White House: President Bush wasn't joking, no one told him about $4/gal gas predictions
Filed under: Legislation and Policy, USA
Two days ago, we told you President Bush said he was unaware some analysts were predicting $4 for a gallon of gas in the U.S.. The day before Bush made those remarks, White House press secretary Dana Perino was actually asked about gas prices and she said "we're mindful of it." Yesterday, when asked if Bush was "joking around" when he said he did not know their was talk of $4 gas, the White House said that "the President's point was that neither his advisors nor Energy Department analysts are at this point forecasting $4-a-gallon gasoline."
But $4.00 gas is actually here today is some parts of the country. What does the White House have to say to that? "I think that the national average, as of earlier this week, was $3.15, according to the Energy Department and other surveys" says the White House. The EIA actually says $3.13 and "other surveys" must mean things like the AAA survey, which says $3.16. So, the White House uses multiple surveys for the average price of gas but only use a single, government source for predicting gas prices? That makes perfect sense because the EIA has been so incredibly accurate and its predictions have never changed (/sarcasm).
The price of a barrel of oil went over $103 recently and it's reasonable to think that, as a former oil man, the president knows $4 for a gallon of gas is very possible, even if he didn't see the predictions. Perhaps he was trying to defuse what might have been seen as an endorsement of the $4 prediction in the question, a number the EIA has not officially predicted. However, his appearing to have "no clue" on what analysts are predicting, as the CNN video below the fold says, is more disconcerting to some than the actual $4 predictions themselves.
[Source: The White House]
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
3-09-2008 @ 1:25PM
DogTired said...
The most disturbing fact of $4.00 gas compared to Europe is that Europe has about 50% or more tax included.
Taxes that help pay for roads, health care and education.
Whereas that $4.00 per gallon in the US goes mostly into the pockets of Exxon/Chevron/BP/Shell/76 Union and all the other special interest petroleum giants.
Just Exxon alone made 40 BILLION DOLLARS LAST YEAR IN AFTER TAX PROFIT.
Enron was Bush's highest contributor, Exxon was second.
Those oil profits go to lobby our Senate and Congress for less regualtion of prices, of environmental laws, of safety codes, less pollution violation fines, more tax breaks.
Our taxes, our children's future debts, our blood, our children's blood for their war and oil profits.
Bush and his handlers don't have a clue, they don't care. We get to "eat cake" with our $500.00 discount as we pay our income tax and his friends get who make more than 2 MILLION DOLLARS declared income are TAX FREE.
Just think the next time you put gas in your car: how much of that money is going directly into the pockets of OUR Senators and Congressmen so they will give the gas companies more tax breaks and allow them to pollute easier.
It's time to vote ALL of them OUT and start limiting what lobbyists can do and how much they can contribute.
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4-21-2008 @ 3:28PM
Donna said...
It is obvious that President Bush is out in La La land if he does not know about high gas prices! He is supposed to be an advocate of the American people. He is only making big bucks for himself. He is an oilman first and foremost. I blame George Bush for high gas prices because (a) he's from Texas, (b) he once ran an oil exploration company, and (c) he has received some (perfectly legal) contributions from oil For all of these reasons he is not going to do anything about gas prices. He could care less about the American people!
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