Liar, Liar Pants on Fire

Obama misrepresents what Paul Krugman says about John McCain's Gas Tax holiday and uses it in an ad to attack Hillary Clinton. Krugman says of Obama's ad, "I did not say that the Clinton proposal would increase oil industry profits."

Hillary Clinton's proposal is financed by an excess profits tax. It would probably reduce oil industry profits, since the rise in the pre-tax price of gasoline probably would not wipe out all of the tax cut.

According to Krugman: "I was very clear when I wrote about the Clinton proposal that while I do not think it was good policy, it was not the same as McCain’s, and relatively harmless. If the Obama people are suggesting otherwise, they’re being deliberately dishonest."

Meanwhile, Obama, who had previously backed a similar measure which did in fact help consumers, is dead wrong on the issue. He's probably pissed that he did not think about it first.

Says Obama: "That's typical of how Washington works," in a new TV ad airing in Indiana, where primary voters go to the polls Tuesday. "There's a problem. Everybody's upset about gas prices. Let's find some short-term quick fix that we can say we did something even though ... we're not really doing anything."

Obama dismisses Clinton's proposal to suspend the 18.4 cent per gallon federal gas tax as: 1) a political gimmick that will not deliver any significant relief to consumers, while diverting us from the serious energy reforms we need to undertake; 2) an opportunity for oil companies to raise prices to capture the missing tax increment; 3) an inducement to drivers to drive more, thus leading to more consumption and higher prices down the road; and 4) a drain on highway trust funding, which is sorely needed to repair our crumbling infrastructure. His criticism of Hillary resonates because it feeds into the notion that she is willing to do anything to get elected. However, in this case, each of Obama's attack lines is either factually incorrect, or based on flawed logic. Could he be attacking Clinton just to deny her any political benefit? I think that is clearly the case here. That would be as cynical and "old style" as anything Clinton has thrown at Obama is is precisely why I have always felt and said on many occasions that Obama is not a "new" politician but is as "dirty" and opportunistic as they come. In fact, I think that is why he went to Trinity, why he stayed for 20 years, why he refused to disown Jeremiah Wright and why he "suddenly" was outraged by Wright's statements and "finally" distanced himself from him. I was never one of those people who was blinded by Obama. I always thought he was a phony, not worthy of being compared to JFK and MLK. Something about him just seemed to be too slick. Guess what folks, I was (W)right!
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/05/06/gas_tax/