Observations

Sense and Nonsense

Two Republicans made public statements today. One of them was right, and one of them was wrong.

President George Bush said today that gasoline prices are high because Democrats have consistently opposed efforts to drill for domestic oil and build new refineries, which is true, that worldwide demand is up but supplies are static, which is also true, and that when demand for something exceeds supply, prices go up, and that, too, is true. He also said he expects the economy to rebound, and the data tends to support that, as well. The quarterly productivity number was positive, not negative as the definition of “recession” requires, job losses were lower than last month, and unemployment fell back to 5.0 percent, which is defined as full employment.

Senator John McCain, on the campaign trail, told his audience that he will strive to make the U.S. energy independent by developing alternative energy methods, which is a good goal, but he said that this would make it unnecessary for the U.S. to ever send military personnel to the Middle East again. The clear implication from McCain’s comment is that we are in Iraq for oil. That is nonsense, and McCain knows it. If we had gone to Iraq for its oil, we would be bringing Iraqi oil to the U.S., reducing the amount we have to purchase from OPEC, et al. But even if McCain was correct, who’s to say that something else might pop up over there requiring military action, like, for example, a nuclear-ized Iran, or Arab aggression against Israel, etc.?

Watching Democrat candidates get hammered for skirting the truth apparently hasn’t sunk in on John McCain. The road to the White House is by talking straight with the American people. “Straight talk” used to be McCain’s byword. Let’s hope he wakes up and smells the coffee, and gets back to that real soon.

Technorati Tags: Politics, McCain,Bush