Dripping Hypocrisy

The Washington Post makes light of the disparity between the Democrats's words and the Democrats' actions.

"Since George Bush and Dick Cheney took over as president and vice president, gas prices have doubled!" charged Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., standing at a Capitol Hill Exxon station where regular unleaded hit $3.10. "They are too cozy with the oil industry."

She then hopped in a waiting Chrysler LHS (18 mpg), even though her Senate office was one block away.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., also drove the one block to and from the gas-station news conference, albeit in a relatively efficient Hyundai Elantra. He posed in front of the fuel prices and gave them a thumbs-down. "Get tough on big oil!" he demanded of the Bush administration.

The money quote of the day came from Democrats Mark Dayton, who can speak freely because he is retiring, noted the disconnect between rhetoric and action. "People say, understandably, 'Solve our energy problems right now, but don't make us do anything differently,' " he said on the Senate floor.


If the politics of gasoline favor Democrats at the moment, the insincerity is universal. A surreptitious look at cars in the senators-only spots inside and outside the Senate office buildings found an Escort and a Sentra (super-rich Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl's spot had a Chevy Lumina), but far more Jaguars, Cadillacs and Lexuses and a fleet of SUVs made by Ford, Honda, BMW and Lexus.