Lying about gas prices

Newt promises $2.50 gasoline prices if only we will elect him president.  Rick Santorum outdid him by claiming that prices at the gasoline pump were what caused the housing bubble to crash -- people couldn't afford their mortgages for paying so much for gasoline.   John Boehner claimed that gas prices have doubled under President Obama.   They all scream about drilling more.   Newt thinks natural gas is so plentiful that it will solve all our problems.

It's all lies.   Obama said today that "Anybody who tells you that we can just drill our way out of this problem does not know what they're talking about, or they're not telling you the truth -- one or the other."

Here are the facts:

1.  The current average pump price is $3.73 -- lower than it was at the start of the recession when Bush was president.

2.   Oil production in the U. S. is at its highest level in eight years.   More rigs are operating in the U.S. than in the rest of the world combined.  More than 400 drilling permits have been issued since the BP oil spill.

3.  For the first time in 13 years, we are importing less than half of the U. S. oil consumption.

4.   As Nancy Pelosi pointed out, supply is going up and demand is going down.  So why are prices going up?   "You explain it by recognizing that Republicans are protecting Wall Street speculators responsible for driving up the pain at the pump," she said.

If you have no good policies to run on, all you can do is lie, I suppose.   Just make stuff up.  The problem is:   Fox News amplifies the lies and people believe it.

But wait -- maybe not so many people are believing it.   Obama's approval rating is going up.  His chances of winning re-election are soaring.

Ralph