It's all about the economy now

Ivan Seeking

The war over the war is over. It's the economy stupid!

wasteofo2

Uhh...

Did we win the war?

selfAdjoint

Doesn't matter. Watch gas prices. Bush's rating has an inverse relationship with them.

Added: Note that the gas price curve is upside-down.

Moonbear

Obviously Bush's campaign managers are aware of this. New Bush ad I saw today is trying to blame Kerry for gas prices (saying he'll raise the tax on gas, as if the tax is the primary problem...sorry, but the tax is nowhere near 100%, which is pretty close to how much more I'm paying per gallon now than before Bush took office). Since they can't win with Iraq anymore, the ads have suddenly taken a bizarre turn this week...clearly grasping at straws now.

Ivan Seeking

Apparently the analysis of the debates and recent events show that the undecided votes will be determined primarily by economic issues.

btw, John Edwards is on Meet The Press this AM.

wasteofo2

Yeah, they're really going kinda nuts lately. A week ago I saw an ad that essentially said "Vote Bush, he's got a plan to fix this economy and turn this war around."

And just a few days ago I saw Bush's Kerry's cheif campaign advisors in a town-hall meeting, answering questions for their candidates, and someone asked about the loss of jobs under Bush, and the Bush guy responded with "You have to remember, when George Bush came into office, he was handed the worst economy since the Great Depression".

kat

I don't know about other states but total Maine tax on gasoline (including federal) hovers around a buck. I would think significantly impacts the price of gasoline both before and after the recent rise in prices. What I'm more interested in is what Kerry would be able to do to lower prices if he were elected president. Can anyone answer that with anything tangible?

gravenewworld

Gas is a finite resource, Americans better get used to paying more for gas because the only way prices are going is up.

selfAdjoint

Edwards is on ALL the talk shows today! Clones?

phatmonky

Wow, if the people doing the analysis would have jsut been listening to me for the last month....

Moonbear

Quite honestly, while I like to blame Bush for the gas prices, I don't really think he is at fault for that. When prices of everything else was going up, gas prices were not rising as quickly. I think we were just shocked when the caught up all at once. Much of the taxes on gas are state taxes, which partially accounts for the variation in prices state to state. That's an issue to take up with the state legislatures. The only other tangible source of variation in gas pricing I'm aware of is all the specialized blends every state requests, so instead of just producing 3 grades of gasoline plus diesel, refineries are producing something different for every state. If your state is requesting something different from what everyone else in the country sells, then it's going to cost more. The way I look at it, if there is a grade of gasoline, an additive, etc., that really is better in terms of reducing vehicle emissions, then everyone should get that one. Just like when we phased out leaded gas, we could phase out all the types that lead to higher pollution. This should help to reduce prices somewhat because you're no longer forced to buy "boutique" gas that your state and your state only requests. The flip side to this argument is if none of these types of gas are any better than any of the others, so there's no compelling reason to choose one or two over all the rest. In that case, it may be more difficult for the Federal government to do anything, because then I think without a more compelling reason, it's overstepping into the territory of states' rights to mandate a single grade of gasoline without any justification of why it's better for the country as a whole to do that. Anyway, it's something I think the EPA should look into. Find out if any of these gasoline grades are any better for the environment as the various states are claiming. I don't think I've heard anything from Bush or Kerry to indicate either has given this much thought.

russ_watters

As I (and phat) said before, Clinton was right. This should have always been about the economy. Not only because that's the most personally important issue for most Americans, but also because its the issue where Kerry can make the best case for himself/against Bush.

russ_watters

The truth hurts, but it doesn't win elections. As I said in my "You! fix the US energy crisis" thread, I'm in favor of gas taxes, with the caveat that we should be using them to fund our energy programs, (ie, build nuclear plants and research fusion).

selfAdjoint

My main gripe about Kerry is that he's got the green predjudice against nuclear power. But then the Bush administration has chucked nuclear enthusiasts under the chin but hasn't done a damn thing for them. The US has been a long time getting over its demonization of nookular.