Bush/Cheney 2004. Liars and hypocrites of the world, unite.

By now, if you have cable or satellite TV, you've probably seen this ad that Bush/Cheney 04 are running. You may also have noticed that, to date, not one single, solitary POSITIVE Bush ad has been in rotation. The ONLY Bush ads anyone has seen have been crude hits against Kerry. It begs the question, why can't Bush just run on his own record? Because his record sucks eggs everywhere, in every way. Back to the point... So, this recent Bush ad contains the following: "Some people have wacky ideas, like taxing gasoline more -- so people will drive less. That's John Kerry. He supported a 50-cent gas tax." Wow, you say. How embarassing for Kerry, you say. Geez, what was he thinking, you say. Heck, I just paid $35 to fill up a tank of gas. The last thing I need is a 50% increase in that amount, right? Sure. But what if the copy went like this: "Some people have wacky ideas, like taxing gasoline more -- to artificially prop up the price of a barrel of oil so oil producers can charge a premium. That's Dick Cheney. In 1986, he introduced a bill in Congress that would have artificially kept the price of a barrel of oil at $24, at a time when the market price was consistently $18." Well, it doesn't exactly roll of the tongue, but it's true. In 1986, Mister "gas taxes are crazy" said this: "'Let us rid ourselves of the fiction that low oil prices are somehow good for the United States,' The Times/IHT continues: "Oil prices had plunged to $15 from nearly $40 a barrel in the early 1980s, and Cheney argued the tax was needed to stabilize oil-state economies devastated by the collapse. "...the cost of Cheney's oil-tax plan ultimately would have been passed on to consumers through higher prices on gasoline and other petroleum products. "Under Cheney's proposal, any imported oil bought for less than $24 a barrel would have been taxed with a fee equal to the difference between the cost of that oil and the $24 base price. "'It is hard to explain how they could attack John Kerry for even considering a 50-cent gas tax, which he didn't introduce or vote for, and ignore Cheney's own legislation in 1986 which would have dramatically raised the cost of gasoline," [Senator Richard] Durbin [(D) Ill.] said.