quotes of the day

Obama on Republicans:

“They're very good at negative campaigning. They're not so good at
governing."

A couple of days ago, Obama noted that we could save more energy from properly inflating our car tires and tuning up our cars than we would gain – fifteen or twenty years from now – from offshore drilling. McCain and the Republicans went nuts and had a field day with this, handing out tire gauges at every stop saying this was Obama’s energy plan. Of course, Obama was right.

As Michael Grunwald wrote in TIME magazine yesterday:

How out of touch is Barack Obama? He's so out of touch that he suggested that if all Americans inflated their tires properly and took their cars for regular tune-ups, they could save as much oil as new offshore drilling would produce. Gleeful Republicans have made this their daily talking point; Rush Limbaugh is having a field day; and the Republican National Committee is sending tire gauges labeled "Barack Obama's Energy Plan" to Washington reporters.

But who's really out of touch? The Bush Administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by 200,000 bbl. per day by 2030. We use about 20 million bbl. per day, so that would meet about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone did, we could immediately reduce demand several percentage points. In other words: Obama is right.

Obama was on the stump in Ohio today and said this:

It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant.

They think it's funny that they're making fun of something that is actually true.

Go ahead and watch the whole two-minute video.