GOP Fears Gas Price Anger May Spill Over

[RamboLiberal]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/latimests/20050825/ts_latimes/gopfearsgaspriceangermayspillover

As consumers feel pain at the pump, record high gas prices are registering as a political problem with congressional Republicans.

At a town hall meeting this week, Rep. Jack Kingston (news, bio, voting record) (R-Ga.) wanted to talk about Social Security and Medicare, but the session quickly turned to gas prices.

When Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (news, bio, voting record) (R-W.Va.) toured a Veterans Affairs clinic Wednesday, the first question put to her was: "What are you going to do about the high price of gasoline?"

And a growing number of GOP officials worry that, as the party in power, Republicans will pay their own high price — at the ballot box. They are scrambling to find ways to respond.

"People are mad as hell," Sen. Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record) (R-S.C.) said.

<snip>

Polls show that the public blames politicians — after oil companies and foreign oilproducing countries — for the high prices.

[wakeme2008]

1. Who would have thought having two OIL men in the WH

would NOT have a bearing on the cost of OIL.

[Maggie_May]

54. How true

but we have to suffer knowing that this was going to happen. But did they listen when Al Gore told them this was going to happen. Yes this is Bush's problem but no one will blame him nor will anyone fix it.

[bribri16]

56. It's sad but true. Lies and deceit and an illegal, immoral war is not

enough to get Americans angry at the government, but hit them where it hurts (in the gasoline tank) and all of a sudden the Bushcos are running scared.

[BadGimp]

73. It wobbles the mind to think of how obvious this all is

You elect a couple oil whores and what the F*%@ do you expect is gonna happen????

[VegasWolf]

2. Err, blaming the people running this country seems right to me!!! nt

[Nite Owl]

3. Wasn't there a story about

how the GOP was worried about how Iraq was going the other day? Seems they have lots to worry about these days.

[Cha]

13. Couldn't happen to a better

bunch of Jackals.

[cbear70]

40. right you are!!!!

[calimary]

53. GOOD! I wish them MANY sleepless nights.

I wish them as many sleepless nights worried about their own selfish, arrogant, petty, piss-ant power positions and their perks and their own asses - as the families of soldiers marooned in Iraq have - EVERY NIGHT. If this is a way that they finally get to share the pain, then it's more than alright by me. Poor things. They're worried that they won't have as much weight to throw around, bullying other people into giving them their way. How sad. Cue those violins.

The really sad part of this, actually, is that too many voters care only about what they have to pay out, and THAT'S what's got them angry and aggitating for change. It isn't the lies that dragged us into war. It isn't the needless deaths and permanent maimings and other life-long ailments and plagues for those who've had to go to this war under false pretenses. It isn't the theft, the perversion of our democracy, the removal of our rights, the violation of our privacy, the outing of a CIA agent whose job was to track the movement, sales, and other brokerage of weapons of mass destruction - to keep us safe. It isn't ANY of that. It isn't the crooked croneyism and character assassination and dirty tricks and witch hunts and persecutions and corporate crimes by the robber barons who are allowed to run amok, unchecked, or the muzzling and intimidation of the media, or the looting of our national treasury and the red ink we'll be drowning in for generations. It's because all of a sudden gasoline costs a lot more. THAT'S what's got everybody's dander up. JEEZ, how shallow have we become as a nation?

However, at this point I'll take ANY cause that lights a fire under these people's butts. If THIS is what it takes, well, then, fine, I guess. If THIS is what will finally throw most of those republi-CON thieves and liars and crooks out of office so the good guys can come back in and take over, then so be it. I can be as Macchiavellian as the next republi-CON.

[Roon]

4. Adjusted for inflation..

bla bla bla! Guess that's not going to work anymore, people are really getting pissed.

[sunnystarr]

22. I wonder if salaries adjusted for inflation for the same period

would show the same percentage of increase. Oil companies can't run from the fact they have reported RECORD PROFITS! The energy bill gave them corporate welfare at taxpayers expense in the billions. So not only are we paying at the pump to increase their profits but our tax dollars are being used for supposed incentives. Why do they need incentives?? We're already being raped with each fill up.

One thing the federal government can do is to repeal some of that tax cut to the rich and use that instead of the federal tax we're paying at the pump which they can then repeal. Then use the rest of that cut to reimburse states if they repeal the state gas tax.

They can spend 300 billion in Iraq, and support countries around the world but they can't use OUR money to give us relief at the pump!

The other thing they can do is to limit the huge profits by insisting that they be used to build new refineries. Cause that's the other thing we hear all the time - that the real problem is that we don't enough refineries. Of course after 1980 they shut down over half the refineries we had (which was over 400) and now we have only around 150. That sure made a lot sense! Of course once they did that they could always cry that they can't refine any more oil because the refineries are operating at full capacity. Like DUH!! It's not like we had less cars after 1980 nor was a decrease in demand projected. I don't know about you but I'm so sick of being played by these greedy profiteers.

[DBoon]

23. Absolutely not

You can count on that.

[Toots]

48. Not just oil companies but GOP Coffers are at a record level

2+2=4 Oil soaked Administration = huge oil company profits = huge GOP campaign contributions. And we thought these guys were dumb.....The dumb ones are the common guy who voted GOP.

[UpInArms]

52. here's a graphic

on that - look how low it was during the Clenis years

[etherealtruth]

5. I think it's Bill Clinton's fault ...

:sarcasm:

[driver8]

7. Isn't that obvious?

The gas that Clinton uses means that there is less gas for everyone else. Gas is harder to get so prices go up.

I thought everyone knew that?
(Sorry, trying to use "freeper logic"--if there is such a thing.)

[achtung_circus]

9. No it's not

Jimmy Carter must bear the blame, or FDR.

[Cha]

14. That's one thing they

can't blame on him after they've had 5 Years to destroy the USA.

[etherealtruth]

17. Ah, but they'll try ...

After all he got a B*** J** in the oval office ...

[cpamomfromtexas]

67. Yeah, but I never lost sleep while Clinton was in office!

[etherealtruth]

68. Tell me about it ...

I NEVER felt like "we were on the eve of destruction," while he was in office ... With the Chimp in office I can't shake the feeling.

[Strelnikov_]

47. They Will Blame The Clinton Administrations Low-Sulfur Regulations . .

instead of the short-sighted policy of the refiners counting on a diminishing supply of light/sweet feedstock in lieu of making use of the four-plus years to upgrade their refineries to meet the regulations with widely available feedstock.

Where were the Federal energy oversight agencies the last four years while this problem was developing?

Another story of short-sighted GOP Corporatist policies leading to failure. And another failure of the market system approach to energy infrastructure planning.

Sweet And Sour Crude
http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2005/08/sweet_and_sour.html

The price premium for light sweets had typically been about $5 a barrel up until last summer, when it began rising quickly, now standing at triple its earlier value. To put the size of the current price spread in perspective, if the price of light, sweet crude had only risen as much (in dollars per barrel) as the heavy sour, the increase in the price of light, sweet crude during the last year would have been a third smaller than what we actually observed.

The average API gravity of non-OPEC oil production has decreased (produced crude is increasingly "heavy") and the sulfur content has increased (crude is increasingly "sour").Vital Trivia used data from OPEC's August Oil Market Report to calculate that global production of light, sweet crude actually declined between 2000 and 2004-- peak oil has already passed, at least as far as light, sweet crude is concerned.

While supply of light, sweet crude has gone down, the demand has gone up. In January 2004, the U.S. EPA's Tier 2 low-sulfur gasoline regulations began to be implemented. This rule was announced by President Clinton on December 21, 1999, though the announcement gave the nation's refineries four years to develop plans to cope with the changes that have only recently begun to be implemented. A study by Deutsche Bank noted regulations to reduce fuel sulfur content also being implemented by Europe, Singapore, Philipines, Australia, China, and India.

The marginal refining capacity in the world cannot process heavy, sour crudes at all, let alone process these crudes into light, sweet products. Converting existing refining capacity to process heavy, sour crudes to produce light, sweet products is expensive and time-consuming. In the U.S., the conversion (for the refiners who are converting) is a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar project. Some refiners have elected to produce light, sweet products only from light, sweet crudes. Others have elected to retire refining capacity. In parts of the world that supply markets with only higher sulfur products or that have dropped out of the market to supply low-sulfur products, little or no conversion will take place and the demand will continue for the diminishing fraction of light, sweet crudes.

Drowning in Sour Oil Adapting to a New Crude Quality Dynamic
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/conf/pdf/saunders.pdf

"Strong Demand Squeezes Patchwork Supply:"

"Sulfur removal - Gasoline to 120ppm in2004, 90ppm 2005 and30ppm 2006; Diesel to15ppm 2006. Refiners lighten crude slate - and widen light crude price premium to heavy grades -to meet rather than invest in desulfurization."

[Barkley]

71. No, its Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro's fault -nt

[Burried News]

6. Angry? I love these guys; they pump me up.

[Cha]

16. I notice ya can't work

Citgo in there! :D

[Roland99]

25. "And the money in our wallets? We'll just C-it-go."

[Cha]

28. That's good Roland..but

was refering to the fact that Citgo is from Venezuela. However, I filled up yesterday and did "C-it-go"! :(

[Roland99]

30. Oh, I know. Just wanted to get onein there.

;)

[Burried News]

27. Not mine - I googled 'propaganda' and about three pages in found it

The runner up.

[Cha]

29. It's ingenious and should be

found "under propoganda".

[Dover]

Ummmmm......there are hardly any 'ballots' left in the voting system.

Which is probably why the GOP has behaved in such a cavalier fashion, as though they were immune to public backlash.

And while they continue to make overtures that they DO pay attention to their constituency, in fact they are not concerned about their votes...because that little problem is under their control.

BUT if the truckers of this country and consumers decided to make their voices FELT rather than heard (via strikes and shipping stoppages, refusals to purchase gas guzzlers or to drive to work, etc.) THEN we would see some action.....and FAST.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

8. Well, yes...what really matters is their careers.

It will be awful...a damn crying shame...if the Republicans "pay their own high price — at the ballot box."

A few D.I.N.O.s need to pay that price, too. Right, Senator Feinstein?

[napi21]

10. Well, I heard some Dems were calling for hearings to find out

just WHY the oil cos are blaming shortages and high demand for the hugh price increases, but they're ALL reporting RECODR PROFITS! Those two things just don't fit together!

I say to these worried Pubs..."Hold the damn hearings. Just maybe exposure of price gouging will bring those prices down!"

[TheCowsCameHome]

11. Holy smoke! Those Repugs are fast to catch on, aren't they?

Talk about a caring bunch.

I'm going to throw up.

[Cha]

12. Then do something About It!

Get the OIL honchos in the chimphouse to talk to their buddies in the Middle East Oil business to lower the barrel prices.

Or are they stuck between Iraq and a Hard Place?

[beetbox]

15. Pretty Sad

when the only thing that seems to stir Americans is something that threatens their 'divine' right to gluttonous consumption, in this case gas, which of course is connected to just about everything.

Gas prices should be double what they are with higher fuel taxes that then go to excellent mass transit.

Guzzle Gas, and Pretend

by Derrick Z. Jackson

Americans probably know this deep down. It is almost as if we are binging to distract us from the needless killing. We build bigger subdivisions as far out as we can, no matter what it means in commuting time and $2.55 gasoline.

Even though the average size of the American family has shrunk, the average size of a new home has grown from an average of 983 square feet in 1950 to 2,330 square feet today, according to the National Association of Home Builders. The percentage of new homes over 2,400 square feet has zoomed from 10 percent in 1970 to 38 percent today. The percentage of new homes with two-car garages has grown from 39 percent in 1970 to 82 percent today.

Unfortunately, it is difficult for a populace to be enlightened if its leader keeps leaving it in the dark. President Bush, according to the Times, is planning to leave out mega-SUVs such as Hummers from new fuel economy standards, apparently to ease the competitive strain on Detroit, which has invested far more in selling gas guzzlers than foreign automakers. With the explosion of SUVs (trucks now account for 50 percent of light-duty vehicle sales), the nation's average fuel economy has been flat for a quarter century and has actually fallen slightly, from 22.1 miles per gallon in 1987 to 21 miles per gallon today.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0817-22.htm

[Trillo]

34. Do you blame Americans for that?

"the only thing that seems to stir Americans is something that threatens their 'divine' right to gluttonous consumption, in this case gas, which of course is connected to just about everything."

Isn't it a matter of proper or improper training? It's been my belief that TPTB through decades have trained us to spend for happiness. More than that, perhaps money is used by (some of) us as an escape from tyranny. Feel sad? See a Doctor $$$ (implication if illness in this one). Buy a pill $$$ Go to disneyland $$$ take a vacation $$$, etc., the list is quite long.

Judging from my experience with training non-humans, retraining and unlearning undesirable behavior is much harder and less successful than proper training from the first day of life onward.

Is the problem the Americans themselves? Or is the problem a culture that has brainwashed them that their happiness is tied to spending, while working them to death?

Few can afford to stop and smell the roses anymore.

[beetbox]

46. It's a mixed bag. Your comment-

"Is the problem the Americans themselves? Or is the problem a culture that has brainwashed them that their happiness is tied to spending, while working them to death?",

is pretty well on the mark. There is some personal responsibility, like the SUVer's who have gone into uncharted territory of gluttony, but by and large it is the cultural training and social engineering that creates the climate and perception of what is to become the norm.

I wish we as a people would be as outraged at the murder of innocent children abroad in our name using our tax dollars.

[sarcasmo]

38. Wish gas were $2.55, here in Michigan it's $2.75.

Michigan, the land of your job is going to Mexico notices.

[bmbmd]

18. It is every democrat's duty

to point out that in 2006, Americans will be putting three dollar gas in their vehicles to drive to the polling station to re-elect republicans.

[BlueManDude]

19. I predict they'll try to cut gas taxes and blame the Dems.

[BillZBubb]

37. BINGO! We have a winner!

They will try to roll back the gasoline taxes by a few cents on the gallon. The oil companies will also find a way in September of next year to start lowering the cost of gasoline a few cents per week up to the election.

The sheeple will be happy. Same old same old.

[noonwitch]

20. They should be afraid

It just cost me $28 to fill up my Ford Focus! That's a small car with a small tank, too.

But, yeah, we all know it must be Clinton's fault because he got a BJ once.

[RamboLiberal]

32. Same here - My Pontiac Vibe is costing around that to fill

The other day I had a .30 discount per gallon (grocery store promotion) and it still cost near $25 to fill.

If these prices stay high - and don't forget home heating costs this winter - you're going to have a lot of people hurting and fuming!

For idiot Bush/Repuke voters - I hope the fact that gays can't get married will console them as they struggle to pay to get to work and as they turn down the thermostat and shiver this winter.

[Dover]

21. It might be bearable to double the price of gas IF they simultaneously

allowed the production of automobiles and other transportation that got double the mileage. But they are, in fact, making that impossible and have limited the number of gas efficient imports to a crawl. SO suspicions by the public that this is, in fact, an organized clandestine plan by these industries to milk the public are clearly right on the money (so to speak).

[gratuitous]

24. I don't know why the Republicans should be worried

After all, they say over and over again that they're not to blame for anything bad that happens. High gas prices are pretty bad, and quite hard on some of their poorest and least educated constituents. There HAS to be a way to blame this on the Democrats, there just has to be!

Or, there's always Plan B: Sure, we screwed this up royally. But who's in a better position to clean up the mess, which really isn't our fault, isn't that big a mess after all, and if you lose faith in
Republican magick, then you're just a big fat traitor!

[brentspeak]

26. Oh, NOW they're worried

It has to take poor polls and the threat to their own careers to get the GOP concerned about this issue which affects the livelihoods of every middle class and poor citizen in the country.

[cliss]

31. OK: here's my prediction.

Since the Repubs are such poor thinkers, I'll do their thinking for them (rubs my crystal ball). Hmmmmm....

About 6 months from now, I see events that look amazingly like the oil embargo of the 1970's. I see long lines at the gas station. Peak Oil is here. It's no hoax. We're rapidly running out of the light, Sweet crude good stuff.

Fistfights are breaking out while people are waiting in line. A few have taken cuts in the line, and people are out of control. Also, it's become dangerous to show up in line with a gas-guzzler, like a huge mobile home, or maybe a Hummer. People don't like seeing that.

People have started siphoning gas out of people's gas tanks because they're desperate.

There's a civil war raging in Venezuela. The US has infiltrated the country with operatives. This was after Hugo Chavez cut off the U.S. and started selling to China.

Needless to say, it's a mess.

[Double T]

33. It's interesting that after President Corrupt And.....

Vice President Corrupter's 'Energy Bill' was signed, the Energy Producing Companies started to skyrocket the price of all energy products with predictions that the prices will continue to go higher. Republican politicos be on notice: Your days of occupying the majority of the political offices are over, you all had your chance and you all failed miserably.

[JustSayNO 2 Sheeples]

35. How very amusing it is....

... to hear the reason that oil jumps upward and upward. Last night's record high of over $67 was because of the weak "tropical storm in the Gulf" according to ABC. Somehow, two days of rain in a 100 mile wide radius of salt water just might halt oil production for the entire world. Next week, it will jump to $70 a barrel because there is a grass fire in Oklahoma "which threatens to shut down world production.

Hellloooo? Anybody home? It's almost like the Bushbots have proven to the rest of the corporate world that "hey, these people are just plain stupid, you can say or do anything and they'll buy into it".

[yorgatron]

36. welcome to DU JustSayNO 2 Sheeples!

"tropical storm in the gulf" my ASS! :grr::mad:

[sybylla]

39. No shit, Sherlock

Boy, it sure takes inbreeders a long time to figure this stuff out.

[truthisfreedom]

41. b-b-b-b-b-but... bush said Iraq's oil would pay for the war and we'd all

get free flowers!

[Barkley]

70. At $67/ barrel (and rising) Iraq's oil *will* pay for the war - nt

[Orion The Hunter]

42. As the saying goes..

.."It happened on your watch".

Let's see - an energy bill that is nothing but a give-back of tax breaks and pork projects that benefit big oil (who are already making record profits) and no new investments in alternative energy sources and no raising of emission and fuel efficiency standards. Why anyone is surprised that oil costs are rising, particularly during a time of conflict, is beyond me.

[nolabels]

43. BLAME BUSH

Oil leaps to record $68 on storm
Thu Aug 25, 2005 6:31 AM BST8
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2005-08-25T053106Z_01_YUE519851_RTRUKOC_0_UK-MARKETS-OIL.xml

[Dover]

A nation wide truckers strike would turn this thing right around....

Truckers are the key players in this gas/oil war. But instead of just lowering prices, they ought to demand greater fuel efficiency as another option to negotiate.

[Dover]

44. A nation wide truckers strike would turn this thing right around....

Truckers are the key players in this gas/oil war. But instead of just lowering prices, they ought to demand greater fuel efficiency as another option to negotiate.

[BlueJac]

45. No kidding

What a joke this is. The new energy bill just took care of all our worries. We are just going to give the oil companies $9 billion of our money, and for what. Probably the biggest and hardest screwing of our lives. D.C. hasn't a clue what to do about anything. Maybe we should agree to CATFA, and other non-American plans to fuck us all. This administration and congress are going to make sure they ruin America!:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:


GW Bush is the joke of the Century. Name one thing he has done for Americans???
:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:

[NYC]

61. I keep asking people to name one thing

Bush has done to benefit the American people. Not one response yet.

Welcome to DU. :hi:

[sakabatou]

49. Oh, boo-hoo-hoo

I don't give a crap

[UpInArms]

50. "convince them to open up the spigot"

Bush said today that he would bring down gasoline prices by creating enough political good will with oil-producing nations that they would increase their supply of crude. “I would work with our friends in OPEC to convince them to open up the spigot, to increase the supply. Use the capital that my administration will earn, with the Kuwaitis or the Saudis, and convince them to open up the spigot.” Implicit in his comments was a criticism of the Clinton administration as failing to take advantage of the good will that the US built with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf war in 1991. Also implicit was that as the son of the president who built the coalition that drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait, Mr. Bush would be able to establish ties on a personal level that would persuade oil-producing nations that they owed the US something in return.
Source: Katherine Q. Seelye, NY Times Jun 28, 2000

http://www.issues2000.org/2004/More_George_W__Bush_Energy_+_Oil.htm

[Buns_of_Fire]

58. "Opening up the spigot" does no damned good

if you don't have the refining capacity to handle it, georgie. You dumb-ass failed-Texas-oilman twit.

But, what the hell? He may as well use his so-called "capital" overseas with his good buddies. Within the U.S., he's not only used it up, but is significantly on his way to becoming overdrawn.

[TrogL]

51. The solution is simple

Simply announce that next week the price of gas will be lowered to (the current price + 15 cents/gallon).

[Dave Reynolds]

55. In Jackson, Michigan today, $2.769 for 87 octane.

Fuckin'-A right I'm pissed.

[Barkley]

72. Those are California Prices!?!?! Pasadena is $2.77 for 87 octane

[JNelson6563]

57. So they finally took a ride on the Clue bus

haha Too late!

[RamboLiberal]

59. This cartoon says it all

[NYC]

62. That's a good one.

Thanks.

[Pharlo]

60. Well, Gee!

I'll bet they don't understand....
They extended daylight savings by 3 weeks...

How much more do their constituents expect of them?

Jeez, what's next? People going to demand they spend more time governing and less time fund raising?

Talk about UNREASONABLE!!! Damn voters!

[shanti]

63. YA THINK??

:eyes:

[Catrina]

64. Oil Men in the White House

A weak Republican Party following the orders of the Oil Cartels, screwing their constituents and the profits going to the friends and families of FOB. What DID Bush supporters expect?

But Hugo Chavez, democratically elected, Christian president of the oil-rich, sovereign nation of Venezuela, has offered to help America's poor by stepping in where their Republican controlled government failed them and will supply them with cheap oil and free medical care.

Meantime, the US Christian Right, spoken for by the Rev. Pat Robertson, is calling for the assassination of the Venezuelan president!! What a world we live in!!

I like Venezuela's version of Christianity. Don't think Jesus would be too thrilled with the US version. Btw, has Bush condemned Pat Robertson yet for his terrorist remarks?

[Megahurtz]

65. CROOKS!

:mad:

[Mike_The_Computer]

66. Swing, sweet, sweet pendulum of karma. SWING! n/t

[Barkley]

69. We're Americans and We're entitled to cheap gas!

forever and ever - Amen