Filed under: MPG, Legislation and Policy, Green Daily, USA
Dumbest Quote of the Day: Newt says keeping tires inflated helps Big Oil
Photo by david.nikonvscanon. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.
Oh, poor Newt Gingrich. Once the shining star of the Republican party, the former House Speaker has now been reduced to spewing utter nonsense on Sean Hannity's TV show (yes, for some readers this will feel like a dog bites man type of story). ThinkProgress catches Gingrich trying to make a political point out of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's very sensible (if boring) statement that keeping automobile tires properly inflated can help save fuel. In response, Newt said the following:
Well, I got a very funny e-mail from a retired military officer in Tampa who pointed out that most tire inflation is done at service stations and you pay for it. And it's actually a higher profit margin than selling gasoline. So Sen. Obama was urging you to go out and enrich Big Oil by inflating your tires instead of buying gas.
I think all of our readers can figure why this is nonsense, but ThinkProgress has the details if not. As Josh Marshall says, it "Simply defies comprehension how stupid this is. But you can say anything on Fox." Video after the jump. In related news, dKos has a long and opinionated post looking at politicians and Big Oil.
[Source: ThinkProgress]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
epyx 1:03PM (8/19/2008)
I think it was tongue and cheek but still stupid thing to say.
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Lad 3:26PM (8/19/2008)
Actually Gingrich is right, no pun here, but only if taken to an extreme: if one never fills their tires, the tires flatten and the car can't be driven...thus getting the highest mileage possible.
Brent 1:04PM (8/19/2008)
He got that from an e-mail... he said it was a funny e-mail. I don't see how this is news worthy. I am on autobloggreen, aren't I?
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ROMI 1:09PM (8/19/2008)
If Newt is correct, why haven't we seen big oil pushing the Aircar?
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floorman56 11:40AM (8/20/2008)
Because oil co. dont push cars?
Bailers 1:12PM (8/19/2008)
Anything to try an make the RNC, Fox News, and anyone else that isn't a member of Greenpeace look bad right?
Hey, can I donate to Obama or maybe to Ralph Nader through this website now?
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meme 1:38PM (8/19/2008)
If this isn't topical (the "inflate your tires" debate), then nothing related to politics is. The fact that those on the right are making idiotic arguments against it certainly isn't *Sebastian's* fault.
oldraven 1:33PM (8/19/2008)
Since when does Big Oil profit from Service Stations when they're not selling oil or fuel? When you buy a bag of BBQ chips at Esso, is Big Oil getting paid? The answer is no. If anything, your local Electricity supplier makes money when you fill you tires.
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Mike Z 1:46PM (8/19/2008)
ABG is really going down hill posting this kind of stuff. It was a joke after all, get off your high horse and smile.
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Barry 1:48PM (8/19/2008)
The orginal dumbest comment (paraphrased), "we can get all the oil they are talking about drilling by tuning up our cars and inflating our tires". Cars, for the last 10 - 15 years do not require tune-ups for at least 100,000 miles. Most people, especially with $4.00+ gasoline costs, already have their tires at the proper inflation if not overly inflated (and dangerous). Obama's statement is obviously very wrong and if anybody else said it, they would have been mercilessly ridiculed. End of discussion.
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meme 5:34PM (8/19/2008)
Argue with the DOE and EPA about how much gas we'd save if everyone tuned up their cars and inflated their tires properly, not Sebastian. They're the ones where his numbers came from. Here's a good analysis of the numbers (one of countless):
http://climateprogress.org/2008/07/31/doeepa-say-obamas-right-limbaughs-wrong-more-oil-can-be-found-in-your-car-than-offshore/
And it's a perfectly valid point; it's much easier to conserve our way out of the oil problem than it is to drill our way out.
Oh, and despite me being a regular ABG reader, after Obama's comments, my partner checked our tires (she takes care of gas & maintenance). They only had 2/3rds of the recommended pressure. This from us, a family with an ABG reader in the house. *Lots* of people are driving on underinflated tires; it's no myth. And the same with cars that could benefit from a tune-up.
Matt 3:58PM (8/19/2008)
Except that the US vehicle fleet has an average age of about 10 years old and growing. In 2005, 35% of the vehicles in the fleet were 11 years old or older and growing about 5%/year.
The fact is that conservation (via strict maintenance, behavioral changes, etc...) is the cheapest and most immediate way to impact the supply/demand equation.
BGJ 8:45AM (8/20/2008)
Mercilessly ridiculed? I don't recall anybody banning NASCAR for recommending the exact same thing.
Republican hack.
rob 8:47AM (8/20/2008)
Drilling WILL make a difference in the supply-demand equation. Asking people to do conservation measures MAY make a difference.
How many people will think, "Cool...if the other guys all pump up their tires it will make a big difference. My one vehicle won't matter...."?
Now, if Obama does the typical liberal thing and has legislation passed (with appropriate noncompliance penalty as a revenue generation mechanism for the government) that says people will be required to maintain air pressure using weekly vehicle inspections or having an onboard system that alerts the driver and the local authorities that the pressure is out of spec then maybe it WILL work...
Robert 8:09AM (8/26/2008)
Surely checking your tyre pressures is so simple and easy that your average American (or inhabitant of any other vehicle-driving nation, for that matter) won't consider it a huge imposition just to stick the tyre gauge on there once every month or two?
Or have levels of personal responsibility really sunk that low? If people are so happy to leave everything to others, surely it's only a matter of time before they decide that breathing regularly is just too much effort?
TX CHL Instructor 1:50PM (8/19/2008)
It's interesting to what depths an obama-head will stoop, isn't it? Newt was quoting an email tongue-in-cheek (a joke), and it went completely over the head of the resident autoblog-pink hack.
Of course, even the most egregious mis-statement by the Darling Socialist Who Can Do No Wrong is perfectly ok.
How about either keeping this crap off of AutoBlogGreen, or maybe just shutting the hell up and going away, Sebastian?
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Chris Carpenter 2:00PM (8/19/2008)
face>palm, shake head in disbelief...
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HoosierRon 2:10PM (8/19/2008)
Why don't you quote what Gingrich said immediately after the video was cut off? If you did, you would see that this is the most intellectually dishonest story ever posted on this web site. Shame on you.
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Justin 11:01AM (8/21/2008)
Because honest reporting rarely makes anything news worthy.
woodenbee 2:33PM (8/19/2008)
it stills defies all logic why there are so many bush hugging, bigoil loving, republicants commenting on this site, are you that dim that you dont realize how utterly out of place you are here? if your not a fan of Obama and greenpeace and all the other liberal/environmental leaders and thinkers then you have no valid reason to criticize or comment on Autobloggreen, your world view is against everything it is about and tries to report on, go and login to your ditto head account and keep your pointless, ill intentioned/informed comments to yourselves
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