Posted on 06/29/2008 5:22:55 PM PDT by Kleebo151
Think Progress has a post titled McCain: I ‘Don’t See How It Matters’ That I Don’t Know The Price Of Gas. Wow, that sounds pretty bad. Let’s take a look:
In a telephone interview with the Orange County Register earlier this week, John McCain acknowledged he was unaware of the price of gas.
Jeez. That’s really awful. But let’s take a look at the actual exchange that Think Progress is citing:
WICKSOL: When was the last time you pumped your own gas and how much did it cost?
MCCAIN: Oh, I don’t remember. Now there’s Secret Service protection. But I’ve done it for many, many years. I don’t recall and frankly, I don’t see how it matters.
(Excerpt) Read more at patterico.com ...
Blogger Andrew Sullivan is the only one who has issued a partial correction so far: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/06/if-mccain-were.html On June 18th, McCain said in an interview that “The price of a gallon of gas in America stands at more than four dollars. Yesterday, a barrel of oil cost about 134 dollarsm” said McCain.
Go ahead, read it: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2008/2008-06-18-01.asp
Considering the guy can barely use his arms because he was shot down and tortured, it is beneath contempt for the left to play these kinds of games.
So, does Obama know the price of cocaine?
I guess this can be overplayed, but an on-top-of-it candidate would have made a point of knowing the current cost of gasoline, seeing as how it may well be the number one campaign issue now, or in the near future.
And remembering GHWB’s clueless remarks at that checkout counter in 1992, there is a lesson that could have been learned. Detractors got a lot of mileage out of that little incident, and it sure didn’t help him during his 1992 loss to Clinton.
Did you even read the article? That wasn't the question he was asked!
And we all know McCain thinks the current price of gas matters. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t call for offshore drilling.
“Did you even read the article? That wasn’t the question he was asked!”
I read the questions more than the article:
” WICKSOL: When was the last time you pumped your own gas and how much did it cost?
MCCAIN: Oh, I don’t remember. Now there’s Secret Service protection. But I’ve done it for many, many years. I don’t recall and frankly, I don’t see how it matters.”
McCain was definitely asked a compound question: when did he last pump his own gas, and how much did it cost.
Said he didn’t remember, and didn’t think it mattered.
Very sloppily worded responses. And it’s absurd for Potterico’s Pontifications to act as if the OCR interviewer should have been aware of every statement McCain had made on the subject. He should have answered more carefully and clearly. And the twisted explanation to try and excuse McCain’s sloppy answer is ridiculous.
Politicians need to careful what they say and how they say it. Especially Republicans as we both know they will be given no breaks, whereas as the Dems. will be excused most anything, as the ignoring of Obama’s many gaffes proves once again.
You still missed the point. It was a compound question — when is the last time you pumped your own gas, and how much was gas the last time you pumped your own.
His answer was that he doesn’t recall the last time he pumped his own gas, or how much it cost him when he did. And he didn’t see why that mattered.
And he was rigt, because if it was more than a year ago that’s old history as far as gas prices go.
Excuse me .. the price of gas is all over the place .. depending on where you live. To expect anyone to know the price of gas in CA when you live in DC is absurd.
And .. if you don’t buy the gas yourself .. since you have a limo to drive you .. that’s another absurd.
However, he knows the price of a barrel of crude.
“You still missed the point.”
No, I didn’t miss the point because there really wasn’t one. At least not one that justified any complaint of how McCain was treated. Who can tell what he knew or didn’t know? That time he gave the prices was a prepared speech in Houston.
Did he forgot? The point is, he was asked a question and either chose to be obtuse, or didn’t know the answer. It was a perfect time to show some knowledge and concern about what is becoming the #1 issue, but he came off as smart assed and/or indifferent.
The people reading that interview probably know nothing of what he said in Houston. And he muffed the chance to tell them.
Another point is, he makes too many things about his ego and his surly disposition. Not the best way to win votes.
Yeah, but the current price WHERE? He could have said $4.09, and would have been right in one place and totally wrong in another. The fact that he's the only Presidential candidate who's talking about energy independence, drilling domestically for oil, and increasing the number of nuke plants, is more important than whether or not he knows what gas is going for in any given city.
So if I ask you what was said in a thread a month ago, and you say you don’t know, I can fault you for not knowing what was said in this thread, even though that wasn’t the question I asked?
What lengths some will go to trying make lemonade out of rotten lemons. And your response makes no sense whatsoever.
The reality here is that McCain was asked a question about the price of gasoline. A good politician would never have wasted time parsing the question, but would have taken the opportunity to sell his position on that issue.
But, McCain being McCain, gave a smart-assed, non-answer to a question about what’s becoming the #1 issue in the campaign. Not too smart. What did the readers of that interview learn about McCain’s position on the high price of gasoline? I’ll answer for you: absolutely nothing!
If some of you want to continue twisting yourselves into pretzels trying make McCain look like some sort of victim here, knock yourselves out. But he just displayed his foul disposition and ego problem, rather than taking an opportunity to explain his position on this key issue.
Wasting no more time on this nonsense.
He was asked what he paid the last time he bought gas.
I think it is refreshing when a candidate answers the actual question being posed, rather than launching into talking points.
Of course, left-wing partisans love to attack for no reason, and in some cases others like to support that.
BTW, did you note that he actually told a joke in that sentence? You can’t really tell so much if you just read the words, but if you picture him saying it, you’ll realise that when he said “Now there’s secret service protection”, what he was saying was that secret service was protecting him from having to pay for his own gas — something that we all need protecting from; this supports his “drill now” plan to protect us from high gas prices, like he is protected by the secret service from paying for his gas.
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