So, what is it, the Abu Grahib prison stuff or the price of gas?


"Harry Krause" wrote in message
news:c3dhc2g=.150883fd789ceed6bbc2dbed0f51b28a@108 5143224.nulluser.com...
Bush numbers slide as gas price becomes issue

By BILL STRAUB
Scripps Howard News Service
May 20, 2004

- Soaring gas prices have been added to the list of woes bedeviling
President Bush's increasingly shaky campaign for re-election, forcing
motorists to dip deeper into their pockets at a time when the national
economy as a whole is showing signs of recovery.

With oil prices exceeding $40 a barrel and the price at the pump
hurdling the $2 mark, energy costs are, along with waning public support
for the war in Iraq, contributing to Bush's sliding popularity and
enhancing the prospects of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Democrats this week have sought to use the gas-price issue by asserting
that Bush has done little to address the problem and reminding voters of
the president's close ties to the petroleum industry.

"With gas prices breaking record high after record high, the American
people are starting to wonder why this is happening," said Terry
McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. "The facts are
in. The Bush administration is in the pocket of big oil. And it's
hurting Americans in the pocketbook."

The president has offered few solutions, other than to urge Congress to
adopt the energy policy he drafted two years ago. The proposal contains
a controversial provision to open parts of Alaska's Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling.

"I am concerned about the price of gasoline at the pump," Bush said
following a Cabinet meeting in the White House. "I fully understand how
that affects American consumers, how it crimps the budgets of moms and
dads who are trying to provide for their families, how it affects the
truck driver, how it affects the small-business owner."

ANWR drilling, Bush said, "would obviously have a positive impact for
today's consumers," and he demanded that Congress move "so this country
will become less dependent on foreign sources of energy."

But critics note that nothing in the proposed energy policy would
address gas prices in the short term.

"We're seeing the economic opportunity of America's families
disappearing into gas tanks across the country," Kerry said. "Already
strapped by rising costs in health care and higher education, families
are losing the opportunity to save and get ahead every time they drive
to work, pick up their kids or go out for dinner. And for some reason,
the president is not lifting a finger to help."

Ken Mehlman, Bush's campaign manager, accused the Democrat of attempting
to exploit the gas hikes to his political advantage.
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D'oh. Well, of course, Ken. Quid pro quo, tit for tat, et cetera. Sheesh.