Pumping Gas: Let’s tell McCain why it matters

June 29, 2008 · Posted in Domestic Policy, Election 2008 

OuchJohn McCain doesn’t think it matters whether or not he pumps his own gas.

WICKSOL: When was the last time you pumped your own gas and how much did it cost?

MCCAIN: Oh, I don’t remember. Now there’s Secret Service protection. But I’ve done it for many, many years. I don’t recall and frankly, I don’t see how it matters.

Well, John McCain, here’s why it matters. I went to the gas station last week and put $25 in our Honda. That $25 used to be more than enough to fill up the Prius, but now it takes it to just over half a tank. That same $25 in the Honda got me 4.57 gallons of gas, which was just over 1/3 of a tank. I don’t drive the Honda unless I have to, because it gets such crappy gas mileage.

The Prius gets great gas mileage, especially when it’s driven on the freeway at 55mph or we’re in stop-and-go traffic. But here’s the thing: When I go to the gas station and pump my own gas, putting my debit card in the machine and watching the pump suck out $50 to fill a ten-gallon tank at Costco (where we go to save .10/gallon), something else gives. For us, that ’something else’ means not buying the roast at the market and opting for something else cheaper, but for other folks, that something else might be a meal for their kids, or for themselves. It might mean they don’t fill a prescription that they need, or that they don’t buy milk that week, or they have to let the electric bill slide and go without electricity until they can afford to reconnect it.

It might even mean they have to quit the job they commute to every day because it no longer makes sense for them to spend $5/gallon to earn $9/hour. And here in California, almost everyone commutes.

So, John McCain, when you arrogantly brush away the fact that you not only don’t pump your own gas but have no clue about what the rest of us do, and then have the utter NERVE to try to paint Obama as an elitist, it matters.

When you tell those of us who are pinching all sorts of pennies to keep our homes from foreclosure but won’t take a stand against the Enron loophole, it matters.

When your buddy George W. Bush doesn’t even have a clue that gas prices are going to cross $4/gallon and then steps on the California CAFE standards because we set them higher than his piddly-ass non-goal, it matters.

It matters to everyone who doesn’t have $100 million in the bank, a tax-free military pension and a fat government paycheck.

Every time I fill up, memories flood of those arrogant Enron assholes laughing at ‘grannies in California’ who were going to be screwed as they jacked around our electricity prices. I hear them laughing and remember my 92-year old grandma pinching pennies to keep her air conditioning going so her ailing husband could stay comfortable in the summer months. It might as well have been you laughing, Senator McCain.

You betcha it matters to me, John McCain.

Does it matter to you? If it does, speak up here in the comments or on your own blog with a link back. Let’s ALL tell John McCain why it matters.

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Comments

  • Carl S.
    Maybe Suebob has a key to what matters: incentive to conserve on driving. For all the pristine pictures of California's coastline, what impact do noxious car emissions have? Not as immediate as an oil spill but probably as deadly over the long haul.

    Now I know that's easy to say when you live in New York City with a glut of mass transit - and God bless everyone with hybrids that drastically reduce emission output - but before we personify our frustrations in politicians, we need to evaluate the whole picture and the part we all play. Heck, our tax dollars are paying to fill McCain's tank anyway. But when someone's sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on Flatbush Avenue in a giant SUV pumping out poison, I think there's enough blame to go around.

    I remember the message to the older generation in the 70s was "what are you doing to the earth we are going to inherit?" But what have we become with iPods, cell phones, 100 hundred cable channels that we watch while also using a laptop to go online? We are using more energy than ever! Maybe if people rethink the size and type of vehicle they drive, or reconsider some trips, the overall picture will change.
  • OMG! WTF?
    I'll tell you why it matters - because McCain is only reminding everyone how 'out of touch' he is - he is a 71 year old man that doesn't: 1. work weekends, 2. know how to use a computer, and now 3. know how much the average person is paying for gas.

    that is all.
  • I spent $45 filling up the Honda Fit yesterday (10.8 gallon tank and it was almost dry). The strain on my finances is pretty bad but I do like the fact that it makes me think hard about every little trip. It is a real incentive to conserve.
  • I agree on the conserve incentive though here we were conserving back at $2.50 a gallon, because I can remember when it was under a buck and thought $2.50 was outrageous. I walk mostly everywhere anyway, or else catch a ride with whoever is going my way. But still...dang it all, it matters.
  • Well, I've had a Prius hybrid since December 2000 so I guess that I've been "conserving" for a while myself. :-) However, it is ironic that you don't "worry" as much when you drive a hybrid although I will admit that $4/gallon gas has made even me think about each trip!
  • Earl E Morningwood
    Greetings, I hope this election doesn’t hinge on who pumped their own gas last, I can see the CNN reports showing Obama and Mccain holding the NASCAR fuel cans over their head to show their solidarity with the little people :D
  • That left a really funny image in my mind. LOL.
  • Karoli,

    First, thanks for not joining the mob who insist this Q&A means he doesn't know the price of gas. I can't imagine how all these otherwise reasonable people can convince themselves McCain doesn't know gas is just shy of $5/gallon.

    I suppose I can understand your anger if you want to read his statement as meaning he doesn't think it matters that he doesn't have to pump his own gas. But is that what he really meant? I have no idea. What else could he have meant? Maybe it meant that he doesn't remember what the price was the last time he pumped his own gas. That is, before the Secret Service protection went into place and he wasn't allowed to. Was it $2.75? Was it $3.50? $3.25 Does *that* matter? I sure don't think so, and wouldn't fault him for that.

    Like I said, I understand why you're angry, but I really think we need to rise above all this parsing, re-parsing, interpretation, and projection. We don't know what he meant. Can we interpret in a way that reflects poorly on him? Sure. Can we interpret it in a way that suggests he's basically a "regular guy" in the backseat of a car on the way to the airport having a phone conversation with someone while distracted by something else? Probably.

    If we don't want to have folks misinterpreting statements the candidate we support might make about RFK's assassination, mid-westerners taking comfort in hunting and church, or discussions about journalists while on a rope line shaking hands with a crowd, maybe we shouldn't do it either.
  • Ken, I know he has to know that gas is $5/gallon. But when he says it doesn't matter whether he's pumped his own gas what that tells me is that he doesn't really know what the impact is on folks who DO pump their own gas.

    When you've got a driver and are not dealing with it on any kind of real level, how can you know whether or how it matters? He doesn't. He doesn't walk in our shoes and hasn't.

    This is a very real problem with the 'let the market sort it out' theory. We've tried in California to set CAFE standards higher than the Federal minimum and had the Bush administration hammer us for it. That's not right. It's not right that we now are hammered with some of the highest gas prices in the country, or that those gas prices are now driving up food prices nationwide, and all the while speculators are laughing all the way to the banks.

    So what was in his head matters less to me than the message it sent, which was that he's completely out of touch with what the 'rank and file' are dealing with.

    This isn't the first time he's glossed over a real issue with the 'it doesn't matter' line, either. I don't want someone telling me it doesn't matter that we have troops in Iraq for 100 years because they're not being killed. Hell yes, it matters. Those troops in Iraq have families and we're paying for them to be there instead of home protecting this country.

    Iraq was a botched attempt to control Middle East oil. Now Bush is trying it with Iran, and McCain is supporting it.

    Hell yes, this stuff matters.
  • See, Karoli, with all due respect, I think you're projecting here. I think what he just meant is that he doesn't remember the price the last time he filled his tank. Honestly, I don't either. I think it was four fifty something. He hasn't done it for months.

    The tendency is always to take what the other guy said and interpret in the way that best supports our opinion. I get that. I just wish it weren't the way these things always go. We're always hearing these things through a filter, looking for triggers that support our conclusions.
  • Interesting theory but I'm not sure I buy it. Particularly when I don't believe he's pumped his own gas in years, not months.

    Honestly, I would have probably let it pass, had I not already let the Bush surprise at gas going to $4/gallon pass, and had I not let the "it doesn't matter how long troops stay in Iraq" comment pass.

    Let's accept your argument for a minute, that it was just a dropped comment with no meaning.

    What DOES matter?
  • What matters? Well looking at the transcript of that interview, I'd say the following quotes from McCain are worth noting. Maybe not parsing, but noting:

    "I think [Orange County, CA is] very important. Electorally, Orange County has always been a bastion of Republican support. Obviously, that has been diluted somewhat by the dynamic growth of Orange County, but it’s still a very important place. It’s also a very important place for fundraising...I intend to compete and win in California."

    "Sen. Obama proposed an amendment during the debate on the immigration issue which would have ended the temporary worker program – which would have killed the legislation."

    "My credentials and record, including my support of the military – including the fact that there is pro-life, small-business, pro-military sentiment in the Hispanic community – I’m confident I will do very well with the Hispanic vote. As I say, Sen. Obama has not been involved in their issues. He attempted to kill the entire immigration bill at the request of the labor unions."

    "Q. Do you think you can gain Congressional support to end to both [corn-based ethanol] subsidy and the tariff? A. Sure....Americans are very aware of this special-interest influence in our nation’s capital. They want change that’s the right kind of change, not the wrong kind of change that Sen. Obama represents. He voted for the subsidies, he support the farm bill. I opposed it. He voted for the energy bill that was a grab bag of goodies for the special interests. I voted against it."

    "Q. When you talk about lifting the ban on offshore drilling, do you include California in that? A. Sure. Surely you don’t think I would exempt California. But I’ve made it very clear that it’s up to the states. States will make decisions. Texas and Louisiana made the decisions that they did. The governor of Florida, and recent polling, show that the people of Florida support such a move."
  • I'm "with" Ken. I'm a McCain supporter and I'm even getting tired of Sean Hannity parsing Obama's words as well!
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