I’ve got to inflate my tires if I want to save money on gas. How stupid of me to think there was more to it than that. Here I was driving around with only 2 or 3 psi in my tires and of course I was getting terrible mileage. I’m glad we’ve got someone as smart as Barak Hussein Obama to tell us what we’ve all been doing wrong. He says we can save as much gas as all the offshore drilling if we all just inflate our tires.
Cough.. what an idiot. Are you libs still thinking this guy is your savior?
What Obama said was: “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.”
From Time Magazine’s online site:
“The Bush Administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by … about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone did, we could immediately reduce demand several percentage points. In other words: Obama is right. ”
It’s so easy to take something out of context. Reminds me of the “Al Gore said he invented the Internet” distortions that were going around 8 years ago.
Comment by Daryl — Friday August 8, 2008 @ 9:31 pm
Poppycock. For that to be true everyone would have to be driving on under inflated tires and need a tune up immediately. The truth is most people have the correct amount of air in their tires. Most people get their car tuned up when it needs it.
This is just like his not admitting the surge worked. He made a stupid statement and now he can’t back down from it.
The truth is back in the 90’s if we had done the offshore drilling and started building nuclear power plants we wouldn’t be in the energy mess we are now. Let’s see, who was it that vetoed that? Oh yeah, the Democrats savior Bill Clinton.
If we drilled in ANWR and started extracting the oil from the shale in the Rockies we could get oil independent.
We also need to develop alternative sources of energy. Wind, solar, even waves can be harnessed but we need to get through this current mess. The last 20 years of ignoring the problem has made it so much worse than it needed to be.
Every time I hear a Liberal say “it will take 10 years to see any benefit” I want to slug them. Remember it was quite a bit more than 10 years ago Clinton took office. If we had started then we wouldn’t be in this mess. I don’t feel much better about what Bush has done either but at least he now is getting on board.
Comment by Don — Friday August 8, 2008 @ 10:52 pm
Hardly poppycock. Based on statistics from AAA and Yokohama tire company:
“Current statistics indicate that 82 million [US] vehicles have under-inflated tires… tire experts speculate that 2.8 billion gallons of gas is wasted by U.S. drivers each year simply because they’re driving on under-inflated tires.”
We can argue about the exact amount, but clearly there are a lot of under-inflated tires on the road.
But anyway, you’re obviously missing the point of the speech — again taking one statement out of its larger context. Increasing tire pressure isn’t Obama’s whole energy plan. He was raising one example to demonstrate that increasing the domestic supply of oil is not the only way to improve our energy independence, and offshore drilling is almost literally a drop in the bucket. His energy program emphasizes reducing consumption by reducing waste, increasing efficiencies, raising car mileage standards, and many other approaches, as well as increasing domestic production, including, yes, possibly drilling offshore if it can be proven environmentally friendly. Other programs promote coal, nuclear, oil shale, natural gas, etc. etc.
In fact your complaint about decades of inaction almost sounds like it was lifted from Obama’s energy statement, where he says: “For decades, Washington has failed to solve this problem because of partisanship, the undue influence of special interests, and politicians who would rather propose gimmicks to get them through an election instead of long term solutions that will get America closer to energy independence.
Our country cannot afford politics as usual – not at a moment when the energy challenge we face is so great and the consequences of inaction are so dangerous. We must act quickly and we must act boldly to transform our entire economy – from our cars and our fuels to our factories and our buildings.”
Comment by Daryl — Saturday August 9, 2008 @ 11:18 am
Here’s a link from fueleconomy.gov. Obama missed the best way to save fuel. According to this site we could save 10% if everyone just replaced their air filter! WOW! That alone would solve the crisis. Oh wait, we buy about %70 of all the oil we use from outside the US.
We need to do drastic things to get energy dependent. Making sure your tires are inflated to the proper level is just a tiny part of what’s needed. Change your air cleaner at recommended intervals too. All of this is told to us by auto manufacturers when we buy cars. There is nothing new in any of this.
Btw I never suggested Obama was wrong about inflating tires just that it’s silly to think that is the answer to the problem. It’s a tiny, tiny bit of the answer.
Comment by Don — Saturday August 9, 2008 @ 11:50 am
Which is all he has claimed. The sillyness comes from people like Gingrich, Hannity and Colmes, O’Reilly, Limbaugh, etc., who took the comment out of context and made it sound like it was Obama’s whole energy policy.
I don’t agree with everything Obama says or plans. I hardly see him as my “savior”. And McCain has some good ideas and seems like an honest man who would make a fair president, at least a lot better than we have had for 8 years.
But it hardly helps us clarify our understanding of either guy when the pundits (or candidates themselves) purposefully take comments out of context, or twist their meaning, with the only goal being to make the him look bad. It’s almost a little like being dishonest!
Comment by Daryl — Saturday August 9, 2008 @ 12:28 pm
No, the sillyness comes from him suggesting we don’t need to drill if we just inflate our tires.
Quoting Daryl:
“What Obama said was: “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.””
Comment by Don — Saturday August 9, 2008 @ 12:48 pm
Here’s another interesting article about oil and politics.
Comment by Don — Saturday August 9, 2008 @ 1:22 pm
Since the 1970’s oil crisis, Denmark has become totally energy independent, through such measures as tax incentives to develop alternative energy sources and energy efficiency standards. Gasoline there costs about $10/gallon. OK, they found some oil in the North Sea that helped a little, but that’s only a small part of their solution.
The Prime Minister recently said: “I have observed that in all other countries, including in America, people are complaining about how prices of [gasoline] are going up. The cure is not to reduce the price, but, on the contrary, to raise it even higher to break our addiction to oil.”
I think that’s the right attitude. The high price of oil is causing a lot of disruptions in the economy, but these disruptions are inevitable eventually as there is a limited amount of oil in the world, and even fewer reserves in the US. Better now than in 10 years when we are even more dependent on foreign oil. At these prices, alternatives become more cost effective. We’re still paying only about half of what they pay in most European countries for gasoline, anyway.
Raise the price, add taxes, and use the revenue to subsidize alternative energy development, and more fuel efficient cars.
Comment by Daryl — Sunday August 10, 2008 @ 11:35 am
It’s extremely easy to say “raise it higher to break our addiction to oil” when you’re a multi-millionaire. If you’re making minimum wage then all your income will go to buying gas. The alternative of course is another ideal that Obama and the libs support, income redistribution. The other word for that is Socialism.
Comment by Don — Sunday August 10, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
Btw, more taxes seems to be every Liberals answer. That wasn’t what our Founding Fathers had in mind when they went to war with England.
Comment by Don — Sunday August 10, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
THIS SHOULD BE POSTED ON HEAD LINES OF EVERY NEWS REPORT ON TV, NEWSPAPER & BOOKS
The American energy policy:
ANWR Exploration
House Republicans:91%Supported
House Democrats: 86% Opposed
Coal-to-Liquid
House Republicans: 97% Supported
House Democrats: 78% Opposed
Oil Shale Exploration
House Republicans: 90% Supported
House Democrats: 86% Opposed
Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Exploration
House Republicans: 81% Supported
House Democrats: 83% Opposed
Refinery Increased Capacity
House Republicans: 97% Supported
House Democrats: 96% Opposed
SUMMARY
91% of House Republicans have historically voted to increase the
production of American-made oil and gas.
86% of House Democrats have historically voted against increasing the
production of American-made oil and gas.
How much did you pay for gas TODAY??
Why are you blaming President Bush??
Comment by Heather — Wednesday August 13, 2008 @ 8:38 pm
I agree with you Heather.
Comment by Don — Friday August 15, 2008 @ 10:59 pm