't even have the basics like tire pressure gauges.

[olivia]

McCain's servants deal with all that car stuff. Cindy can afford the gas so he doesn't care. He sure doesn't care about you and me.

[MourningDude]

Every time BHO invokes the 'moonshot', it makes me shudder. The 'moonshot' was a fine goal at the time. And it was costly, and risky. But at the end of the day, if we had utterly failed and never made it to the moon, we would have been just fine.

On energy policy, we can't afford to fail. We have already seen what high energy prices have done to our economy. We can't put all our eggs into the "research" basket like BHO wants to do. We need to have a safe, effective Plan B based on readily available technologies and energy resources.

BHO apparently doesn't believe this, or doesn't understand that research is never a 'sure thing'. And even when research 'works', it doesn't always work in the way we originally envisioned. A lot of the major technological improvements we got from the 'moonshot' were spin-offs of technology that never could have been planned ahead of time.

Research is fine, but BHO also fails to acknowledge the diminishing returns for throwing more money at it. If you double the funding, you might double the results. But if you increase the funding by 100-fold, you're not going to get 100 times the progress. The best ideas are already getting funded. Almost invariably when people throw MORE MONEY at something, the good proposals run out long before the money does. So you either end up with money going unspent, or it's being wasted on research with questionable merit.

[rocketJsquirrel]

better get used to the commitment to research. the repub alternative of killing arabs and stealing their oil didn't go over too well and we've had to look elsewhere while staggering under this massive debt. I know hard work studying and thinking is foreign to many repubs, but maybe its time you give the smart people a chance. the morons haven't done such a good job with their chance the past 8 years.

[MourningDude]

We have 25% of the world's coal. That alone would be enough to power our country for literally hundreds and hundreds of years. We don't have to kill any arabs to use it. But we might have to bulldoze a few enviro-war­riors...

[theMightyT]

i am amazed that you don't understand that the energy policy is already a failure.

Diversification into renewables isn't putting all of one's eggs into one basket. I am not sure if you're of the impression that immediately following 0bama's inauguration of a sudden oil will stop flowing; because that's not going to happen. His energy plan is a careful and deliberate move away from total dependence on oil for energy; his policy plan outlines steps of 15% of energy delivered from renewables in 4 years and then 25% the next 8 (going from memory). The oil-based system in place isn't going to be trashed - it will still be producing energy.

As to your admonition about research not being a "sure thing" - I don't think I could have picked a better wording to describe a conservative mindset. Research and progress is the only way to move forward.

[MourningDude]

There was a news story today about building the border fence. Apparently when Congress approved it, they granted DHS the authority to suspend numerous legal impediments to building it.

So now it's actually happening in some areas. The flurry of lawsuits still came up, but due to Congressional approval, they can't impede progress.

We need a similar solution on energy. We need to declare our energy as a vital national security issue and suspend whatever lawsuits may be obstructing progress until such a time as we reach a level of acceptable energy independence.

The best part about such a policy is that it doesn't actually cost anything. All you do is stop the obstruction. The BHO plan is all spending money with no guarantee of any results over any sort of definite timeframe.