McCain himself has acknowledged that conservation is an important part of his strategy to achieve energy security.
On June 17, in a speech on energy security in Houston, the senator from Arizona said:
In the face of climate change and other serious challenges, energy conservation is no longer just a moral luxury or a personal virtue. Conservation serves a critical national goal.So if conservation is so vital to the national well-being, as McCain says, why ridicule a conservation method as simple but effective as proper tire inflation?
How does Frank James start his piece? As such:
Now that many of us have had a good laugh following Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign’s use of tire-inflation gauges as weapons of mass distraction against Sen. Barack Obama…
You answered your own question, you enabling twit. “Ha ha ha, Obama is so out of touch. Look at the fun we are having with tire gauges. Hey- wait. Maybe he is right?”
Simpletons.
*** Update ***
Was I unfair to James? From the comments:
I guess I don’t get what’s wrong with James’s column. Yeah, he writes, “Now that many of us have had a good laugh,” but “many of us” is what someone writes when he means “many of you” and doesn’t want to come off like a prick. From there on in the entire column is critical of McCain. Even in that same sentence you’ve got James calling the tire gauges “weapons of mass distraction.”
I don’t understand why anyone would care if they came across as a prick to, well, pricks. They deserve it.
zzyzx
If talking intelligently about a step that people can do to help conserve oil causes Obama to lose the election, I officially give up on politics.
Notorious P.A.T.
About a month ago I was driving home from a family visit. I had read that inflating your tires improves gas mileage so I pulled over and pumped them up somewhat. So I guess I deserve to be laughed at too. Morons.
4tehlulz
ZOMG LOOK AT ME IM SO BALANCED orz
Dreggas
You know, this is as sophomoric as the kids in high school who always taunted those of us with more than half a brain. It’s like revenge of the nerds only we aren’t at the part where the nerds get their revenge yet, but it’s coming.
zzyzx
I suppose part of my anger over this comes from owning a Prius. Before I bought it, I read the forums and people always had, “Are your tires properly inflated?” as the first diagnostic step for bad mileage. That frequently was the problem and people were excited to see that was all they had to do to improve their efficiency. “What? He said something that was true and little known that would help out people? We don’t want that in a president!”
Zifnab
Listen, McCain’s got to win this election first and foremost. If that means convincing a whole bunch of low-information voters and anti-environmentalists to drive around on bald tires 30 miles above the speed limit in Escalates full of concrete for the next six months, so be it. The environment can wait.
4tehlulz
Only if that concrete is imported from China, though. The devil is in the details.
Napoleon
Per TPM McCain volunteered Cindy for a topless contest at the Sturges bike event.
Dreggas
kinda O/T but John Kerry Makes a funny
Jake
The joke Kerry made is indeed a good one. He’s definitely better campaigning for someone besides himself.
Concerning the thread topic, just remember it’s all fun and games until we invade another sovereign nation.
El Cid
Ha ha Obama and the Demcraps are so stupid and gay they probably chekc their tire pressure and sh*t instead of praying about it ha ha ha here here is a pink poney purple heart bandaid gay gay gay tire gauge and a bumber stikcer shwoing Obama kissing Iran’s butt ha ha ha
did I mention i is a big tym so-fiskated jurnliss with reel jurnlism trainin & valyus?
Dreggas
What’s more amusing is that McCain had to go TO the crowd, the crowd didn’t COME to him. Easy to make a speech when you have a captive audience. He also once again tagged Obama as “foreign” with his ripping on 200k berliners attending Obama’s speech. Fucking tool.
PaulW
My dad’s spent the last two months reminding me to keep my tire pressure up on my car to improve fuel efficiency.
My dad’s a Republican. Old School. I’ve mentioned it before, he’s so hardcore GOP he still thinks Nixon didn’t do anything wrong.
I would like every columnist, every GOP official, every moron who’s been mocking Obama for his tire pressure tip to apologize RIGHT NOW to my Republican father who so clearly does not deserve to be mocked in any way by these bastards.
We need to punish the Stupid before it gets worse. And it will get worse, trust me.
The Moar You Know
For Christ’s sake don’t give them any ideas. I just know I’ll be seeing that on the freeway by next week.
bago
Obama should reply by handing out red, white, and blue drag chutes to the press corps so they can support offshore drilling.
Joshua Norton
Trying to explain conservation to a “conservative” is like trying to explain Tivo to the Amish.
bago
If you’re going to intentionally retard your car, retard it the republican way! The McCain Drag Chute! Given them an extra big oue for the Straight Talk Express.
jrg
I’m so sick of this bullshit… The environment does not matter because Al Gore has a big house that his staff works out of… You should not inflate your tires because Obama recommended it to save gas.
All of the problems of the real world have become an extension of the GOP’s idiotic culture wars. The Republican party is ideologically and morally bankrupt.
“Conservative” my ass.
If the GOP really did manage the government like a business, they would all be out of a job. Can you imagine working with someone who never provided helpful input, but chose instead to mock everyone else in the room? They would be out of a job in a second.
Republicans like John McCain are destroying this country.
El Cid
Sure, but that’s different.
When Republicans tell you to keep your tire pressure checked & up, they’re doing so to keep your car correctly maintained and help you increase your fuel efficiency and tire durability.
When Democrats tell you to keep your tire pressure checked & up, they’re doing so because they’re cowards who can’t thing of anything else to do on energy but the equivalent of raising the white flag to the mullahs who Nancy Pelosi let raise our gas prices.
See? It’s completely different.
bago
No, wait. It should be golden and embroidered with the names of all of the oil company CEOs who have contributed to his campaign.
The Golden Drag Chute for the straight talk express. Perfect.
Dreggas
You been talking to my father? That’s exactly the shit he says. He could tell you that checking your spark plugs would help keep your car in good shape but if a liberal told him the same thing he’d swear they were wrong. For a while I thought he was recovering, hell he hated McCain, but now he is all about McCain.
Fledermaus
About a year back Hannity had a guest host on his radio show during the Taco Bell e coli outbreak. He spent the next three hours claiming to be eating Taco Bell tacos and exhorting all his listners to go buy taco bell that day because the NY Times printed an editorial criticizing Bush’s handling of the FDA vis-a-vis e coli.
Yes he really was asking his listeners to possibly expose themselves to e coli just to stick it to the NY Times, pleanty took him up on it. At the time I thought how helpful it would be if the Times came out with an editorial against mixing bleach and amonia in closed spaces.
Matthew B.
I guess I don’t get what’s wrong with James’s column. Yeah, he writes, “Now that many of us have had a good laugh,” but “many of us” is what someone writes when he means “many of you” and doesn’t want to come off like a prick. From there on in the entire column is critical of McCain. Even in that same sentence you’ve got James calling the tire gauges “weapons of mass distraction.”
Dreggas
Someone should send this in as a suggestion to Fox. After all remember the reports of deaths following people being told to put duct tape and plastic on their windows….
D-Chance.
I notice that the Liberal blogs refer to oil drills as the Republican phallic symbol. It seems to me that the tire gauge is the Democratic equivalent. Let’s compare… RPS takes heavy machinery to move around, DPS can easily be hidden in the palm of a hand; RPS drills miles into the ground, DPS penetrates a fraction of an inch; RPS hits gushers which can send liquid spewing out hundreds of feet into the air, DPS spits out a white stick a couple of inches and goes “fffft”.
RPS wins.
The Moar You Know
You left out that the RPS needs to be handled by lots of sweaty, burly men, are frequently jammed in places they shouldn’t be, pollute everything they touch and are a classic symbol of a catastophic failure to adapt to modernity.
I’ll take the tire gauge, thanks.
jrg
That’s the same sort of moronic argument I get from mine. As if Al Gore’s house really matters in the long run… As if these talking points matter in the long run.
Republicans simply don’t care about conservation or the environment. If you need a big house to run a campaign out of, you’re a wasteful hypocrite. If you save energy by inflating your tires or wearing a sweater, you’re a pansy dhimmicrat.
Everything the GOP does and says is based off of a hatred of the perceived enemy that is “thuh libuls”… That’s why the GOP never does anything good for American when they gain office: they never stood for anything in the first place.
Dreggas
This is why RPS is a classic symbol of the Republicans. After all:
1: Needs to be handled by lots of sweaty, burly men – See Craig, Larry.
2) Frequently jammed into places they shouldn’t b – See Foley, Mark. See Also Vitter, David and Haggard, Ted.
3) Pollute everything they touch – See Bush, George W. See Also Cheney, Dick and Republican Party, The.
4) Classic symbol of a catostrophic failure to adapt to modernity – See Republican Party, The. Religious Right, The. Bush, George W. et al.
skippy
john, i’m w/matthew on this one.
james’s first paragraph is obviously irony, and the the punchline is the second paragraph, which he opens with “but who’s really out of touch,” then he goes on to prove, w/citable figures, that obama’s remark was 100% accurate.
irony, for those that don’t know, is a fancy word for “sarcasm.”
junkiebrewster
Elitist!!!!!!!
Zifnab
Shorter D-Chance: Penis penis penis penis penis. Mine’s bigger.
bago
Alright! So I put together a picture of what I had in mind.
DRAGNUTZ4WALNUTS!
gbear
You say that like there’s something wrong with it.
Well Paul, I did my part this morning by calling Tim Pawlenty’s office and leaving a message that I was disgusted by his introduction of the tire gauge as a political tool. Elaborations followed…
Corner Stone
jrg says:
*Looks around the office and nods in agreement*
chopper
that’s a good one, actually. heh.
demimondian
I can’t, but my coworkers tell me they can.
Idiots. As if they knew anything like as much as I do.