The latest conservative lie -- regarding Sen. Barack Obama and fuel efficiency -- actually has a great amount of truth to it.
On Thursday, conservative radio host Sean Hannity claimed Obama said, "All you need to do is inflate your tires. That's all you need to do. If every American would join in this effort, of inflating one's tires, then it's all going to be fine. And we can still import 70% of our oil from Saudi Arabia. Just keep those tires inflated."
Conservatives -- lovers of childish mockery over substantive ideas -- later today are apparently planning to distribute tire gauges at an Obama energy event.
And earlier today on MSNBC's Morning Joe, conservative hack economist (who does not hold an economics degree) Larry Kudlow, a very loud advocate of coastal drilling, said of Obama's comments about tires, "That's not really much of a policy."
No, it's not. That was Obama's point.
Obama's actual comment last week was:
...we could save all the oil they're talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires, and getting regular tune-ups. You could actually save just as much.
He was decidedly not saying "all you need to do" is inflate your ties, or "my entire energy policy" is inflating your tires.
(Obama has a much larger energy plan -- articulated in a sweeping speech today -- centered on investment in renewable energy and fuel efficiency technology. Similarly, it would not be fair to say Sen. John McCain's "entire" energy policy is coastal drilling, when he is also advocating loosening regulations on nuclear power and a contest to promote battery technology.)
Obama was observing that coastal drilling would save us so little oil and so little money even twenty years from now, that you can actually save more money immediately by doing "simple things" such as keeping your tires properly inflated.
Where did he get that crazy idea? From George Bush's Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency. (hat tip: Get Energy Smart! Now!)
Their joint site fueleconomy.gov is loaded with fuel-saving, money-saving tips. Keep your tires properly inflated, for example, and you can save up to 12 cents a gallon.
Compare that immediate savings from that single tip, with what coastal and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling combined would get you two decades from now: 6 cents a gallon.
And that's being generous, because Bush's Energy Department says we can't expect any impact on prices from coastal drilling until the year 2030.
In their knee-jerk mockery, conservatives are flying closer to the truth then they intend to.
Inflating your ties does not amount to an energy policy. It's just more of a policy than coastal drilling, since unlike drilling for a tiny amount of oil, it would at least save us some money now.
A real energy policy would provide us consumers with a energy choice besides buying huge amounts of increasingly expensive oil. Maybe if conservative Senators stopped filibustering every proposal that would help provide such choices, and force their Big Oil donors to face some competition, we could get somewhere.
Check out Campaign for America's Future Making Sense alerts on coastal drilling and gas prices for more.
Follow Bill Scher on Twitter: www.twitter.com/billscher
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The only proven way to meet our needs and reduce oil imports in 10 years is to increase production
OK, so inflate your tires. I do and so does anyone with any sense. It's a very small piece of a large puzzle and sure did make the "saint" look stupid (which seems to be occuring more and more these days).
Two -- how is this supplying immediate and future needs? (there is a backlog on obtaining the equipment to drill)
Three -- subsequent
Four -- why aren't oil companies drilling where they already have leases?
Five -- why did Republican
You are the one who is wrong.
Let's see . . .
(1) There are huge fields offshore . . . I have seen the work-ups . . . These fields far exceed MMS estimates (primarily since they don't use geophysica
(2) What backlog on equipment are you talking about? We aren't drilling. It isn't like the industry is pressed to the limits on capacity. Most of these fields, where the exploratio
(3) Added supply ALWAYS brings oil prices down . . . it is like arguing against gravity
(4) Oil companies do drill where they have leases . . . but they don't always lease where the oil is . . . frequently we lease "off-struc
(5) Leases are contracts . . . many leases have drill or lose provisions . . . others have delay rental clauses . . . The terms were "governmen
Use care when using "talkin points".
Americans can STOP DRIVING and they will not come close to solving the worlds "carbon problem" because so many millions of drviers are coming on-line around the globe.
Not to mention the fact that it's the heating and cooling of our homes and offices that really suck up the energy.
Not to mention the fact that carbon has nothing to do with global warming...
Look, the question posed to Obama by one individual
The issue is that a properly inflated tire does help with gas mileage. at the high end it can increase fuel efficiency by around 3.3% at the low end it appears to fall between 1.5% and 2%---So once calculated
We need nuclear power plants, we need coastal drilling, we need Alaska drilling we need our own shale. we need solar. we need hydro. we need wind. We need to abandon the false religion of "carbon creates global warming"..
An they are evil as we all know from reading blogs here.
Have you ever seen the tire shreds on the freeway? Those are over inflated tires. The pressure rises with heat from the air and heat from running them on the roads . . . then boom.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away.