Back in April and May, John McCain joined Hillary Clinton in proposing a suspension of the federal gasoline tax over the summer as a way of providing relief to consumers and businesses dealing with high gasoline prices.
As I noted more than once —- see here, here, here, here, and here —- the absurdity of the idea that suspending an 18-cent per gallon tax for three months would result in any meaningful reduction in the price of gas is fairly evident to anyone who understand economics and how markets work.
But, of course, this is politics…….
For Hillary Clinton, it was a wedge issue that she tried to use in a failed effort to stage a last stand in Indiana and North Carolina.
For John McCain, well, I’ve got to admit that I don’t know why McCain would sign on to such an economically stupid piece of political pandering. The only explanation I can come up with is that he really doesn’t understand economics, which is something he’s admitted in the past.
After Indiana, the gas tax holiday idea pretty much went away, but now it seems that John McCain thinks there’s no better time than the present to bring back this pandering piece of trash:
WASHINGTON (CNN) – With gas prices reaching a national average of four dollars a gallon — a record high — John McCain is planning to resurrect his call for a national gas tax holiday, which became a staple of his stump speech in late April and early May.
A McCain aide told CNN’s Dana Bash on Monday that the Arizona senator planned to plug the gas tax holiday in public statements throughout the day as a message to voters that he understands the plight of working families in a tough economy.
Before a fundraiser in Richmond, Virginia on Monday, McCain mentioned the gas tax holiday in remarks to a smaller event for about 40 high-dollar donors. “That was derided by Sen. Obama and others as a gimmick,” McCain said, but added that working people and truckers would appreciate it.
“I don’t pretend that it’s an answer to our energy problems,” he said
Then what, Senator McCain, do you pretend that it’s answer to ? Because it’s not going to accomplish anything in the real world.
Of course, Senator McCain seems to only have a passing familiarity with the real world when it comes to this issue:
McCain’s original gas tax holiday proposal called for suspending the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Hillary Clinton supported a similar proposal during her Democratic primary bid.
Along with Barack Obama, many economists largely dismissed the notion of a gas tax holiday as a political ruse that would do little to lower prices, but McCain has repeatedly said he does not believe the proposal would be a panacea for America’s energy woes.
Instead, McCain argued, low-income families could save some extra cash to pay for their children’s school supplies this fall, or perhaps treat themselves to a nice dinner.
Seriously ?
This is what the Republican Party has been reduced to ?
With idiocy like this, I’m not sure McCain deserves to win a single state in November.
[...] this, his pandering on the gas tax holiday, and his evisceration of the First Amendment, I’m beginning to think that McCain may actually [...]