Better strap yourselves in, for the culprit is truly shocking.
Not only did Wednesday’s Washington Post deflect responsibility for the rise in prices paid at the pump away from the White House, much of the blame was actually shifted to – wait for it! – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California).
I kid you not.
As offered by columnist Al Kamen (h/t Glenn Reynolds, emphasis added):
An eagle-eyed Senate GOP aide, perusing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Web site, calls attention to her assertion there that "Americans are paying more than double for gas than when President Bush first took office."
She says the average price per gallon when he took office in 2001 was $1.47 and had reached $3.22 by May 21.
So that means gas prices went up by $1.75 a gallon over six years. But more than half of that increase, 90 cents, our source says, has come in the past six months -- the six months that she's been speaker of the House. Our source says the average price per gallon on Jan. 3, the day before she became speaker, was $2.32.
Checking that link about now to confirm this really was in the Post? I understand. I checked it thrice.
In reality, though blaming higher energy prices on anyone in our government is absurd, the rise since the new Congress took over is actually worse than Kamen reported.
According to AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report, the average price for gasoline on January 3 was actually closer to $2.17, which means that $1.05 of the $1.75 gain in the past six years came since the Democrats took over Congress.
In fact, the following chart graphically depicts what’s happened to gas prices at the wholesale level since Pelosi became Speaker:
Once again, it’s ridiculous to blame this recent move on Pelosi. Much of this rise is tied to ethanol and refinery issues. And, as the chart shows, wholesale prices got to $2.50 per gallon in 2006 well before Election Day.
However, as absurd as it may be to pin this specifically on the Speaker, it is equally preposterous for Pelosi to blame the rise on the White House. Or, as Reynolds stated:
Is it really her fault? No more than it's Bush's -- though she could help matters longterm by pushing a relaxation of rules on offshore drilling. Er, and refineries.
Good point. Of course, the new Congress has done absolutely nothing in this regard.
Yet, if we want to look at this from a different perspective, inflation alone (including energy and food) would have brought gas prices up to about $1.73 by now anyway. As such, the $2.17 we were paying at the beginning of January before this recent spike wasn’t all that out of whack.
Given this, as the Democrats and their media minions promised that all of our problems would be solved if Pelosi and Company were given the reins to government, maybe honest press representatives should be pointing some accusatory fingers at the new Congressional leadership.
It's nice for a change, isn't it?
