cross-posted to jack and jill politics

It's a given around these parts that Hillary Clinton is full of excrement and John McCain wouldn't know sound economic policy unless it made a personal attack against his family then asked him to campaign for it in the next election cycle.

Still, something has been rubbing me the wrong way about how both of these people are calling for taxes on gasoline to be waived this summer, you know, to ease the burden on the American consumer.

Call me crazy, but it seems like the last thing we need to do is encourage more use of fossil fuels up in here. It's getting a little hot. I've been happy to discover that my brain does, in fact, work, and that I'm not alone.



Jonathan Alter of Newsweek

Hillary Clinton has now joined John McCain in proposing the most irresponsible policy idea of the year—an idea that actually could aid the terrorists. What's worse, both of them know that suspending the federal gas tax this summer is a terrible pander, and yet they're pushing it anyway for crass political advantage.

Clinton and McCain have learned a destructive lesson from the Bush era: as Bill Clinton said in 2002, it's better politically to be "strong and wrong" than thoughtful and right. The goal is to depict Barack Obama as an out-of-touch elitist. By any means necessary.

I could highlight a long debate among economists on suspending the gas tax, but there is no debate. Not one respectable economist—and not one environmentalist or foreign policy expert—supports the idea, unless they are official members of the Clinton or McCain campaigns (and even some of them privately oppose it). To relieve suffering at the pump, send another rebate check or provide tax credits or something else, but not this.

And Thomas Friedman of the Times

It is great to see that we finally have some national unity on energy policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead our nation, it takes your breath away. Hillary Clinton has decided to line up with John McCain in pushing to suspend the federal excise tax on gasoline, 18.4 cents a gallon, for this summer’s travel season. This is not an energy policy. This is money laundering: we borrow money from China and ship it to Saudi Arabia and take a little cut for ourselves as it goes through our gas tanks. What a way to build our country.

When the summer is over, we will have increased our debt to China, increased our transfer of wealth to Saudi Arabia and increased our contribution to global warming for our kids to inherit.

No, no, no, we’ll just get the money by taxing Big Oil, says Mrs. Clinton. Even if you could do that, what a terrible way to spend precious tax dollars — burning it up on the way to the beach rather than on innovation?

The McCain-Clinton gas holiday proposal is a perfect example of what energy expert Peter Schwartz of Global Business Network describes as the true American energy policy today: “Maximize demand, minimize supply and buy the rest from the people who hate us the most.”

Good for Barack Obama for resisting this shameful pandering

You hear that? Obama is not pandering, and this is an issue that actually matters. This is policy. This is meat and potatoes. This is war and peace and pollution in our cities and lungs.

McCain is so caught up in his crooked pander he can't find the keys to the Straight Talk Express much less operate the gas guzzling terrormobile. Ms. Hillary, poor thing, is willing to wield any weapon against Obama, even if that thing is the most ass backwards energy policy possible. Solutions for America, my ass.

It's nice to see that a lifetime of "experience" has taught these two clowns how to trade our very lives and security for a few political points.

Next.

Update: my people I apologize. I failed to leave you with something to do. Please head over to Hillary Clinton's website, and John McCain's. Ask them a few questions. Feel free to use or edit the following:

For Hillary:

Dear Senator Clinton, you have rightly acknowledged America's energy challenge and the need to invest in green energies. Given your stated positions, why do you support a gas tax holiday which encourages the use of fossil fuels and rewards the very oil companies you criticize? Please change your position on this critical issue.

For McCain:

Dear Senator McCain, having served in the military, you know what it means to defend this country which is why your support of a gas tax holiday confuses me. By encouraging oil consumption, you'd be rewarding the regimes of nations hostile to our national security, making us even more beholden to terrorists. Please help keep America safe and reduce our dependence on foreign oil this summer driving season.