Posted on 09/19/2009 4:38:49 AM PDT by iowamark
America, are you ready for Rush Limbaugh in an electric car?
The conservative talk show host has agreed to take Jay Leno's "Green Car Challenge."
In the segment airing next Thursday on NBC's "Jay Leno Show," Limbaugh will race an electric Ford Focus around a custom-built track beside Leno's studio, the show's representative confirmed.
The "Green Car Challenge" segment makes its debut on the primetime show tomorrow night. Celebrities who participate drive two times around the twisty track, which takes a little less than a minute to complete.
By the time Rush gets behind the wheel of the zero-emission vehicle, Bob Costas, Al Michaels and Drew Barrymore will have set times to beat.
Limbaugh is not a fan of hybrid and electric cars. Last March he criticized such vehicles -- including Ford's.
"Nobody's buying 'em. Nobody wants them. The manufacturers are making them in droves to satisfy Obama. ... People are going to buy [hybrids] because Obama's going to see to it the price [of gas] gets back up to four bucks, since that is the tipping point … Ford and Toyota are manufacturing all kinds of new hybrids to keep politicians happy. Politics. You want to know what killed the auto industry? Politics.”
Leno has been interested in getting more newsmakers on his new program than on "The Tonight Show." On his second night he welcomed Michael Moore into the studio.
The advertiser-friendly "Green Car Challenges" allows NBC to work product sponsorship into the program, though some critics have wondered whether the segment will also be entertaining.
I'm sure Rush will make a great comedy bit out of it for Jay. I think his Family Guy stint(s) stunned many Lefties. They can't believe Der Fuhrer is an actual human being with a sense of humor.
What Rush doesn’t like is the government forcing you to buy them. He has repeatedly stated that others can buy them if they wish and that would be their own decision, but he doesn’t like the government mandating it.
Which is what it will slowly come to, if we continue down this socialist track.
On his first show, one of his monologue jokes was: “While we were off, the government started this program to give people money for their old cars..... I made 5 billion dollars. “That is funny because it has a ring of truth to it, Leno owns that many Classic Cars. And I don't begrudge him one bit, good for him. But then DON'T go peddling 'green energy'.
I'd wager few of his viewers (sheeple) know he collects cars and Harleys. They'll see this and think, 'Wow Jay really cares about the planet, he's for green energy'.
I know what you mean. I see one about three times a week crossing our 3 mile long I-295 bridge across the St Johns River. At least the driver is “Smart” enough to stay in the right lane.
Leno was interviewed by James May (Top Gear) in a segment about the Honda Clarity FCX. They concluded that hydrogen car will replace the gasoline for general use and that gasoline vehicles will be used only for recreational purposes; just as the automobile and truck replaced horses, carriages, and wagons for general use - horses now being used more for sport than as beasts of burden.
That is an interesting thought.
There are pollutants generated by oil and coal plants, some portion of the electricity is lost between the point of generation and the outlet in the garage. I have heard a quarter of electricity is lost in the process of transmission.
How does that compare to the cost of burning fuel directly in a vehicle if those factors above are taken into account? I am sure someone has done that...
I wouldn’t know if he’s driven one or not - that’s not the point - he doesn’t want one - you do - that’s fine - just allow the free market to dictate the hybrid sales - not the gov’t
And my point is that you shouldn’t dismiss new technology without trying it out.
Fathead Jay Leno and Fatazz Michael Moore on tee-vee at the same time must have exceeded the bandwidth available to NBC....too bad the whole dam network did not implode!
OK - You make an excellent pt.
What I would prefer is to use nuclear power plants to produce electricity. That would eliminate almost all of the production of excess carbon dioxide.
Rush will brag about the carbon he’ll use drive the 7mpg Maybach to the airport and fly EIB 1 to California to drive a “green car”.
At least Rush will be able to afford that car, most Americans can not afford the price tag of those cars, let alone any kind of car now.
I believe he also said it was quite hypocritical how many Celebs talk about saving the Earth and then jump into their private jets.
Then generating plant alone waste more than 50% of the coal/oil energy put in. Then add transmission losses. Then at electric losses in the charging and running of the vehicle.
I am much looking forward to electric cars. No pollution. Few moving parts. I don’t have to screw around with oil changes or leaks in the cooling system. No motor drone. You get a wonderfully quiet ride. TONS of torque and fast 0-60mph times and quarter mile ETs.
Bring it on! I can’t wait!
That said, we are going to need a hell of a lot more nuclear powerplants and a huge infrastructure for recharging these cars away from our homes, before electric cars have a snowball’s chance in hell of being practical.
I don’t fear a conversion to electric cars at all, but powering them with coal-fired powerplants is pure idiocy.
Beyond that, we have centuries of oil in our shale deposits yet to exploit, a mature infrastructure for delivering fuel for internal combustion engines. So I can’t see any mass movement to electric cars in the 25 or so years left in my expected lifetime.
But I don’t fear electric cars in the least. Bring them on. Instead of gorging the banks on public debt via Stimulus bills, we should have spent that money on 75 or 80 new nuclear powerplants and the construction of a network of electrical recharging stations nationwide.
WTH? Rush doesn’t drive. He makes a point of that, or did, anyway. Maybe I’m just not up to speed on this... Maybe it’s experience with golf carts that prompted him to do this?
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