Americans Believe Bush Administration Manipulating Gas Prices to Help GOP

[uluz2a6]

A USA Today/Gallup poll conducted September 15-17 reveals that an astounding 42% of Americans believe that the current drop in prices at the pump are the direct result of manipulation by the Bush administration. Naturally FOX News could not let such a disturbing result go unchallenged. Consequently, on yesterday morning's FOX & Friends they invited Bloomberg News columnist Amity Shlaes to rebut the poll results.

Ms. Shlaes offered up a tasty dollop of opinion liberally sprinkled with a dash of half-truth, all nicely wrapped to convince the FOX viewers that the opinion of 42% of Americans is completely wrong.

AMITY SHLAES: "... The Republicans wish they could control the price but they probably can't. It's very hard for an administration to control the oil price even though it would be fun for it to do so, especially in an election year."

Note how she fudges her answer with the word "probably" indicating that she's not willing to make a categorical denial. Americans aren't stupid. They know that Bush and his cronies are thick as thieves with the Saudi sheiks, Wall Street financiers and Big Oil, the three groups most able to control the price of a barrel of crude.

SHLAES: "Well, perception is not always reality even though we wish it were and we learn that from marketing people. The reality is that it is a market and the market is very large and controlled by things from Alaska to the discovery of oil reserves to the mood in the Middle East. But there's a second aspect to this, which is interesting, which is that people do believe it. And I think that's important because Americans don't just have cars, they are their cars, so if you wake up in the morning and you feel good and you can go and the price is lower than it was before, that makes you feel good about the President. That part is real."

With these words Ms. Shlaes actually articulated the precise reason that Bush and his billionaire cronies would go to the ends of the earth to lower the price of a gallon of gas two months before an election, i.e., studies show that the price of a gallon of gas has a direct impact on the President's favorables.

SHLAES: "... And OPEC has some control. The administration has some control. The oil companies have some control. But there's a lot of hypocrisy in here, too. For example, last summer the Democrats wanted this windfall profits tax really bad. They wanted it to help the consumer, to punish the oil companies. Well, now something has happened that does help the consumer, this lower oil price, less at the pump, and the Democrats are saying the Republicans are bad and they caused it. So you want to look out who's saying what (sic). There's a lot of manipulation going on in the language here."

First of all, no Democrat has said that lowering the price of a gallon of gas is "bad". That is an assumption Ms. Shlaes made because it advanced her argument. In addition, notice how skillfully she labeled the entire 42% as "Democrats" despite the fact that the Gallup poll showed that approximately 1/3 of the 42% (14%) were Republican or Independent. According to an article in the September 26th edition of USA Today (N. B. Original post mistakenly attributed excerpt below to Business Week)

Fimat USA oil analyst Antoine Halff says there is no doubt "the downturn in prices is welcome news from an electoral standpoint for the ruling party." But he scoffed at the notion that the president has the power to muscle a global market.
The plunge in prices, Halff says, is the result of growing U.S. inventories of fuel, slowing economic growth and toned-down rhetoric between Iran and the United States, which has been critical of Tehran's uranium enrichment program.

The sell-off has been magnified, Halff says, by the recent retreat from the market of many speculative investors who got burned by the late-summer volatility in commodities prices. Just last week, a prominent hedge fund told investors it lost some $6 billion due to bad bets on natural gas prices.

That said, "the sky is not falling," says Halff, who believes oil prices will likely head higher again this winter and average more than $65 a barrel throughout 2007.

GRETCHEN CARLSON: "It's amazing to me how gas prices can be almost the single indicator of likeability of a President."

SHLAES: "It's a tribute to the President, 'cause he has less power than people think he does. Any executive has less power, so - but, but that has more, again, to do with our feeling that we are cars and our nation goes with cars so cars are important so we feel good about everything globally in our life, including the Executive."

http://www.newshounds.us/BushApprovalGasPrice

[L98Terror]

Opinions are like assholes everyone has one. Just because people think something doesn't make it so.


BTW how many people used to think the earth was flat?

[uluz2a6]

BTW how many people used to think the earth was flat?


:WTF:

[Sean124]

yeah i don't really sign onto this one a whole lot.that not to say that it doesn't work in there favor however.

[postban]

Hey look, unoriginal copy/paste'rs doing battle with each other. This is fun.



The great gasoline conspiracy: Prices up? Bush's fault! Prices down? Bush is rigging it!
Las Vegas Review-Journal ^ | Sep. 28, 2006 | Editorial

Posted on 09/28/2006 6:55:59 AM PDT by Nevadan

The global pressures of supply and demand that sent energy prices skyward over the past year have brought the cost of gasoline closer to earth, at least for the time being.

Oil production along the Gulf Coast hasn't been interrupted by major hurricanes, so domestic supplies are up. The geopolitical climate of the Middle East has cooled. Crude oil futures, which traded at $78 per barrel in July, now go for close to $60. As a result, Americans are paying anywhere between 30 and 70 cents less for a gallon of gasoline than they did this summer. In some parts of the United States, gasoline sells for less than $2 a gallon.

However, for some Americans, good news is bad news.

American suffering is the core of the Democratic election strategy. Surely, President Bush ordered the price cut to trick the unwitting masses into returning Republicans to Washington. (Just like he ordered prices to rise a few months back to help his oil buddies.)

It's a ridiculous conspiracy theory that defies all reason. Nevertheless, a new Gallup poll asked Americans whether President Bush's administration "deliberately manipulated the price of gasoline so that it would decrease before this fall's election." And 42 percent of participants said they agreed with the statement.

Not surprisingly, two-thirds of the survey participants who bought this baloney are registered Democrats. But the contempt these people have for the president has created a gaping crack in their anti-Bush rhetoric. They would have Americans believe George W. Bush is the dumbest man alive, yet so fiendishly brilliant he can manipulate markets around the world, possessing "the kind of magisterial clout unknown to any other human being," Bush spokesman Tony Snow said Monday.

A Category 4 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico or genocidal threats from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could reverse this price plunge very quickly. But then, if either of those scenarios played out, the left would blame President Bush.

You'd expect a small sampling of any population to hold outlandish opinions as a result of some perceived injustice, a lack of opportunity, a limited education or plain old bad luck. But when more than 40 percent of the population buys such ridiculous conspiracy theories, it can't be pinned on life circumstances. Clearly, the opinion that President Bush rigs energy prices from the Oval Office is held by a wide spectrum of America. These people aren't merely ignorant of history and economic theory. They find comfort in believing that sinister, mysterious forces control the world around them. In this regard, they're no different from the millions of Arabs of all social classes who believe their repressive Islamic nations are being kept down by a Zionist-American plot.

"If we're dropping gas prices now," Mr. Snow said Monday, "why on earth did we raise them to $3.50 before?"

This Gallup poll reveals the toxic partisanship that has overwhelmed the electorate. It also lays bare the economic illiteracy of too many citizens living in the world's richest nation.



copy/paste back at you.

[cASe SenSiTive]

People believe a lot of stupid things. :dontknow:
I don't believe that Bush and Co. are actively manipulating oil prices to get votes. That's simply beyond their means really.
The main reason that oil futures are down right now is that people aren't using as much energy at the moment. It's after vacation time, but before heating oil is being used. It's also a point of the year when there is less product being moved through retail, so you have a corrosponding decrease in trucking.

[uluz2a6]

Hey look, unoriginal copy/paste'rs doing battle with each other. This is fun.

Sweeet! Now lets see you SPIN FACTS.

http://www.newshounds.us/BushApprovalGasPrice

[cASe SenSiTive]

Sweeet! Now lets see you SPIN FACTS.

http://www.newshounds.us/BushApprovalGasPrice


You have to put that in context man. There are countless other factors that contribute to Bush's approval rating over that period of time. Iraq, immigration, SS, Katrina, etc..
The only thing you can really say is that higher gas prices make people cranky, and when they're cranky, they want to place the blame on someone in power. :dontknow:

[stalked_R/T]

Sweeet! Now lets see you SPIN FACTS.

http://www.newshounds.us/BushApprovalGasPrice


You have to be an idiot to honestly believe that that chart has any coorelation between the two. Sometimes I wonder if you just post things to get a response out of people or if you really are this stupid. Do you have any understanding of economics? Do you understand business cycles? Do you understand that as things become less and less available the cost of the item is going to go up? Let's see what has happened recently that might, just might (OK, it's definitely effecting it, but we'll play stupid for you for the moment) have had an effect on oil prices.

1. Hurricane season is over. The hype preseason was that last year would be a cake walk. this year... nothing. I mean did we even really get hit with anything? Ok. so costs immediately go down.

2. Tension in Israel has subsided. Notice how the cost of fuel went up with the swings of the Israeli/Lebaneese war? Yes you did because you bitched about it and how it was Bush's fault. That's over, prices go down.

3. I think they found a couple drops of oil in the gulf. So what if it's the largest oil find in the gulf ever, it can't possibly be that the factor known as supply and demand might have worked like it's supposed to in a free market society. Guess what? Prices go down.

Now did Bush plan these world events to happen all at the same time? I mean we all know he made Katrina hit New Orleans and caused the earthquakes in Indonesia, but come on. Give him some human limitations. he can't stop a war or make oil be formed in the ground.


As for you bitching about price fixing, you're gonna upset your own party. If we can't price fix, I guess we should get rid of all of the agricultural subsidies, and farmers are gonna have to close up shop since the price of milk will plummet. Good job there killer.

[postban]

Even the source you used thinks its spurious;

Bush Approval Ratings vs. Gas Prices
A spurious correlation, in part, but the inverse relation between retail gas prices and President Bush's approval ratings is worth pondering. (Click for a larger version.)

http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2006/04/26/bush_approval_r.html

Kinda old, from April...... that makes it even more out of context to the current situation.

[L98Terror]

:WTF:


I guess I'm wondering what your point is? I know you think Bush controls the price of oil, so I'm assuming the point of your post is that since 42% of people poled think Bush controls than it must be so.

What I'm say if you go back a few hundred years 99% of people thought the world was flat, just because people believe something doesn't make it so.

Come up with some facts....proof:dontknow:

[uluz2a6]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/images/0729-03.gif

Naw.. Republicans and oil are not connected:pow:

[stalked_R/T]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/images/0729-03.gif

Naw.. Republicans and oil are not connected:pow:


maybe it's because republicans aren't the ones pushing for tighter EPA standards? Or maybe it's because republicans would rather let the free market run its course? You complain about price fixing, and complain about free market. :pow:

[Sean124]

maybe it's because republicans aren't the ones pushing for tighter EPA standards? Or maybe it's because republicans would rather let the free market run its course? You complain about price fixing, and complain about free market. :pow:

there is a difference between free markets and regulating poloutiion distinctly different issues. Regulating emissions does put minor pressure on the market but i don;t want my backyard turning into and industrial dumping ground which is what the rallying cry for creating the EPA was all about. Secondly the oil industry is deregulated isn't it ? aside from EPA guidline where else are they regulated ?

[stalked_R/T]

there is a difference between free markets and regulating poloutiion distinctly different issues. Regulating emissions does put minor pressure on the market but i don;t want my backyard turning into and industrial dumping ground which is what the rallying cry for creating the EPA was all about. Secondly the oil industry is deregulated isn't it ? aside from EPA guidline where else are they regulated ?

didn't separate those statements enough. Didn't mean to tie free market and epa emissions.

[uluz2a6]

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/images/CLEAN_AIR.jpg

[uluz2a6]

maybe it's because republicans aren't the ones pushing for tighter EPA standards?

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/images/CLEAN_AIR.jpg

[L98Terror]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/images/0729-03.gif

Naw.. Republicans and oil are not connected:pow:

You act like those numbers are big, it's peanuts.

Look at this and then tell me what you think:dontknow: You'll be surprised at where your union dues go.

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.asp?order=A

[Performance Red Dale]

Why is it, that anytime you mention to a liberal that our president was elected, the first thing they say to you is that he was elected by (As Al put it), "the majority of Americans are inbred hicks who don't know what's good for them." BUT they live and die by the polls that are taken from these same inbreds?

[Performance Red Dale]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/images/0729-03.gif

Naw.. Republicans and oil are not connected:pow:


Yeah Im sure there are alot of people out there who like to pay the person who is going to kick them in the balls. Grow a brain.

Does this mean that the Democrats who take money from farmers to insure that the farm subsidy laws arent changed are evil too?

What about the Democrats who take HUGE amounts of cash from the Unions?

Would you send money to any candidate for political office that didn't support your views?

[mdhmi]

Yeah Im sure there are a lot of people out there who like to pay the person who is going to kick them in the balls.

Maybe they would be sucking them instead of kicking them had they been bribed too. :bsjerk:

What about the Democrats who take HUGE amounts of cash from the Unions?

Guilty as well. Ban all non personal contributions and then cap them at $50 per person. Also shortening the campaign season would -greatly- reduce the amount of money politicians need to accept in bribes.

Would you send money to any candidate for political office that didn't support your views?

Possibly - if I felt it would undermine the incumbent.

[Performance Red Dale]

Maybe they would be sucking them instead of kicking them had they been bribed too. :bsjerk:



Guilty as well. Ban all non personal contributions and then cap them at $50 per person. Also shortening the campaign season would -greatly- reduce the amount of money politicians need to accept in bribes.



Possibly - if I felt it would undermine the incumbent.


Lobbying isnt illegal. Thanks to Liberal in Disguise John McCain, Campaign financing is more out of control then before.

[mdhmi]

McCain, a war hero, is no liberal. McCain votes 85 or 90% with the Republican party line. That isn't a liberal. That's a Republican with a conscience.

[Performance Red Dale]

McCain, a war hero, is no liberal. McCain votes 85 or 90% with the Republican party line. That isn't a liberal. That's a Republican with a conscience.


McCain is very much a liberal. Being a war hero doesnt mean hes not, Look at the two biggest dumb asses in American politics today: John Kerry and John Murtha. Both served in Vietnam, yet both are a couple of liberal jug heads.

John McCain votes for whatever is popular at the moment so the liberal press will like him. The McCain-Feingold act is a perfect example. Anyone who would attach their name to something co-authored by Russ Feingold is a liberal.

[mdhmi]

Anyone who would attach their name to something co-authored by Russ Feingold is a liberal.

You mean like the Kennedy / Bush education bill?

[Fryguy302]

Did you guys realize that the reason for global warming is actually the fact that Pirates are becoming extinct? Seriously, check this out:




http://detroitstreetcars.com/images/zoom/FNCSLT/piratesarecool4.jpg


Now I'd like to see how you can spin the FACTS!!!

[cASe SenSiTive]

Did you guys realize that the reason for global warming is actually the fact that Pirates are becoming extinct? Seriously, check this out:




http://detroitstreetcars.com/images/zoom/FNCSLT/piratesarecool4.jpg


Now I'd like to see how you can spin the FACTS!!!


:bowrofl:

[patman]

Did you guys realize that the reason for global warming is actually the fact that Pirates are becoming extinct? Seriously, check this out:




http://detroitstreetcars.com/images/zoom/FNCSLT/piratesarecool4.jpg


Now I'd like to see how you can spin the FACTS!!!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

patman

[Sean124]

Did you guys realize that the reason for global warming is actually the fact that Pirates are becoming extinct? Seriously, check this out:




http://detroitstreetcars.com/images/zoom/FNCSLT/piratesarecool4.jpg


Now I'd like to see how you can spin the FACTS!!!

if you usher out the age of sail and replace is with steam that graph follows industrilization.Sceondly while piracy is down in US and imediate waters its is a huge problem over in asia right now. ;-)

[stalked_R/T]

if you usher out the age of sail and replace is with steam that graph follows industrilization.Sceondly while piracy is down in US and imediate waters its is a huge problem over in asia right now. ;-)


this graph also doesn't take into account the users of Kazaa, Bear Share, and Limewire. Bloody Pirates!

[cASe SenSiTive]

this graph also doesn't take into account the users of Kazaa, Bear Share, and Limewire. Bloody Pirates!


Yarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!

http://www.2fasst.com/temp/pirate.jpg

[Performance Red Dale]

You mean like the Kennedy / Bush education bill?


Even I dont agree with everything Bush does