Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

House Speaker candidate unfamiliar with how to win non-gerrymandered election.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Let there be snark.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

That pie keeps getting more and more forks, reducing anyone’s chance of even a Perot.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

The willow is too close to the house.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2008 / More on The Gas Tax Holiday Nonsense

More on The Gas Tax Holiday Nonsense

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More elites voice their opinions:

More than 200 economists, including four Nobel prize winners, signed a letter rejecting proposals by presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain to offer a summertime gas-tax holiday.

Columbia University economist Joseph Stiglitz, former Congressional Budget Office Director Alice Rivlin and 2007 Nobel winner Roger Myerson are among those who signed the letter calling proposals to temporarily lift the tax a bad idea. Another is Richard Schmalensee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was member of President George H.W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Since oil is apparently the only thing we talk about anymore, I have a great idea for the 2008 Presidential election. We should elect two people with extensive ties to oil. Real oil industry insiders, who have experience and know how these things work. I bet we could get oil prices down in no time if we do that.

Oh. Wait. Nevermind.

Reader Interactions

33Comments

  1. 1.

    wasabi gasp

    I’m more interested in the opinions of people who don’t know how to sign letters.

  2. 2.

    Peter Johnson

    Stiglitz lives on the upper west side. He probably never drives. I wonder if he even knows how much a gallon of gas costs. Yet he casts himself as an expert on how gas prices affect the lives of ordinary Americans.

  3. 3.

    myiq2xu

    You really need to pace yourself John. How are you going to survive 8 years of President Hillary if you max out the rage-o-meter every time she queefs?

  4. 4.

    firebrand

    myiq:

    At the rate she’s going, she’ll only become President if she wins it the Bush way: by stealing it. Which is good for her, since she’s basically transforming into the female version of Bush anyway.

  5. 5.

    SoulCatcher

    myiq2xu Says:

    I thought we were talking about pie?

    WE are talking about pie…you are talking about cake.

  7. 7.

    KRK

    From abcnews.com:

    The shots in the Democratic primary campaign are getting nasty, and this weekend it got downright crude as Clinton confidante James Carville told Newsweek, “If she gave him one of her cojones, they’d both have two.”

    Obama responded to Carville’s comments for the first time today.

    “Well, you know, James Carville is well-known for spouting off his mouth without always knowing what he’s talking about,” Obama told “Nightline.” “And I intend to stay focused on fighting for the American people because what they don’t need is 20 more years of performance art on television.”

    Heh.

  8. 8.

    r€nato

    We should elect two people with extensive ties to oil. Real oil industry insiders, who have experience and know how these things work. I bet we could get oil prices down in no time if we do that.

    High gas prices… not a bug, but a feature.

    (it’s really Bush’s clever plot to fight CO2 emissions and boost oil company profits in one bold stroke)

  9. 9.

    Martin

    Yay! Hillary is going all-out to save Indianans money. I propose someone whip up some “Ass, grass, or less money for gas, Hillary 2008″ bumper stickers. Next, she’s gonna go for the universal GEICO mandate so everybody can save a lot of money on their car insurance:

    “We’re going to go right at OPEC,” she said. “They can no longer be a cartel, a monopoly that get together once every couple of months in some conference room in some plush place in the world, they decide how much oil they’re going to produce and what price they’re going to put it at,” she told a crowd at a firehouse in Merrillville, IN.

    “That’s not a market. That’s a monopoly,” she said, saying she’d use anti-trust law and the World Trade Organization to take on OPEC.

    You go girl! I want her to take out those japs too so we can save on Super Smash Brothers. Damn you Wii monopoly!

  10. 10.

    ThymeZone

    According to the broadcast of the Clinton campaign phone rountable thing today, I couldn’t discern that the wizards of her castle could explain why the sellers of gasoline wouldn’t just pass the ‘windfall tax’ directly on to consumers as soon as it was imposed.

    Or, why pimping this tax holiday made any sense when everyone knew that congress won’t pass it and Bush wouldn’t sign it if they did pass it. Why it wasn’t just electioneering, like the Obliterate Iran remark.

    You should hear these lying fucks as they blather on about these things. They sound absolutely crazy.

  11. 11.

    Brachiator

    ThymeZone Says:

    According to the broadcast of the Clinton campaign phone rountable thing today, I couldn’t discern that the wizards of her castle could explain why the sellers of gasoline wouldn’t just pass the ‘windfall tax’ directly on to consumers as soon as it was imposed.

    Or, why pimping this tax holiday made any sense when everyone knew that congress won’t pass it and Bush wouldn’t sign it if they did pass it. Why it wasn’t just electioneering, like the Obliterate Iran remark.

    You should hear these lying fucks as they blather on about these things. They sound absolutely crazy.

    And yet … If Senator Clinton does well in Indiana and North Carolina despite the patent stupidity of her gas tax plan, it will be a clear sign that she has become not an alternative to Bush, but his heir, as she shamelessly panders to those who want to be lied to, and those who will angrily reject anyone who refuses to humor them.

    I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hillary swing into North Carolina or West Virginia and promise to support a creationist curriculum in public schools.

    I’m not sure how far her pandering will take her, but it sure is amazing to watch.

  12. 12.

    Martin

    I couldn’t discern that the wizards of her castle could explain why the sellers of gasoline wouldn’t just pass the ‘windfall tax’ directly on to consumers as soon as it was imposed

    Because they will, that’s why! Next question!

  13. 13.

    Martin

    Actually, adequately explaining why they wouldn’t would pretty much walk you out to why the prices wouldn’t go down much in the first place. Further, any state currently in shitty fiscal shape [cough]California[cough] would be idiots to not immediately pass a summer increase in their gas tax at half the fed amount. It’s free money, and the state can use the same bullshit bamboozle to tell consumers that the price of gas will go down, but only to half the amount.

  14. 14.

    Ted

    How are you going to survive 8 years of President Hillary if you max out the rage-o-meter every time she queefs?

    Well, we’ve put up with all of your queefing all this time.

  15. 15.

    Walker

    I was reading an article the other day about a couple pawning a $200 watch for $20 so they could buy gas. Never mind the gas cost of just driving to the pawn shop. Never mind what they are going to do in a week when that gas is gone.

    So much about the American consumer can be summed up as “penny wise and pound foolish”. If the working class are really so poor that this gas tax holiday is going to make a difference, then it is game over for them. Nothing we can do will help these people. Lifestyle changes are a’comin’ — for all of us.

  16. 16.

    p.lukasiak

    So much about the American consumer can be summed up as “penny wise and pound foolish”. If the working class are really so poor that this gas tax holiday is going to make a difference, then it is game over for them. Nothing we can do will help these people. Lifestyle changes are a’comin’—- for all of us.

    the problem, of course, is that working class people don’t have pounds to be wise with — they are lucky to have shillings.

    Obama doesn’t get this, and neither do his supporters. The whole obsession with “process” is a luxury that is enjoyed only by the “creative class”, and the attacks on Clinton’s gas holiday plan show us just how out-of-touch with “average americans” that Obama supporters and their cable gasbag enablers really are.

    Obama panders just as much as Clinton does, or any politician does — he’s just not as good at is as Clinton is. When Obama panders, he’s condescending, and people pick up on that right away. Hillary Clinton is certainly not the person you would expect to be the ‘working class hero’ she is becoming — but she’s learned a great deal from Bill about the concerns of average americans and how to connect with them. Like Bill, she’s becoming a master of melding policy wonkishness with real empathy for people.

    Obama, on the other hand, is still a policy wonk wanna-be (‘details? go to my website!’) and nor capable of projecting empathy.

    Obama is all the bad parts of McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis, and Kerry rolled into one….and if there is one thing that the GOP knows how to do, its to exploit the weaknesses of those kinds of candidates.

  18. 18.

    D-Chance.

    The liberal fauxrage over high gas prices is hilarious. This is the same group that was complaining because the US was paying so much less than our European brethren… the same group that was suggesting we should greatly INCREASE taxes on gas just a few years ago. You’d think they’d be dancing in the streets over $4.00+ per gallon on its way to $10 or more. This is exactly what they WANTED. But, they’ve got their gold rope and they’re still bitching. Typical.

  19. 19.

    Scrutinizer

    Obama is all the bad parts of McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis, and Kerry rolled into one….and if there is one thing that the GOP knows how to do, its to exploit the weaknesses of those kinds of candidates.

    You keep saying that, but you’re conflating very different politicians and very types of campaigns, and you’re using a republican talking point to do it. Hillary isn’t the new Joe Sixpack, working class hero—come down to rescue the Democrats from Purgatory. She’s an entrenched DLC machine politician, and she offers nothing new. She’s triangulating now, just as Bill did before her,

  20. 20.

    chopper

    the problem, of course, is that working class people don’t have pounds to be wise with—they are lucky to have shillings.

    Obama doesn’t get this, and neither do his supporters.

    indeed, his failure to deliver unrealistic pie-in-the-sky promises that do all of jack and shit to save the middle class much needed money proves that.

  21. 21.

    nightjar

    Obama doesn’t get this, and neither do his supporters. The whole obsession with “process” is a luxury that is enjoyed only by the “creative class”, and the attacks on Clinton’s gas holiday plan show us just how out-of-touch with “average americans” that Obama supporters and their cable gasbag enablers really are.

    Yep, those pesky experts and their namby-pamby facts and stuff. What’s that compared with the exultations of the “hero of the working class”.

    Keep it up Pluk, your on the verge of becoming “Hero of the Hillbot Troll Class”. You should ask for a raise.

  22. 22.

    Billy K

    More than 200 economists, including four Nobel prize winners,

    In other words, “elites.”

    When are these eggheads gonna get out of their ivory towers and realize that being “elite” is a BAD thing? I don’t need an economist or prize winner to tell me anything.

  23. 23.

    Andrew

    Obama doesn’t get this, and neither do his supporters. The whole obsession with “process” is a luxury that is enjoyed only by the “creative class”, and the attacks on Clinton’s gas holiday plan show us just how out-of-touch with “average americans” that Obama supporters and their cable gasbag enablers really are.

    Okay, okay, you’ve slipped up this time lukasiak. This is so spoofalicious that your cover is finally blown. It was a good run, though. You’ve managed to make Hillary look ridiculous in ways that even Hillaryis44.com could not.

    How much does the Obama campaign pay for such work?

  24. 24.

    Tsulagi

    We should elect two people with extensive ties to oil. Real oil industry insiders, who have experience and know how these things work.

    Yep, and don’t forget really smart Republican business sense. Without the US dollar freefalling during Cheney/Bush stalwart stewardship and a huge terrorism premium factored into the price of a barrel of oil reflecting their level of competence, where would we be? The byproducts of success just keep dumping from those two oilmen.

  25. 25.

    Genine

    Obama doesn’t get this, and neither do his supporters. The whole obsession with “process” is a luxury that is enjoyed only by the “creative class”, and the attacks on Clinton’s gas holiday plan show us just how out-of-touch with “average americans” that Obama supporters and their cable gasbag enablers really are.

    Obama panders just as much as Clinton does, or any politician does—he’s just not as good at is as Clinton is. When Obama panders, he’s condescending, and people pick up on that right away. Hillary Clinton is certainly not the person you would expect to be the ‘working class hero’ she is becoming—but she’s learned a great deal from Bill about the concerns of average americans and how to connect with them. Like Bill, she’s becoming a master of melding policy wonkishness with real empathy for people.

    Obama, on the other hand, is still a policy wonk wanna-be (‘details? go to my website!’) and nor capable of projecting empathy.

    Wow, that is just one big steaming cup of crazy! Normally, I ignore those perceived as trolls or trollish remarks, but that statement is just too… insane to let slip by without comment.

    Wow! Just… wow.

  26. 26.

    Birdzilla

    lets have a HOT AIR TAX instead lets lay a hot air tax on all those who produce it including AL GORE and GREENPEACE

  27. 27.

    Tsulagi

    Hillary Clinton is certainly not the person you would expect to be the ‘working class hero’ she is becoming

    Okay, not an Obama altar boy, but that one cracks me up.

    Maybe shorter p.lukasiak: It must be strange to be Hillary in a polyester pantsuit. Revealing one working class masterpiece after another bordering on heroic.

    Kool-aid, not just a unity beverage available only on the right side of the aisle. It transcends jumping over that aisle to the left as well.

  28. 28.

    jake

    You tell ’em Pluckshake. Damn the consequences and full speed ahead!

    That obsession with “process” was a luxury we didn’t have when a smoking gun in Iraq might have turned into a mushroom cloud!

    Just think of where this country would be if our leaders had been a bunch of indolent elitists who wanted all the facts before they voted.

    Just think.

  29. 29.

    Fe E

    Hey Pluk, Pluck you.

    How big can the trailer house you grew up be before you’re considered an elite? The one I grew up in was 11′ x 64′.

    And yep, my dad was a uniion factory worker.

    Your concern for our well being is much appreciated; as is is your tacit admission that we’re so poor and ignorant, that not doing stupid shit is a luxury we can’t afford.

    Fuck off, seriously. Just fuck off and go straight to hell you rotten black hearted bastard.

  31. 31.

    Bubblegum Tate

    In keeping with your “The Onion is always ahead of the curve on this shit” theme from a couple posts down, I daresay those magnificent bastards have predicted how this is going to end.

    “Since you don’t seem to care about things you don’t understand, screw you. We quit.”

    “My final piece of expert advice,” Peavy added, “is that all of you people should just go fuck yourselves.”

    It is downright pathetic that as a nation, we’ve gotten to the point where actually, you know, knowing stuff is some sort of mortal weakness. Why are these motherfuckers doing everything they can to make Idiocracy look like a hard-hitting documentary?

  32. 32.

    Cris

    p.luk says:

    a policy wonk wanna-be (‘details? go to my website!’)

    That’s the opposite of what you think you’re saying. A policy wonk spills out all those details in their dull public speeches. It’s the flip side of wonkishness to put your policy details where other wonks will know where to find them.

  33. 33.

    mikefromtexas

    Don’t know what’s going on over at corrente, but the crew at Sadly,No! are having quite a bit of fun at lambert’s expense. If anyone reading this still visits and/or posts at corrente, please pass this along:

    How bout we stop with the elitist econ 101 shit and try a little third grade math. How many gallons of gas would you have to buy, saving 18.4 cents each, to add up to $30?? My snobby little adding machine tells me 163 gallons. In my car, 25 mpg, that comes out to driving 4075 miles a month. At my current pump prices, $3.50/gal, that comes out to $570.50 a month. It’s not fucking rocket science.

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