Does John Kerry, who supports higher automobile fuel economy standards, own a gas-guzzling SUV? He does, but says it belongs to the family, not to him.
During a conference call Thursday with reporters to discuss his upcoming jobs tour through West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, the Democratic presidential candidate was asked whether he owned a Chevrolet Suburban.
“I don’t own an SUV,” said Kerry, who supports increasing existing fuel economy standards to 36 miles per gallon by 2015 in order to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil supplies…
Kerry thought for a second when asked whether his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, had a Suburban at their Ketchum, Idaho, home. Kerry said he owns and drives a Dodge 600 and recently bought a Chrysler 300M. He said his wife owns the Chevrolet SUV.
“The family has it. I don’t have it,” he said.
Remember- it is not lying, evasion, or flip-flopping. This is called nuance.
*** Update ***
In the comments section, this link is listed, showing that Kerry’s grasp of ‘nuance’ is even deeper than we realized:
Now we’ve truly heard it all. Rising gas prices are the latest John Kerry campaign theme, so naturally the senator was asked this week about his personal vehicle usage.
Kerry insisted, “I don’t own an SUV.”
When pressed about a Chevrolet Suburban, the mother of all SUVs, kept at the Heinz Kerry abode in Idaho, Kerry said: “The family has it. I don’t have it.”
Kerry has now closed the distance between nuance and flat-out deception.
And that’s without mentioning the other gas-guzzlers this candidate and his family enjoy, all the while posturing about reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil and fuel efficiency.
At last count, there were eight “family” cars and SUVs, including the 1995 Suburban (15 mpg highway, 12 mpg city), a 1993 Land Rover Defender (12 mpg highway, 10 mpg city), a 1989 Jeep Cherokee (20 mpg highway, 16 mpg city), a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee (20 mpg highway, 15 mpg city), a 2001 Audi Allroad (21 mpg highway, 15 mpg city), a 2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser (25 mpg highway, 20 mpg city), a 1985 Dodge 600 Convertible (26 mpg highway, 23 mpg city), and a 2002 Chrysler 300M (26 mpg highway, 18 mpg city). Kerry, however, only owns up to the latter two.
Then there’s the 2002 Harley Davidson (his), two powerboats (one his, one hers), a power inflatable 2001 Novurania (his), and a Gulfstream II private jet (hers).
President Kerry would have to open his own pipeline in Saudi Arabia just to meet family fuel demand.
Yet there he was yammering on to reporters Thursday about making a hybrid (powered by gas and electricity) his “campaign car.”
The Herald staff then asks: “But if voters can’t trust John Kerry to play it straight on the little things, how can they trust him on the big things? ”
My answer- watch a lot of Hardball.
*** Update #2 ***
Mark Steyn has more, and he did it before me and probably better than me.
Ksec
Flip Flop. What bush does when he used to be for abortions and now hes strictly pro life. Also he is a draft dodger who was a coward when he was called up. I cant follow fukin cowards who ask me to do what they wouldnt. Only a right winger would think this Pres is honorable. Hes got o character and hes always been a spoiled manchild. His actions prove this. Some call it “headstrong” when all it really is him reacting to the fact that he was never told no when he was growing up. Hes nothing but a crackpot spoiled manboy who sends others to die over his mental sibling hangups.
Flagwaver
Whoa, there, big fella!! Put down the crack pipe, Ksec, and take a DEEP breath.
Now, remember back to grammar school. Remember “Spelling”? Good! Now, try to remember how to do it. A little “Grammar” wouldn’t hurt, either.
Now, you don’t like W. Okay, I’m all good with that. I’m not his biggest cheerleader, either. WHY don’t you like W? ‘Cause, you see, the only thing I got from your post (other than the fact that you are seriously chemically altered – or one seriously psychotic mofo) is that you’re jealous of W ’cause he grew up rich. Well, yeah, that’s a bitch – him being rich and you being a loser, and all that – but, he’s, like, the PRESIDENT and all that, and he worked pretty hard to get there, and he’s actually done a pretty good job, at least on the foreign policy front, since he’s been there, and on the domestic front, while he’s pissed off us conservatives to a fare-thee-well, much of what he’s done should give you liberal types serious wood – I mean, Prescription Drug Benefit, “No Child Left Behind,” increasing funding to the NEA, this man should be a HERO to you liberal, bong-smoking types.
What’s the problem, DUDE???????
JohnO
Actually, he doesn’t own an SUV, he (or his “family” if you want the nuanced view) owns 3, or 6 if you count a Cherokee, Audi Allroad and a PT Cruiser as “SUV”s. Here’s the source:
http://news.bostonherald.com/opinion/view.bg?articleid=537
If he can’t come clean about something as simple and trivial as this, how can he be expected to be honest about anything else?
CadillaqJaq
“Coming clean” John Kerry style is taking both sides of every issue and ging contradictory answers to even easy questions. (It seems his answers alway create more questions: imagine four years of this?)
JKC
Bah. I don’t care if he owns 20 SUV’s.
Why is owning an SUV incompatible with a call for automakers to work towards more fuel-efficient vehicles?
John Cole
JKC- I have no problem with SUV ownership nor calls for higher CAFE standards.
I do secretly (not anymore) wish there were no SUV’s, as I think they are wasteful and useless, but that is my viewpoint. If I could find a used hybrid car at a decent price, I would get one pronto.
At any rate, the issue is that Kerry can not even be honest about the fact that he owns SUV’s.
JohnO
JKC,
The controvery in this case isn’t about SUV ownership, it’s about Kerry’s flat-out lie that he didn’t own any. He does. Or maybe it’s not a lie in that he leases his vehicles, but does not own them, or that he doesn’t own “A” SUV, but rather several.
JKC
John-
I’m a reformed SUV driver myself. I gave up my Jeep when it dawned on me that after four years of ownership I’d NEVER taken it off-road, and that the repairs were going to put my mechanic’s kids through college. My station wagon holds as much stuff, and is a lot more fun to drive, not to mention more reliable.
OTOH, nothing beats high ground clearance and four wheel drive during a Nor’easter…
JKC
BTW-
If you’re interested in fuel economy, try a diesel. (Unfortunately, VW is the only game in town for passenger car diesels right now.) The highway mileage is actually superior to a hybrid.
JKC
JohnQ-
I won’t pretend Kerry didn’t screw up. My answer to that egregiously stupid question would have been:
“Yeah, I do own one. Someday, I hope Detroit can build a similar vehicle with much better fuel economy. When they do, I’ll buy one. As President, I’ll work to give manufacturers the incentives needed to develop such vehicles.”
But I had time to think that up. It’s hard to answer questions on the fly.
Flagwaver
Question for JKC and John C. – you don’t like SUV’s and you don’t think they’re efficient? What is your solution to THIS logistical dilemma:
I have four kids. When we travel, that makes six people in the car. Almost NO modern sedans, even large sedans, can seat 6. Our solution was to buy a Suburban.
We have a condo in Mammoth Lakes, and we like to go skiing. Usually, at least one “tag along” friend or family member comes along (bringing the “human cargo” total up to 7 or 8). Once we get north of Mojave, there’s a decent chance of encountering snow – that 4WD starts to look MIGHTY NICE around midnight, when it’s 10 below, and the snow is pounding down, and the CHP puts out the chain control signs, and I get to shift into 4WD and keep on truckin’. Our last trip to Mammoth, the on-board computer indicated that we averaged 17mpg, round trip. Name another, non-SUV vehicle, in which you can transport 7 or 8 people, and all their ski gear, 360 miles in REASONABLE comfort.
Another issue. My oldest son plays on his school’s basketball team. On a normal game day, there are 10 to 12 kids to transport. The coach has a little “econo-box”, in which he can transport himself and, at most, four kids. His econo-box gets around 27 or 28 mpg. I transport myself and 7 kids in my Suburban. I get, even around town, at least 14 mpg. So, our respective “people transported per gallon of gas” is about the same. Who is inefficient?
Finally, our babysitter was driving our kids to a party, using the SUV. They were stopped at a stoplight when an inattentive driver, in a large sedan, plowed into the back of the Suburban going about 30 mph. Her car was totalled, the Suburban had about $2500 of damage – but my kids came through without a scratch.
I’ve heard all the arguments against SUV’s – but I’ve LIVED all the reasons in favor. Frankly, many of the reasons cited against SUV’s are either crap (efficiency? I can haul more gear and more people per gallon than most “economy” cars) or bass-ackwards (“UNSAFE! When cars and SUVs have accidents, the people in the cars get hurt!” Well, get an SUV, and be safe like me.). But the logistical issues I face on a regular basis can’t be solved effectively using anything but an SUV.
Like John, I don’t give a rip whether Kerry owns/drives an SUV or not – it’s his lying about it that makes me crazy.
GrantR
JKC,
Yes it is hard to think of answers to questions on the fly.
Does it bother you, though, that Kerry’s unthinking, default response to a tricky question was to lie?
An instance such as this means little by itself. But when stacked up against similar incidents it does hint towards a possible character flaw.
JKC
Flagwaver-
A minivan holds as many people as a Suburban, and gets better gas mileage. But I don’t ski, and if I were towing regularly or driving into the mountains in ski season regularly, the SUV would make more sense.
Just because I don’t choose to drive one doesn’t make it a bad choice for you.
Flagwaver
JKC,
Not true, about minivans. Before we bought the Suburban, we looke at the Chevy Astro van. It holds nearly as much as the Suburban (although the Suburban is one HELL of a lot more comfortable to drive!), but has a six cylinder engine. It is RATED for better mileage, in standard configuration, but if you get the AWD option, the mileage is rated the same (or within one mpg) of the SUburban. But we have friends who have one, and they average around 16 mpg on drives to Mammoth – my Suburban averages 17.
All I was trying to point out was that all of the attacks on SUV’s (too inefficient, too “dangerous,” etc.) are either untrue in many cases, or at least slanted.
I appreciate your response – and my take is that people should buy and drive whatever the heck they want – that’s what “free market” is all about. If you find that an SUV solves your transportation and logistical problems better than other options, you should be able to make that decision. And if you don’t feel that way, don’t buy one.
But you KNOW there are people out there (Ralph Nader being the obvious example, but far from the only one) who are trying to take away my OPTION to buy an SUV. And that chaps my ass.
Kimmitt
“I appreciate your response – and my take is that people should buy and drive whatever the heck they want – that’s what “free market” is all about.”
I’m aware that conservatives take the utterly unsupportable position that externalities and public goods do not exist. It’s part of their charm.
Flagwaver
No, Kimmitt, we DON’T take the position that “externalities and public goods” don’t exist. (And I’m glad you think it’s charming.)
Our position is that ALL of these issues involve a complex (and unique to each individual) set of competing factors. We believe that each person makes (overall and in balance – we will both admit, I assume, that EVERYONE makes mistakes) the best decision for THEIR unique situation when they are allowed to make that decision for themselves.
I don’t have a problem if you want to argue, for example, that gasoline is “artificially” low-priced because its price does not take into consideration the “environmental harm” resulting from its use – we can have a reasonable discussion about that. Perhaps Exxon, Shell, et al should be taxed a certain amount per gallon, with the resulting funds used for environmental improvement and remediation, research into alternative fuels, etc. I’m prepared to have that discussion – either on a personal or on a national level – and live with the result.
What I am not prepared for is some pinhead like Ralph Nader or Joan Claybrook telling me I CAN’T have an SUV, because [public reason] they are “inefficient” and “unsafe” (neither of which are true as objective statements, as I discussed above) or because [real, private reason] they just don’t like SUV’s.
Bill Clinton didn’t want to give me a tax but because I “might not spend it the right way.” FUCK HIM. He knows NOTHING about my family, or my situation, so who the bloody hell is HE to say what is the “right way” for me to spend MY MONEY. I can tell you for damn sure that if I took the damn tax cut and went on a three day bender I’d be spending it better than Congress is likely to!
Liberals like to make “the correct” decisions for everyone else; that’s part of their charm.
But, once these goods have been priced
Kimmitt
“Bill Clinton didn’t want to give me a tax but because I “might not spend it the right way.” ”
That was a statement made discussing the fact that a tax cut would not necessarily have a large first-order effect on the demand for US goods, as people would be likely to reduce debts and purchase goods made overseas with the proceeds from the cut. So, when asked whether or not a tax cut would stimulate the US economy, Clinton responded that Americans wouldn’t “spend it the right way” to do so. There was no larger statement intended or made, just that a particular desired economic result was unlikely to come from a particular economic policy.
Of course, all of this obscures the fact that the real reason we needed to keep our taxes at a reasonable level was that we had six trillion dollars of national debt at the time, some of which could stand to be retired. But I am aware of the conservative penchant for building up enormous debts and leaving them for their children to deal with.