Garrett vs.Squirrels

Jessica Coomes over at the Express-Times blogged about the fauxtest participation of Representative Scott Garrett. The end is probably the most interesting part of the piece:

After his speech, Garrett was hoping his car would start so he could drive home to New Jersey. The car's been sputtering, and he suspects squirrels have been chewing the car's wires -- again.

Garrett normally takes the train, so I'm sure his car sits idle quite a bit.

I said before I'd like a vote, so we could move on, and it now appears a vote on off-shore drilling as part of a larger package will happen. So maybe it wasn't a fauxtest afterall.

Garrett deserves credit for risking life and limb driving down there in an unsafe vehicle to speak at the fauxtest. The only thing I could recommend for the Congressman is to get the wiring fixed and inflate his tires, as AAA cites these as ways to save some gas. (There may or may not be a bit of sarcasm in there somewhere).

Garrett: Damn the Earth

Representative Scott Garrett seems to have gotten a little caught up in the moment down in DC during the fauxtest. US News & World Report quoted him talking about Nancy Pelosi:

"Her goal is to save the planet," Republican Rep. Scott Garrett of New Jersey intoned. "We need her to save the American family and the American taxpayer and to save the American middle class."

They're not mutually exclusive goals.

If Garrett had an ounce of forethought in his being he'd know that. This is one of those frustrating partisan things about Garrett, and the Republicans running the show lately. President John F. Kennedy had a pretty good quote on this problem:

Extreme opposites resemble the other. Each believes that we have only two choices: appeasement or war, suicide or surrender, humiliation or holocaust, to be either Red or dead.

I've made my feelings clear that both parties are to blame at this point, and Garrett's language only adds to the problem. No person rationally thinking about this issue doesn't see the benefits of a greener economy, and Garrett painting it as an either/or proposition doesn't add anything constructive to the debate.

Since I get new people everyday, it's important to restate that Garrett is the only Representative from New Jersey to vote against every single major energy bill since 2007. It's also important to note that the "drill here, drill now" (DHDN) philosophy will help you out at the pump in about 8 years.

Oh, and there are millions of acres of land the oil companies aren't using, at all. So, unless the DHDN folks get behind the use it or lose it land leases they already voted against, there's no guarantee DHDN will make a drop of difference.

This sort of rhetoric may provide an insight as to why Garrett's voted the way he's voted, since obviously he doesn't seem to put much stock in green energy in terms of strengthening the middle class. Let's go over a few things real fast:

Toyota is building a Prius factory here, creating jobs. Spray-on solar panels are a booming business in Germany, already creating manufacturing jobs here. It would create a lot of construction jobs if Congress incentivize installation like the Germans do. We've got the Pickins Plan, the Paris Hilton Plan, and countless others that point to the job benefits of a greener economy.

Saving the Earth is saving the middle class, as there is no greater manufacturing boom on the horizon.

Words have meaning, and Garrett knows it. Maybe he was caught up in the moment. Maybe he believes you can't have one with the other wholeheartedly. Whatever the case may be, Garrett's sentiments shared during the fauxtest showed, at the very least, a disregard for voters who want real solutions and a penchant for delivering to those voters false promises.

Garrett on Mancow

Update 1: They haven't posted anything for free yet with Garrett, and may not. If I can find a link somewhere I'll throw it up here.

Well, the Representative Scott Garrett media blitz is continuing. Tomorrow morning he'll be on Mancow's Morning Madhouse at 7:20 AM to discuss the fauxtest over gas prices.

For those that are unfamiliar, Mancow was huge in Chicago before getting kicked off of Q101 (he knocked Howard Stern off the air). Offensive to as many as he is adored by, even though he doesn't have a presence in Chicago at the moment, Mancow still ranks 14th on Talkers Heavy Hundred. That's the highest ranking of any primarily FM DJ if I'm reading it right.

In addition to hosting things like pay-per-view hardcore midget wrestling, Mancow does interviews where he wears his hardcore Libertarian beliefs on his sleeve. He's done some pretty wild interviews with folks like Representative Ron Paul and Gene Simmons.

I'm not going to lie, this is one I'm looking forward to hearing. I'll post a link to Garrett's podcast as soon as it's up.

Thoughts on the Fauxtest

Yesterday, Representative Scott Garrett and others were fauxtesting on Capitol Hill. Here's how TRN described it:

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) returned from Missouri to participate in the protest. Blunt said it takes only five minutes for a representative in their home state to realize that the most important and urgent issue is the economy.

The Congressmen at the news conference posed with tire pressure gauges to mock Senator Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) new push for Americans to properly inflate their tires for better gas mileage.

Okay, now I know this little stunt is intended to score partisan political points. However, doing it at the expense of sound recommendations to save people some money only hurts those the Republicans are trying to win over. Mocking Obama for making sense shows a certain level of idiocy in the way Republicans think the problem will be solved.

Here's what AAA says about tires:

Inflate all of your tires to their proper inflation pressure. Each tire should be periodically spun, balanced and checked. Properly inflated tires are safer, last longer, and can improve your gas mileage by more than 3% per tire. Check your tire pressure, at a minimum, once a month.

Even John McCain has backed off his criticism of Obama on this point, because he realized what an ass he was making of himself.

Politicians of all affiliations should be singing conservation from the mountaintops, not mocking it. Absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing, Congress can pass will have as much immediate impact on fuel supplies as if the entire nation adopted AAA's recommendations to save gas.

As an example, this little nugget should also be heralded by those with the ability to influence public opinion and habits:

After filling up, be sure the gas cap clicks three times. Improperly sealed gas caps allow approximately 147 million gallons of fuel to vaporize every year in the United States.

So yes, little things like inflating tires and making sure the gas cap are closed are important.*

There is plenty of time for the partisans to be bickering over how best to fix things in the long run. In the meantime, Garrett and his cronies do a great disservice to the nation by belittling sound advice. In a time of crisis, we have to expect our leaders to serve the national interest and not simply their own.

*Paragraph edited, the number I had was off.

Garrett's Campaign on Texas Oilmen

Okay, although I was trying to channel Ralphie May a bit there with the stache comment, I don't want to skip the first response to the Texas Oilmen for Garrett. Of note in the article regarding their event is a quote from the campaign manager of Representative Scott Garrett:

Garrett's campaign manager, Amanda Gasperino, said she is not amused.

"We're taking this a little more seriously," Gasperino said. "The energy crisis shouldn't be used as a political football. Instead of using it as a political ploy for games, you need to address the issues."

I've been saying stuff like that for the last month, especially regarding the fauxtest and Garrett's participation.

Personally, I'd rather have a bunch of interns goofing around in a harmless manner, with no real negative impact; than a bunch of Congressmen standing telling the American people inflating their tires to save gas is a dumb idea, which is the fastest way to ensure as a nation we improve fuel economy at least 3%.