High gas prices are not Bush's fault!

[Bullshot]

WJR in Detroit, which has become another bastion for right-wing talk, had host John McCullough (sp?) talking to some "expert" on gas prices and they were making sport of politicians and voters who are blaming the Bush Administration for today's high fuel prices.

Didn't the Bush Administration lie us into this Iraq war which has created much of the tension in the world oil markets that have been responsible for the soaring energy prices?

Isn't the Bush Administration also doing a lot of saber-rattling against Venezuelan President Chavez, the leader of another major oil producing country?

Aren't the lax policies of this administration part of the reason why companies aren't compelled to properly maintain their pipelines and other assets?

Today's AM talk radio. CYA time for Bush 24/7!

[ixion]

1. yes, and repukes called gas prices under Clinton 'unacceptable'

and blamed him for the staggering 1.30 a gallon.

$1.30 a gallon.

That's ancient history now, thanks to BushCo.

[leftofthedial]

10. what they meant by that was that they were too low

[beyurslf]

2. Gas prices were around 1.25 or so before he took office. And he blamed

Gore for not tapping the strategic reserve when prices hit 1.50. Now that they are double and his cromies are raking in the profits, we're supposed to blame someone else. Nuts! Revisionist history indeed.

[3waygeek]

6. There was a Dem running for

Congress who had a brilliant campaign strategy -- a couple weeks ago, he sponsored a promotion at a local gas station. They were selling gas at the November 2000 price -- $1.22 per gallon.

[whistle]

3. Right, but high crude oil prices are most definitely Bush's fault

...as his invasion and occupation of Iraq has kept a lid on oil supplies.

[primative1]

4. Who Made China a PowerHouse ...

I dont know if it was Bush personaly but it was the GOP that got China rolling and like the giant snowball streaking down the hill they are sucking up more and more energy.
Next years china growth estimate now revised downward to ONLY 10%.
Whos bright idea was this again, factory of the world?
Might be someone starts to look into theose human rights violations that BushCo is so keen on trumpeting everywhere else.

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. It's on his watch. End of story, just like they blame Dems for everything

regardless of circumstances.

[cliss]

7. Well, you beat me to it.

There is no doubt, Bush WILL get the blame for it, regardless of the cause. I believe it's multiple causes.

But in the public's mind, it's simple.

= BUSH IS TO BLAME.

The polls show it. Every time gas prices go up, his ratings in the polls go down.

[TheCowsCameHome]

8. I guess that's a silver lining, isn't it?

[teach1st]

9. American Petrocracy

http://www.amconmag.com/2006/2006_07_17/cover.html">American Petrocracy
The American Conservative, 7/17/06, by Kevin Phillips

The administration’s hope that a quick and overwhelming victory in Iraq would unleash enough new oil production to flood the markets and undercut OPEC, however absurd in retrospect, tantalized traders during the invasion weeks. On March 21, 2003, the Financial Times noted, “futures prices suggest that when it is over, OPEC will shower the world with crude and the price will fall out of its $22-28 band late next year.”

Instead, occupied Iraq turned into a quicksand of guerrilla and sectarian rivalry. Insurgents attacked and disrupted pipelines and refineries, and truck drivers refused to transport oil from the north. During the winter of 2005-2006, Iraqi production dropped as low as 1.1 million barrels a day, and covering this production gap took almost all of OPEC’s spare capacity and forced prices higher. Dalton Garis, an economist at the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, told the Associated Press in April 2006, “Iraq could be making a tremendous difference.” Instead, its shortfall is “a significant contributing factor to the high price of oil.”

American economists Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, in a draft paper entitled “The Economic Costs of the Iraq War: An Appraisal Three Years After the Beginning of the Conflict,” reached a similar but much more detailed and buttressed conclusion. Publicly, Stiglitz and Bilmes attribute $5-10 of the increased per barrel cost of oil to the mess in Iraq, but their private view seems to be that a very large portion of the now $45-per-barrel oil-price increase is attributable to Iraq.

[GOPBasher]

11. They're a little Bush's fault, but peak oil really is not his fault.

The high prices are just a little bit to blame on Bush and the Repubs, for those reasons you mentioned. And it's his and the GOP's fault we don't conserve more or have better efficiency standards. I'll also blame him and the Republicans for our lack of research into alternatives. However, I hate to say this, but peak oil was coming no matter who was going to be in the white house. If Al Gore was president right now, we'd still have very high gas prices.

[VOX]

12. And when the Dow climbs up, the right-wing media publicly licks * 's feet.

So, which is it, wingnuts? Is * the nation's CEO, or is he not???? You can't have it both ways, as much as you want to. :grr:

If the U.S. were a company, would the stockholders stand for so much incredible incompetence and chaos? In his own words, * is "the decider."

If gas prices go up, it's on his watch. Just as 9/11 was on his watch. :grr:

[Nay]

13. No, high gas prices will be the fault of the next Dem in office.

[and-justice-for-all]

14. BushCo and OPEC are to blame

OPEC is largely to blame for the high gas prices. Since OPEC cant set the price for crude, they called all the key countries in and manioualted or conned them into rising the price. The Government should have stepped in and said NO, but being crude oil barrens they are BushCo was only going to profit from the increase.

If was FUCK THE REST in their eyes, they gained and we pay for it.

[ChipsAhoy]

15. I don't give him that much "power"

He'd like to think that he alone controls everything, but it's a long list who do. He just happens to be at the top of it. Yet he doesn't stand alone.

[ComerPerro]

They always blame forces "beyond Bush's control", such as

the war in Iraq (Bush's fault, entirely)

tension in the Middle East (thanks in part to Bush's war)

and, of course, fear of terrorism (thanks, Bush)

[ComerPerro]

16. They always blame forces "beyond Bush's control", such as

the war in Iraq (Bush's fault, entirely)

tension in the Middle East (thanks in part to Bush's war)

and, of course, fear of terrorism (thanks, Bush)