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Monday, August 04, 2008

McCain Camp Mocks Obama On Inflating Tires: GOP Hot Air Spares Ohio Sen. Voinovich

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Guess who sent an e-mail to Ohioans a few days ago urging proper tire inflation as a "commonsense" step to save energy? The answer -- Republican U.S. Sen. George Voinovich. He said it would conserve gasoline. But if you watch FOX News or read Republican-leaning "news" blogs, you'd think Illinois Sen. Barack Obama was some kind of environmental extremist for suggesting last week that Americans could trim gasoline costs by checking their tires. Turns out that Voinovich -- a former Ohio governor and Cleveland mayor -- is dispensing the same advice. So far, no mockery aimed at him from McCain. Nor NixGuy, the Ohio blogger who contends Democrats don't care about ordinary Americans other than "Oh but maybe they should check their tire inflation." Here's Voinovich on the topic of where the rubber hits the road:

"Conserve what we already have. If every American took commonsense steps to conserve gasoline such as properly aligning and inflating tires, the country as a whole could lower its fuel consumption by nearly a million barrels a day."

Maybe the Republicans ought to retire their attack on Obama. And they might think about checking their air presssure. Voinovich's paean to properly inflated tires is in this message he e-mailed about the energy crisis late in July.

16 comments:

  1. did Voinovich claim if people inflated their tires that it would mean we wouldnt have to drill or get more oil somehow? That is what Obama said.

    That press release you linked to has a ton of points of which you highlighted one. Voinovich also said he was for ANWR drilling, oil shale, and off-shore drilling.

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  2. Voinovich said it was commonsense. The wingnuts said Obama made no sense. Obama and Voinovich will help you save dollars and cents. A million barrels a day at $120 per barrel of oil is nearly $840 million a week the USA doesn't have to send to the Arabs or Hugo Chavez. That's about $43 billion saved yearly. Get out there, check your tires and help screw the oil bandits.

    There are other things that might be done as well as keeping tires properly inflated. That's one thing, and would help America.

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  3. Look, the tire inflation tip makes sense to me. It's not ideological. It will apparently save gas, and it should definitely help preserve your tires, which are increasingly pricey. So checking the air-pressure is a good auto maintenance practice. (In fact, I just checked my car's manual and it says proper inflation is for fuel economy and safety. Check yours). I'm glad Obama suggested that. I'm glad Voinovich suggested that -- and listed it prominently among some of his other ideas about the energy crisis. It will save gas for both Republicans and Democrats. It is a commonsense step.

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  4. I even said tire inflation was a good thing....just not as a plan to not drill as well.

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  5. I just located a Goodyear Tire & Rubber co. press release from May 23, 2006 -- when gas was $2.91 per gallon -- that reports underinflated tires cost the U.S. more than 3.5 million gallons of gas a day. Goodyear, which is based in Akron, didn't know Obama was running for president at the time. So the issue was non-political. Here's what the release said under an Akron dateline:

    "How would you like to save about $1.40 every time you fill-up> If so, you're not alone. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company today launched a nationwide campaign that has the potential to save American motorists more than $1.1 billion dollars cin unnecessary fuel costs this summer. With many american on the verge of long-distance summer driving trips and the price of gas likely to remain high, motorists all over the country will be looking for ways to make vehicle fuel mileage work in their favor. One of the fastest, easiest and least expensive ways to improve a vehicles gas mileage is through proper tire inflation."

    Goodyear was pushing this fuel economy plan long before Obama was running for president. And, in its own words, the nation's largest tire manufacturer said proper tire inflation was a fast, easy and inexpensive way to save energy. And the saving would be significant.

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  6. Obama did not say what is on your blog. Obama said: " We could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and -- and -- and getting regular tune-ups, you can actually save just as much."

    This is unbelievable. it's laughable, of course.But it's stupid! It is stupid. This is ridiculous. This is a presidential candidate, and he's talking about keeping your tires inflated and getting regular tune-ups? That would save as much oil as drilling would produce? This guy is the Democrat presidential nominee.

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  7. Laughable not. Tell us, Mr. Expert, exactly how much oil that more drilling in the U.S. will produce in 2009 as opposed to following Obama's recommendations? Obama saves fuel immediately, lots of fuel. It is commonsense. It is not laughable. The stupid people are the ones who talk big about drilling our way out of the mess we are in.

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  8. Anonymous,

    What you're missing is it should not be a "this instead of that" type discussion. The fact that some people do not do proper maintenance on their vehicle is no reason to oppose more domestic drilling. That is the point the senator was making. Additionally, the how much will it produce immediately argument is silly. Obviously, the longer we put off drilling the longer it take for delivery to the pump. Opening ANWR would immediately impact the futures market where the bulls would be frightened by the prospect of additional supply be added.

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  9. Opening ANWR? How much would it cost to produce a barrel of oil from that location? And how would the cartel that sets the world price, OPEC, react to any production? They could easily cut the pumping to maintain prices and negate any additional supply from ANWR. The oil market is a cartel. Prices are set by collusion and supplies are controlled by OPEC. How quikcly we forget about that.

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  10. LOL. and the righties get all whipped up by el rushbag thinking tire inflation is all obama is talking about.

    wake up people!

    obama is right. carter was right. we suffer when we don't listen. do keep banging your head against that wall though. igiots.

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  11. Bill I dont know anyone arguing, as you said - What you're missing is it should not be a "this instead of that" type discussion.

    personally I agree that people should inflate their tires. But Obama said that was a fine solution to the problem. That is the difference.

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  12. Ben, what you say is just not correct. Obama has published an energy policy. He's spoken repeatedly on the trail about energy, and I'm sure it came up in the debates during the primaries. He made a brief comment that was both logical and sensibile. Indeed, ExxonMobil says proper tire inflation could conserve a tank of fuel per vehicle in the USA each year. There are about 11 million registered vehicles in Ohio alone. I have another post today on what Big Oil says.

    McCain now wants to drill off the coasts, Obama seems to be moving that way. Last year, they both were opposed. There is movement by both candidates. Now McCain should embrace tire inflation and not belittle the suggestion. It's an extremely logical way to quickly lessen dependence on foreign oil -- the operative words there are quickly lessen dependence. In your own hometown, Goodyear has said that is so sensible it will give people free air for their tires at its repair shops.

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  13. So I'm wondering how I can inflate the tires on my propane tank. Every little bit helps!

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  14. Are you drinking again Dave? Aren't you the same Dave who puts out the blog called Nixguy, the blogger who thinks proper tire inflation is a waste of time.

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  15. Bill, I am just repeating what Obama said in Missouri.

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  16. The issues are A) What can we do NOW that will ease the pressure on the average guy's pocketbook and B) what can we do long term to move us into a sustainable situation?

    To get to A we need efficiency and control of speculation. It is estimated that 60% of the $140 barrel price was due to speculation, driven largely by Bush's beating the war drum on Iran. We sit down at the table with them and the price drops $20. We can conserve oil, develop wind convert our corporate fleets to natural gas (which there is an abundance of in the new found Appalachian ranges.

    To become sustainable we need to convert the economy. Electric cars are on the horizon. Thin layer photovoltaics are 20 years away (sooner than the 45 nuclear plants that McCain proposes; and people will actually live next to a house with photovoltaics, I don't imagine there will be a line to volunteer to live next to the nukes).

    The issues are complex; unfortunately the American public can't seem to grasp anything more complex than the drivel being fed to us by the media.

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