March 13, 2012
— Ace Will Obama retract his statement that "under my plan, electricity prices will necessarily skyrocket?"
One of the Administration's few successes, as they define successes, is getting gas up to so high a price as to make electric vehicles competitive.
Um, okay, so electric vehicles are still not competitive, unless you're Johnny Blaze and are willing to pay extra for an environmentally-friendly flaming car.
But still, this is a success, as far as their laying out a goal and then achieving it.
But now Chu says, unconvincingly, he didn't mean to say that, or something.
Chu seemed to equivocate, pause, and stumble over his words when responding to LeeÂ’s question about high gas prices. Other comments Chu made at another hearing late last month put him in hot water on gas prices. Politico reported on Feb. 28 that Chu told a House committee he was not working to lower gasoline prices but to wean the United States off oil. That story has since been corrected to clarify that DOE is working to both lower gas prices and wean the country off oil. But that was only after the story was picked up by Republicans and used against the administration.
So the Secretary of Energy is really against producing usable energy. Orwell just called and asked "Did I call it or did I call it?"
Meanwhile, within walking distance to the White House, is this sign of the times.
And also meanwhile, Obama says of course the American people will "blame" him for rising gas prices, but he's magnanimous enough to understand their crude, stupid brains and the odd connections they make between policy and consequence.
Posted by: Ace at
10:15 AM
| Comments (118)
Post contains 298 words, total size 2 kb.
Biden: Obama 'would've been a one-term president' if bin Laden mission had failed
Would've been? Was he reelected and I missed it?
Posted by: Ugly Betty at March 13, 2012 10:19 AM (e8kgV)
Posted by: Soothsayer at March 13, 2012 10:19 AM (jUytm)
Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) SMOD 2012 at March 13, 2012 10:19 AM (8y9MW)
Holy. Shit. And I was pissed about having to pay $3.70ish tonight.
I remind people and remind people about the lube yet no one ever listens to me.
Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD 2012 at March 13, 2012 10:19 AM (VtjlW)
Posted by: navycopjoe at March 13, 2012 10:20 AM (aiMuM)
Posted by: King Barry XIV at March 13, 2012 10:20 AM (DrWcr)
Posted by: The Mega Independent at March 13, 2012 10:20 AM (alydU)
We're all just helpless without federal lube subsidies.
Posted by: HeatherRadish at March 13, 2012 10:20 AM (ZKzrr)
Posted by: Soothsayer at March 13, 2012 10:20 AM (jUytm)
But.....energy is a women's health issue. If you are against our energy policy, then you are against women!
Posted by: Team Barry at March 13, 2012 10:21 AM (aykLa)
Posted by: doug at March 13, 2012 10:21 AM (gUGI6)
Talk about a meme with legs.
Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) SMOD 2012 at March 13, 2012 10:21 AM (8y9MW)
Posted by: George Washington McClintock at March 13, 2012 10:21 AM (lZBBB)
>>Chu seemed to equivocate, pause, and stumble over his words
And that's on a good day. Perhaps it's good that he doesn't drive.
Posted by: Mama AJ at March 13, 2012 10:21 AM (XdlcF)
“Yeow”, the pontificating repug protests, “Such is the miserable lot of my life, all pointed barbs aside.” Lear’s (the doomed king of his own misbegotten kingdom) confusion at attacks upon his throne and self seemed dearly unwarranted. “What have we done to deserve such miserable attacks upon my regal person?” And gathered about him were such a sorry lot of acrid and acerbic souls who had an astringent and attenuated existence that begged any excuse for being. As salt in a wound, as the tart taste of a pickled pigs foot, as nasty as an aside from someone held so dear, as painful as anything said by someone you’ve held dear – you are damned by the pain you are willing to accept.
There, are the machinations of your own misery. You stoke the furnace of your own smelter of torment. You live with the self-defined slag of the dregs of your own existence. People, even your own sycophants, are confused, asking what the story is, what you are, what’s going on. That implies a dotted expletive… The answer (as if there could be any definitive code of clarity in your murky puddle of social issues) is, metaphorically, perhaps power mad stumbling drunks with a sad agenda too often directed at a sad sequence of phrases that’s so clouded by your confused priorities or the fragmented family your “party” has become.
Yes, you speak weakly and befuddled of whatever it is that is your agenda. Or rather, you speak clumsily and inarticulately of what you feel, what exactly it is you’re trying to say. Yeow, you might say. Yikes and yehoody. There you are. Stunted and stupid, the proverbial ‘foot in mouth’ as you try to explain why your grand “party” ended up in political ditch on the side of the road, late in the night of your dead-end ambitions, with no flares, no cell-phone, no sense of where you are and what you should do. Life is a conditioned agreement between what is and what could be. And it’s passed you by.
Posted by: Carl Gordon at March 13, 2012 10:22 AM (OV/3E)
Did those TSA guys stimulate something when they probed you, Ace?
Posted by: kbdabear at March 13, 2012 10:22 AM (Y+DPZ)
Both ways.
Posted by: nickless at March 13, 2012 10:22 AM (MMC8r)
MFM: No need to retract it. We've already dumped into the memory hole
Posted by: TheQuietMan at March 13, 2012 10:22 AM (1Jaio)
Posted by: Barack O'Chutzpah at March 13, 2012 10:22 AM (RD7QR)
15
memo to: GOP
Idiots, you have Obama by the balls on the gas issue. Squeeze them, you fools.
There's gas in Barry's balls?
Posted by: wheatie at March 13, 2012 10:22 AM (aykLa)
I remind people and remind people about the lube yet no one ever listens to me.
Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD 2012 at March 13, 2012 02:19 PM (VtjlW)
I can't even remember the last time I paid $3.70. Paid $4.05 a week ago.
Posted by: Tami at March 13, 2012 10:23 AM (X6akg)
Posted by: nickless at March 13, 2012 10:24 AM (MMC8r)
Dude, you need to stop with the Bolivian marching powder. Really.
Posted by: joncelli, heartless Con and all around unpleasant guy at March 13, 2012 10:24 AM (RD7QR)
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Posted by: toby928© at March 13, 2012 10:24 AM (GTbGH)
Posted by: nevergiveup at March 13, 2012 10:25 AM (i6RpT)
Posted by: Steven Chu, A Nobel Laureate at March 13, 2012 10:25 AM (QKKT0)
Posted by: The Mega Independent at March 13, 2012 10:25 AM (alydU)
Posted by: Soothsayer at March 13, 2012 10:25 AM (jUytm)
Left my house, gas station by my house said 3.68/gal. Got up to work (about an hour away) and the local gas stations (usually have the same price as the one close to my house, within a couple of cents anyway) had 3.79.
Luckily, I gassed up yesterday: maybe it'll drop by a few cents before I have to buy gas on Thursday.
Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) SMOD 2012 at March 13, 2012 10:26 AM (8y9MW)
Under my plan, electric rates will necessarily skyrocket
Posted by: King Barry the Planet Protector at March 13, 2012 10:26 AM (Y+DPZ)
Posted by: Anna Puma at March 13, 2012 10:26 AM (UVBO7)
He's not as modest as the JEF.
Posted by: GnuBreed at March 13, 2012 10:26 AM (ccXZP)
Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) SMOD 2012 at March 13, 2012 10:26 AM (8y9MW)
Posted by: thisheavenlyhell at March 13, 2012 10:27 AM (XWb4y)
Posted by: King Barry at March 13, 2012 10:27 AM (jCQ+I)
Posted by: Steven Chu, A Nobel Laureate at March 13, 2012 10:27 AM (QKKT0)
I mean, at isn't it something that at least *now* I know now that oil falls under my department's purview.
Posted by: Steven Chu, Nobel Prize Winner at March 13, 2012 10:28 AM (Rb6sT)
I've never noticed him before.
But then again, I bet Carl has had that problem his whole life.
Posted by: Sean Bannion at March 13, 2012 10:28 AM (sbV1u)
Posted by: nevergiveup at March 13, 2012 10:28 AM (i6RpT)
Posted by: joncelli, heartless Con and all around unpleasant guy at March 13, 2012 10:28 AM (RD7QR)
Hey Valerie, could you call the OMB to put another 10 grand on my card? I've gotta fill up the limo to go to the basketball game tonight
Posted by: King Barry the Frugal at March 13, 2012 10:28 AM (Y+DPZ)
'Gas, Ass or Grass' you say?
I'm a poor college student. I can't afford the Gas and I waxed away all the Grass...
I guess it'll have to be Ass.
Posted by: Sandra Fluke in 'Even Slatterns Get the Blues' at March 13, 2012 10:29 AM (Vi5W2)
That is quite the salad he tossed.
Who is the target of his ire?
Posted by: fluffy at March 13, 2012 10:29 AM (vRSeu)
Posted by: The Jackhole at March 13, 2012 10:29 AM (nTgAI)
Who is the target of his ire?
Posted by: fluffy at March 13, 2012 02:29 PM (vRSeu)
Could be anybody for all the sense it makes.
Posted by: joncelli, heartless Con and all around unpleasant guy at March 13, 2012 10:30 AM (RD7QR)
Posted by: Barky O'Genius at March 13, 2012 10:30 AM (QKKT0)
Posted by: GnuBreed at March 13, 2012 10:30 AM (ccXZP)
Posted by: Jaws at March 13, 2012 10:31 AM (4I3Uo)
Posted by: Anna Puma at March 13, 2012 10:31 AM (UVBO7)
Posted by: Carl Shakespeare at March 13, 2012 10:31 AM (Y+DPZ)
He hasn't been around for years if it's the same guy I'm thinking of. He's off his meds again. Mostly harmless.
Posted by: eleven at March 13, 2012 10:32 AM (KXm42)
Posted by: nevergiveup at March 13, 2012 02:25 PM (i6RpT)
You could Park in Newark and take the train...
hah.
Posted by: garrett at March 13, 2012 10:32 AM (Vi5W2)
Posted by: The Mega Independent at March 13, 2012 10:32 AM (alydU)
Might I interest you in my 6-page PDF, "The Parking Is Too Damn High"? Just €4.99 on Amazon.
Posted by: Yglesiass at March 13, 2012 10:32 AM (ZKzrr)
Posted by: Empire of Jeff at March 13, 2012 10:32 AM (FEqS6)
Posted by: Potomac Electric Power Company at March 13, 2012 10:32 AM (eHIJJ)
Posted by: lolobama at March 13, 2012 10:32 AM (jUytm)
Posted by: nevergiveup at March 13, 2012 10:34 AM (i6RpT)
Posted by: BBC at March 13, 2012 10:34 AM (GTbGH)
Posted by: nickless at March 13, 2012 10:34 AM (MMC8r)
Posted by: Very Sandy Fluke at March 13, 2012 10:35 AM (eHIJJ)
Makes perfect sence, I guess to those who are loathe to use their noggins.
What possible benefit could President Obama gain from rising gas prices in an election year?
This recent rise stems from the reality that gas prices usually rise during spring, the economy is improving so energy prices are increasing and mainly, from the sabre rattling from Bibi in Israel He is an original neocon who hates the US, unless the US does exactly what Bibi wants, like gwb did.
You say the President is in over his head and yet you say there is some kind of super secret conspiracy to raise gas prices. Which is it?
Prices here are up about 15% over the past few weeks. Sucks but it aint hair on fire time.
Unfortunately, the gop is anti-America. You cheer for failed American built cars. You hope for war with Iran to make the Pres look bad. You dream of higher gas prices assuming it hurts the Presidents reelection chances. You want to deny basic health care to the women of this country. You equate homosexuals with pedophiles, yet turn a bilnd eye to the rape of boys by the catholic church.
Why are you so unAmerican? So much hate.
Posted by: squeaky at March 13, 2012 10:35 AM (o1Qgp)
Posted by: Empire of Jeff at March 13, 2012 02:32 PM (FEqS6)
Shit I can't even fill up my truck... the pump stops at $99
Posted by: The Jackhole at March 13, 2012 10:35 AM (nTgAI)
They're charging it to their department, and thus, to you working stiffs!
Yay, Government!
Posted by: Bang Out Of Order at March 13, 2012 10:35 AM (1H47k)
Posted by: USA at March 13, 2012 10:35 AM (6Cjut)
I often tell people about the 'necessarily skyrocket' line, they've never heard of it before, thanks a lot MFM. And screw you, Chu.
Posted by: Adrian at March 13, 2012 10:37 AM (PY4xx)
The President must keep throwing promises, plans, and czars under the bus to keep his campaign from blowing up ..
Posted by: Movie Guide at March 13, 2012 10:37 AM (Y+DPZ)
Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) SMOD 2012 at March 13, 2012 10:37 AM (8y9MW)
"Mr. Chu has called for gradually ramping up gasoline taxes over 15 years to coax consumers into buying more-efficient cars and living in neighborhoods closer to work."
I work downtown. I have a family. Kids. I CAN'T "choose" to live closer to work. Downtown is not a good place to raise my family, dick.
"But, Europeans do it." European roads and communities were more likely to have been laid out before the automobile than here in the U.S., dick. They didn't 'plan' a damn thing. They're older. They didn't have white flight and suburban sprawl.
That's the problem with Central Planners. It all looks so easy hunched over that pretty chart. Go ahead, hike fuel costs so I have to move my wife and kids out of our ranch home with backyard, to a downtown apartment. I'm on board with that plan, sparky.
Posted by: CJ at March 13, 2012 10:37 AM (9KqcB)
What possible benefit could President Obama gain from rising gas prices in an election year?
This recent rise stems from the reality that gas prices usually rise during spring, the economy is improving so energy prices are increasing and mainly, from the sabre rattling from Bibi in Israel He is an original neocon who hates the US, unless the US does exactly what Bibi wants, like gwb did.
You say the President is in over his head and yet you say there is some kind of super secret conspiracy to raise gas prices. Which is it?
Prices here are up about 15% over the past few weeks. Sucks but it aint hair on fire time.
Unfortunately, the gop is anti-America. You cheer for failed American built cars. You hope for war with Iran to make the Pres look bad. You dream of higher gas prices assuming it hurts the Presidents reelection chances. You want to deny basic health care to the women of this country. You equate homosexuals with pedophiles, yet turn a bilnd eye to the rape of boys by the catholic church.
Why are you so unAmerican? So much hate.
Posted by: squeakhole at March 13, 2012 02:35 PM (o1Qgp)
Troll Alert... jumping threads
Posted by: The Jackhole at March 13, 2012 10:37 AM (nTgAI)
Posted by: eleven at March 13, 2012 02:36 PM
Hey, that was a feature of the Buick Regal and Chevy Lumina!
Posted by: Government Motors at March 13, 2012 10:40 AM (Y+DPZ)
And I denounce myself but first, you will blow me.
Posted by: Fritz at March 13, 2012 10:40 AM (FDEjy)
Posted by: The Jackhole at March 13, 2012 10:40 AM (nTgAI)
Posted by: Buggy Whips"R"Us at March 13, 2012 10:42 AM (tf9Ne)
Posted by: squeakhole at March 13, 2012 02:35 PM
Consumption has been dropping steadily for the past 6 months while prices are rising. So much for your everyone is now working and buying gas theory.
Want to try "the Fed has turned the dollar into toilet paper to cover massive debt service"?
Or maybe you should go home and get your fuckin' shine box
Posted by: Government Motors at March 13, 2012 10:43 AM (Y+DPZ)
Posted by: USA at March 13, 2012 10:46 AM (6Cjut)
I see Chu's a fan of my work.
Posted by: Cass Sunstein, Nudge Czar & Central Planning Commissar at March 13, 2012 10:46 AM (eHIJJ)
Oh yeah -- that growing economy:
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Job openings at U.S. workplaces declined to 3.46 million in January from 3.54 million in December, the Labor Department reported Tuesday.
...
Meanwhile, the total number of hires decreased to 4.16 million from 4.19 million.
Posted by: Ed Anger - Certified Kos Kid at March 13, 2012 10:47 AM (7+pP9)
Posted by: blindside at March 13, 2012 10:47 AM (x7g7t)
Posted by: Anonymous Coward at March 13, 2012 10:50 AM (t4cl/)
Posted by: blindside at March 13, 2012 10:51 AM (x7g7t)
Not. A. Chance. Does the term "homeless people" mean anything to you? Every election, every damned one, where a GOP incumbent is up, the tiniest economic blip inspires the Street People Montage. Magically, for the Democrat incumbent, the homeless population turns to vapor.
You can set your watch to it.
Posted by: AnonymousDrivel at March 13, 2012 10:52 AM (eHIJJ)
Posted by: disgusted at March 13, 2012 10:54 AM (oZfic)
Posted by: OKrell at March 13, 2012 11:00 AM (xLOqo)
Um, okay, so electric vehicles are still not competitive, unless you're Johnny Blaze and are willing to pay extra for an environmentally-friendly flaming car
Even hybrid cars are still not competitive. I'm in the market for a new car and I really wanted to be patriotic, green, and economical, so I looked at the Ford Escape hybrid. It gets 34 mpg city/31 mpg highway vs 23 mpg city/28 mpg highway for the non-hybrid model. (As I'm sure most of us morons know, hybrids typically get better mileage in the city than highway because they use the battery more and recharge more through frequent braking). The base model hybrid costs $31K and the base model non-hybrid $21K. Figuring that I drive 20,000 miles per year (a high estimate), that I get the maximum difference in mpg (34 vs 23, very unlikely), and that gas costs $5/gal (hopefully not after Obama leaves office), I would save $1400/yr with the hybrid. Therefore it would take over 7 years to break even costwise under the best possible scenario, which ain't gonna happen. Conclusion: To hell with the hybrid.
Posted by: Pervy Grin at March 13, 2012 11:16 AM (OxKj2)
A Chu quote from the National Journal (link in name):
"So there are many, many reasons why we do not want the price of gasoline to go up.”
Yeah, well mainly because it causes your bosses' poll numbers to fall faster than Sandra Fluke's panties.
Posted by: Virginia SoCon at March 13, 2012 11:23 AM (+/C3g)
But.....energy is a women'shealth issue. If you are against our energy policy, then you are against women!
Health insurance should provide free batteries!
Posted by: Jay Guevara at March 13, 2012 12:06 PM (f6OFM)
Chu's testimony really was bad. He's not very good at lying. Maybe they need to get him a teleprompter so the lies flow more freely.
Posted by: Presidebt Baraka at March 13, 2012 12:54 PM (UU0OF)
Posted by: steevy at March 13, 2012 02:13 PM (7W3wI)
Posted by: Flashman at March 13, 2012 02:27 PM (7C+pu)
Posted by: disa at March 13, 2012 04:47 PM (v7+7U)
Posted by: Rasputin at March 14, 2012 06:06 PM (H4Kpm)
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Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) SMOD 2012 at March 13, 2012 10:18 AM (8y9MW)