Democrat Jim Slattery's Ad Against Republican Pat Roberts In Kansas

Oh my. Memorable at the least.

Added- Hahaha, snort, guffaw- from the comments at the Fix-

TALK ABOUT YOUR TRICKLE-DOWN ECONOMICS!

We get amazing comments!

By GottaLaff

Raefe Samir Bazzi has left a new comment on your post "Obama gas? Detroit station swaps signs, lowers prices":

Hi, MY name is Raefe Samir Bazzi i am Samir bazzi`s daughter i want to thank you all for your support on behalf of my father and all of us THANK YOU!!!

Thank YOU, Raefe!

Obama gas? Detroit station swaps signs, lowers prices

Now that is supporting your candidate!!

When it comes to campaigning for the presidency, sometimes a T-shirt and a pin just don't cut it. Sometimes you need a really big sign and a price cut on gas.

Whether or not either method guarantees a win remains to be seen, but Detroit Sunoco station owner Samir Bazzi and son, Nick, are giving both a shot.

Bazzi replaced his Sunoco sign with an Obama campaign sign five days ago and lowered gas prices to $3.49 per gallon. "Everything's down," Bazzi said. "We're trying to support people."

(snip)

The owner of the station for the past seven years, Sammi said he has been a Democrat since he came to America from Lebanon in 1986.

“I supported Bill Clinton when I started voting and now I support Barack Obama. He is a good man who supports the poor people and looks out for those who have lost their homes and businesses.”

Bazzi said he plans to continue keeping the price of gasoline below those of his competitors and said if Obama wins the election in November he will throw a big party at the station, offering free food and drinks to his customers.

“Obama is a good man in the greatest country on earth and we need someone like him to lead us.”

"This is an Obama neighborhood," Nick Bazzi said, adding that sales have increased since the signage switch.

Many patrons voiced support as they filled up on fuel.

Supporters like Bazzi are helping Obama get and keep that 13 point lead in Michigan!

Oops. McCain Off By $1.25 On Aspen Gas Prices

Oh that silly non-elitist John!!!

ASPEN, Colo. -- Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain attended an economic forum in Aspen Thursday where he chastised Congress for going on recess "while people are paying $3.75 a gallon for gas."

The audience of 800 began hooting and laughing and yelled that in Aspen they're paying nearly $5 a gallon. McCain recovered with a well-received crack about plans to "soak the rich.**"

The Arizona senator made the comments at the Aspen Institute after a noon fund-raiser.

**Great, you can start with your wife.

New DNC Ad- Exxon John

Why did ad company nix Obama's gas pump campaign?

Der, it's called censorship.

A Barack Obama ad ready to air at Florida gas stations that have pumps topped with TV screens was nixed at the last minute because the advertising company's chief said it reflected poorly on the oil industry, according to the presidential candidate's campaign.

Gas Station TV -- whose slogan is ''It's Always Prime Time at the Pump'' -- was slated to run the 30-second ad for two weeks at pumps in Miami, Tampa and Orlando, according to documentation provided by the Obama campaign.

''The GSTV owners have signed off on this,'' a representative of ABC National Sales wrote in an e-mail.

''But no motorist saw the ad because, as Gas Station TV informed the campaign this afternoon, the company will not run ads that are damaging to oil companies,'' read a statement from the campaign issued Wednesday evening.

The statement, released hours after the Obama camp announced that the ad would begin airing Wednesday, turned what had looked like a major gaffe into a potential public relations victory.

Republican Governor Palin Praises Obama's Energy Plan

Too bad she won't be around to help him during his presidency.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin -- occasionally mentioned as a McCain vice presidential prospect -- has put out a press release praising Obama's energy plan.

Alaska energy politics seem to trump national politics here, though it's also interesting to see a red(dish) state Republican so willing to associate herself with the Democratic nominee.

“I am pleased to see Senator Obama acknowledge the huge potential Alaska’s natural gas reserves represent in terms of clean energy and sound jobs,” Palin says in the release. “The steps taken by the Alaska State Legislature this past week demonstrate that we are ready, willing and able to supply the energy our nation needs.”

Obama camp campaigns at pumps

Brilliant, what can I say. There is soooo much going on behind the scenes in this campaign. I'm sticking with my landslide prediction.

MISHAWAKA — Volunteers from Democratic Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign held voter registration drives outside seven gas stations across Indiana on Thursday, just hours after oil company Exxon Mobil announced an $11.7 billion profit.

That included the Veldman’s Marathon station at 3811 Grape Road in Mishawaka, where a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline cost $3.79 on Thursday.

Volunteers with clipboards asked people if they were registered to vote and handed out sheets of paper detailing part of Obama’s energy platform.

So, here recently I've noted that the Obama campaign plans to do a phone bank from the Invesco Field during the convention and that they have had voter registration drives at the Batman premiere and at the Berlin rally and now this. Smartest. Campaign. EVER.

Headline Of The Day

Um, duh?

Survey: Consumers cutting back because of gas prices

$147+

By GottaLaff

Since Bush has been president, the oil companies have made $600 billion in profits, per Bernie Sanders just now on the Thom Hartmann show.

Oil prices spiked to a new record above $147 a barrel Friday, as rising hostilities between the West and Iran and the potential for attacks on Nigerian oil facilities gave investors reason to rush back into the energy markets.

Another drop in the U.S. dollar also lured buyers.

The resurgence in crude prices not only raises the concern that $4-a-gallon gasoline is here to stay for U.S. drivers — it also means that heating homes could get significantly more expensive this winter.

But it's all in your mentally recessed heads.

McCain: I ‘Don’t See How It Matters’ That I Don’t Know The Price Of Gas

By Paddy


Clueless in oh so many ways. Via Think Progress-

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.

I’ve had hundreds and hundreds of town hall meetings, many as short a time ago as yesterday. I communicate with the people and they communicate with me very effectively.

House of Representatives: Ayes and Nays

By GottaLaff

Two House votes. First:

In response to record oil and gasoline prices, the House of Representatives on Thursday approved 402 to 19 legislation directing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to use its authority, including the agency's emergency powers, to "curb immediately" the role of excessive speculation in energy futures markets. [...]

"The American people should not be punished at the pump for the actions of oil speculators," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Next:

The House of Representatives on Thursday rejected legislation that would have required energy companies to develop oil and natural gas supplies on federal leases they have held for years or be denied future drilling access on government acres.

The legislation was an effort by the Democrats, who control the House, to show voters they were trying to do something to tackle record gasoline prices. Lawmakers will be on their Fourth of July holiday recess next week and will face angry constituents upset about pump costs.

Our government at work.

$140 +

By GottaLaff

Liquid gold:

Oil futures shot above $140 Thursday after OPEC's president said crude prices could rise well above $150 a barrel this year and Libya said it may cut oil production. The advance raised the likelihood that gasoline prices would also extend their advance, and that prices of goods and services throughout the economy would also keep rising.

Liquidation:

Wall Street has suffered a huge loss, with the Dow Jones industrials plunging more than 350 points as investors contended with a barrage of bad news. A surge in oil prices past $140 a barrel and warnings of trouble in the key financial, automotive and high-tech industries created a gloomy mood across the market.

Liquid remedy:

Obama: Close the Enron loophole

By GottaLaff

According to Randi Rhodes, all Congress has to do is put back the words "and energy" into the Commodities Futures Modernization Act. That's all it would take to fix it. So, who can we call on to help us do that?

Obama campaign's said today that he plans to ease the impact of rising gas prices by cracking down on excessive energy speculation through closing the so-called “Enron Loophole.”

And who can't we call on? One guess.

Hmmm. What would happen if we dumped all that Enron Loopholiness?

On the other hand, in a single step tomorrow, Congress and George Bush could create an overnight drop in oil prices of between 25 and 50 percent. This is according to testimony before a Senate Committee two weeks ago by Michael Greenberger, the former director of Trading & Markets for the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC), the government board that oversees commodities markets.

GREENBERGER: Yes, overnight that will bring down the price of crude oil to get at least a 25 percent drop in the cost of oil and a corresponding drop in the cost of gasoline. Some people estimate 50 percent.

On the conference call were New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, economic policy director Jason Furman, and energy adviser Elgie Holstein, who was chief of staff at the Department of Energy during the Clinton Administration:

Corzine said the "Enron loophole” Gramm had added to the bill took exchanges and derivative oil contracts out of supervisory oversight and had been a problem in electricity markets in California a few years ago. He said it was unlikely Gramm would push back against his own amendment.

Karl Rove slams Obama... and McCain

By GottaLaff

I type this just as I hear David Gregory discuss it on MSNBC. Jinx! From KKKarl's op-ed:

McCain “can be as hostile to profits as Mr. Obama. ‘[W]e should look at any incentives that we are giving,’ Mr. McCain said in May, even as he talked up a gas tax ‘holiday’ that would give drivers incentives to burn more gasoline.” [...]

“Messrs. Obama and McCain both reveal a disturbing animus toward free markets and success. It is uncalled for and self-defeating for presidential candidates to demonize American companies. It is understandable that Mr. Obama, the most liberal member of the Senate, would endorse reckless policies that are the DNA of the party he leads. But Mr. McCain, a self-described Reagan Republican, should know better.”

I don't read Rove's op-eds, but Taegan Goddard linked to it with this headline --ROVE SHOCKER -- and so it intrigued me.

However, nothing about that pig shocks me. Apologies to pigs everywhere.

The Four Stages of "Good Grief!"

By GottaLaff

Froomkin lays out the contempt Bush has for his questioners or anyone who has the nerve to doubt him. Reading this put me through what I will call the Four Stages of "Good Grief!"...

When British Sky News reporter Adam Boulton today challenged Bush on his dedication to freedom, suggesting that Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib represented "the complete opposite of freedom," Bush accused Boulton of "slander[ing] America."

Stage 1, Defiance: I beg to differ. If anyone is "slandering America", it's Bush. He does that through his actions, his decrees, his lies, his secrets... you know the rest.

Evidently still smarting about the Supreme Court's rejection of his detainee policies last week, Bush noted defensively that the lower courts had agreed with him -- as if that mattered.

Stage 2, Hysteria: That's so laughable that I'm reduced to tears...okay, I'm sobbing. He's disgraceful.

While Americans increasingly blame him for record-high gas prices and the toll on their pocketbooks, Bush dismissively referred to domestic concerns about those high prices as "squawking." (Bush: "Well, in the meantime you've got a bunch of people squawking about the price of gasoline. And because we didn't try to find more oil and gas, we're in a pinch in America.")

Stage 3, Rage: Squawk this, George: !#%&*#!!

And in an interview on Friday with Ned Temko of Britain's Observer, Bush actually joked that he was "still looking" for the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that were the main reason he gave to the public for going to war.

Stage 4, Impeachment.

High Gas Prices Apparently Affecting Legal Brothels' Business

Guess this is how you can tell things are really bad.

Gas prices are apparently affecting Nevada's unique industry: legal brothels. The Nevada Brothel Owners Association says most brothels have seen at least a 25-percent drop in business this year.

One bordello is even reporting a 50-percent decline.

The association says the rising cost of diesel especially has cut into the "disposable income" that truckers might otherwise spend on adult entertainment.

"Old George or Jimmy out there, he's got to take care of Momma and the groceries first, and he's got to take care of fuel costs, and he's got other expenses, and he may not have much leftover for having a good time at the moment," said George Flint, Consultant and Association Director, Nevada Brothel Owners Association.

Quickies: Kucinich Intros Impeachment Resolution; Obama = Million Dollar Man; and more!

By GottaLaff

So many headlines, so little time. I can't write all of these up, so you get quickies instead:

Kucinich introduces Bush impeachment resolution

Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich took to the House of Representatives floor on Monday evening to introduce a 35-count resolution to impeach President George W. Bush.

Kucinich claimed Bush "fraudulently" justified the war on Iraq and misled "the American people and members of Congress to believe Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction so as to manufacture a false case for war."

"President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office," Kucinich said.

Barack Obama is $100M man

Leading Democratic fundraisers predict that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will raise hundreds of millions of dollars over the next few months if he opts out of public financing and begins raising money for the general election.

Specifically, they say Obama could raise $100 million in June and could attract 2.5 million to 3 million new donors to his campaign.

Gingrich plays counselor to GOP in both chambers
Newt Gingrich, who led the GOP takeover of the House in 1994, is now coaching Republicans on how to recapture the Senate.

For lobbyists, high gas prices are good news
There may be one group of people who don’t mind the soaring oil prices — lobbyists.

Abramoff to be sentenced in September
The imprisoned former GOP lobbyist will learn his fate (more on Abramoff's influence on the White House here)

$135

By GottaLaff
At this rate, oil should reach $150 in what, a week?

Americans getting an early start on the Memorial Day weekend found that gasoline prices again it a record high overnight, reaching a national average above $3.83 a gallon. Some analysts predict gas will break past $4 as early as next week.

Oil prices, meanwhile, fluctuated Thursday after setting a record of $135.09 in overnight trading. A stronger dollar gave some investors reason to sell oil futures to lock in profits from crude's record run. But concerns about falling supplies and rising demand are expected to keep propelling prices higher in the days and weeks to come.

$132

By GottaLaff

Oy(l):

Oil prices bolted to a new record above $132 a barrel Wednesday after the government reported that supplies of crude oil and gasoline fell unexpectedly last week. And crude's rise in the futures market again pressured consumers by pulling prices at the pump higher -- a gallon of regular gas rose overnight to a new record above $3.80 a gallon.

With gas and oil prices setting new records on a daily basis, many analysts are beginning to wonder whether anything can stop runaway prices.

UPDATE:

Senators told oil executives Wednesday that high oil prices cannot be explained by supply and demand and the oil industry's concentration -- and OPEC price collusion -- is contributing to the costs facing consumers.

Executives of the five largest oil companies were appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said there's an unexplained "disconnect" between prices -- at nearly $130 a barrel -- and legitimate supply and demand.

"We need to get prices under control.... We can only conclude that the oil markets have failed," said Sen. Herbert Kohl, D-Wis.

But Shell Oil Co. Chairman John Hofmeister said the prices can be explained, saying, "The fundamental laws of supply and demand are at work."