Apparently, the Republican National Committee has decided to sign on to John McCain and Hillary Clinton’s stupid, and in the end pointless, idea to suspend the Federal Gas Tax during the summer.
For their part in the effort, they are running this attack ad against Barack Obama:
There isn’t a lot that I agree with Barack Obama on in terms of policy, but in this one he is absolutely 100% correct. Suspending the Federal gas tax will do nothing to address the “problem” of higher gasoline prices in the long term, and it is unlikely to have any real impact at the pump for the majority of consumers.
The fact that he supported such a suspension as an Illinois Legislator and now opposes it as a Presidential candidate is, in my book, a point in his favor. Unlike the other two Presidential candidates, he isn’t pandering to the public by putting forward an idea that sounds good when you first hear it but, in reality, accomplishes nothing.
The Republicans used to be the party of economic sanity. Watching a shameful, pandering ad like this makes me wonder if there is any sanity left in the Republican National Committee.
H/T: Marc Ambinder
May 1st, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Agreed.
This whole gas tax thing is one of the more retarded things I’ve seen being pushed in politics (almost as much as baby bonds).
I saw a commentator on CNN say that “This shows how out of touch Barack Obama is with the working class.” regarding his opposition to this “holiday”. I hope to Jeebus that the reporter isn’t right, but I have my suspicions that he is. …That to be “in touch” with the working class you have to be a moron pushing moronic ideas.
Remove the tax and you’ll save the average American about $3 a fill up. Whoop-de-doo.
May 1st, 2008 at 11:13 pm
[...] off, but just about everybody “in the know” has a reaction similar to Doug over at Below the Beltway: Apparently, the Republican National Committee has decided to sign on to John McCain and Hillary [...]
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:28 pm
[...] The Death Of Economic Sanity At The Republican National Committee and In defense of the gas tax [...]