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Originally posted by: Dooby
On the contrary, I don't think people do care about the price of gas. I mean, you ask people and they say they care. But people just like to bitch. It hasn't led people to buy smaller cars or more efficient cars. They don't take the bus in great numbers and leave their cars at home. They don't move close to the city. People don't drive around looking for the lowest price of gas. Most people drive up to the station and pay without ever looking at the price. It is just something people do. And again, adjusted for inflation gas is as cheap as it has ever been, plus there are additional taxes and environmental costs added.
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It's all about perception, the public sees that they are paying x amout more and want to lay the blame on somebody. The government is easy to blame. The fact that the average driver hasn't done anything to reduce their consumption of gas by buying more fuel efficient vehicles (what is up with all these humongous gas guzzling SUVs anyway? I have NO sympathy for these drivers and the increasing gas prices) means that increasing costs of gas at the retail level is even more apparent when they are buying gas every few days.
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Also, if you examine the public opinion on Clarke, it is split almost entirely on party lines. I think the Bush whitehouse handled the Clarke thing perfectly. The current conventional wisdom is that it hurt Kerry because it refocused the public's attention on the war on terror and away from the economy. Let's be honest, does anybody think Condoleeza Rice is going to go before the 9/11 panel and do anything but shine? This is a woman that exudes confidence and authority with every breath and she is going to go before the panel and say George Bush is a great president. She is going to make an introduction, and be treated with the utmost respect by everyone in part because they don't want to look like they are attacking her and she is going to knock every softball question out of the park. And it is going to dominate the national news. Why democrats are looking forward to thursday is beyond me.
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totally disagree on Clarke. The fact that people are still talking about him shows that the onslaught against him kept his name, and his comments, in the news longer than it would otherwise be. His 15 minutes is going on a half hour now...
Rice will do fine, nobody is going to attack her. Clarke is the only witness who was attacked, and as I said before that was unneeded. What is anyone expecting, that a witness will say "We all knew but we didn't want to stop it"? Everyone, including Clarke, admit that there was really no way to prevent the attack unless the group did something dumb to reveal themselves.
The bigger question is why Bush demanded to be interviewed only with Cheney...does he need Cheny there to tell him what to say?