The Koch-backed activist group Americans for Prosperity is buying and pumping gas for drivers pulling up to stations today in Nevada, Iowa, and Michigan. The group (which has spent $31 million on anti-Obama smear ads since April) is spending $4,000 at every station to provide 100-150 drivers gas for the low price $1.84 per gallon. That dollar amount per gallon, according to AFP, reflects the price of gas during Bush’s administration, before Obama “doubled it” in 2009 when he took office.
Of course, AFP is totally wrong. Gas prices were at their highest ($4+ gallon) May – August 2008, during Bush’s final year as President. In the head of the recession, that price ($4) proved to be unsustainable, and in keeping with the global demand for oil, it was temporarily and drastically lowered to $1.71 in December. Six days before Obama was inaugurated, the price had increased by about $0.20, before settling at $1.84. After that gas prices continued to climb, not because of Obama’s policy but because Bush’s reduced price was only a temporary and artificial adjustment.
As Consumer Energy Report expounds:
The claim of gasoline prices doubling under Obama is technically correct, but irrelevant because the reason it happened was that he came into office near the bottom of a price overcorrection. Blaming Obama for the price rise would be like blaming him for cases of lung cancer that were detected during his term.
Funnily enough, Obama is the first president since LBJ to preside over 4 years of increased domestic oil production, while decreasing foreign oil imports. But you won’t hear that kind of You-Didn’t-Build-That-Mother-Of-All-Wars rubbish talk from the Koch (or was it Motch?) brothers.
If there is a secret ballot, what’s to keep people from tanking up on the Koch brothers and then voting for Obama?
In any case, anyone with half a brain can see through the crudities of their commercials.