# Gas hits $2.21 a gallon -- where's the liberal media, dammit? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 5, 2005, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828 "2005-04-05T12:24:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/61 "2005-04-05T23:18:07Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > I paid 2.47 last night on the corner of Foothill and Mountain in San Bernadino County for regular unleaded. I recall paying ~$2.43 in the South Bay (spitting distance from San Pedro) the other night. > [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > I know it’s in 3.00 at Baker. Eep. And I’m making a trek that-a-way this weekend. Wonder what the price in Barstow is… ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/62 "2005-04-05T23:25:36Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Was Clinton blamed by “the press” nine years ago for high gas prices? I don’t know about by the press, but republicans certainly weren’t shy about it. [Clinton Administration ‘Napping’ While Americans Assaulted With High Gas Prices](http://www.gop.gov/item-news.asp?docId=36898) > [@](#): > > The Clinton Administration has failed in its duty to develop a policy to deal with our national energy supply and is therefore directly accountable for the higher prices Americans are now paying at the gas pumps," Congressman Terry Everett, R-Enterprise, said Friday. > … > Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson admitted last month that the Administration was not prepared for the higher gas prices. “It is obvious that the federal government was not prepared. We were caught napping. We got complacent,” he said. > > “That is the understatement of the year,” Congressman Everett charged. "Only the Administration has the power to order our ambassadors to get tough with the oil producing nations. Many Americans find it offensive that some of these same OPEC member nations, for which American troops shed blood during the Gulf War, are now involved in an oil price setting scam while the Administration just shrugs its shoulders. [Chabot Continues to Pressure White House: Give Americans Relief at the Gas Pumps](http://www.gop.gov/item-news.asp?docId=37722) > [@](#): > > “President Clinton has substantial executive powers that can be used to send a strong message to the price-fixing OPEC cartel. He has chosen not to use them. Perhaps it is time for the President to remind those other world leaders that his primary obligation is to the American people — not to the foreign oil cartels. Working American families need help now.” I’m sure there’s quite a lot more to be googled up. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/63 "2005-04-06T12:34:14Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > But at least the folks on your side of the pond have a reasonable facsimile of a public transportation system. Here on the west coast of the U.S. our options are walk or drive. “Reasonable facsimile” if you don’t mind paying through the nose for a slow trip on a smelly train to a filthy station that you have to wait a hundred yards outside owing to a points failure, like about the last time I tried to travel from Norwich to York and left myself a couple of hours’ slack time for a meeting I eventually made with a minute to spare and no post-trip shower like I’d been pining for. We have a shit public transportation system. It’s just, as far as I can tell, the Government wants us to use it anyway, so they have to make private transport less attractive by comparison through confiscatory fuel taxes, a speed camera every hundred yards, and so-called “traffic calming” measures that reduces vehicular progress to below walking speed and would rip the sump out of a Humvee. Fortunately I’m not bitter. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/64 "2005-04-06T12:34:34Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Was Clinton blamed by “the press” nine years ago for high gas prices? How would one even go about determining that? The argument posed in the OP was made up. E.C. in fact has no idea what the press’s reaction would be if a Democrat were president during this recent run up in prices. You’re right. I don’t “know” what the media response would be in the sense that I know how many fingers I have. But come on. After the huge media assault on Clinton during his Presidency, it’s no effort to figure out that the conservative media would be howling at the moon and barking themselves into a froth over high gas prices if a Democrat were in power. Absolutely trivial effort required there… ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/65 "2005-04-06T15:50:17Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > **Troy** > Sure, some areas have SOME public transportation but I do not think they are comprable to Europe. I lived in Europe for several years and never had or needed a car. Now I live in California and could not get to work if I did not drive. > > My point was not that there is no Public Transportation in the U.S., but that it is not a priority here. No problem, I was just saying “west coast” != LA. It’s easy to live in the Bay Area without a car. But you are very right in that as a whole, this country’s severely lacking. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/66 "2005-04-06T16:44:27Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > I recall paying ~$2.43 in the South Bay (spitting distance from San Pedro) the other night. > > . Woo, we’re up to $2.49 now. I thought we wouldn’t hit 2.50 until next week, looks like it’ll be there by Friday. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/67 "2005-04-06T17:53:56Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > You’re right. I don’t “know” what the media response would be in the sense that I know how many fingers I have. But come on. After the huge media assault on Clinton during his Presidency, it’s no effort to figure out that the conservative media would be howling at the moon and barking themselves into a froth over high gas prices if a Democrat were in power. Absolutely trivial effort required there… Nope. You keep harping about the “conservative media” as though that were a generally accepted fact. t isn’t. The proper venue for venting at Bush about this is the Editorial Page (and I mean that page, not the Op Ed page). Are you going to tell us that the Editorial Pages of the NYTimes, WashPost, LATimes, SF Chronicle, etc are conservative? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/68 "2005-04-06T20:53:12Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Nope. You keep harping about the “conservative media” as though that were a generally accepted fact. t isn’t. The proper venue for venting at Bush about this is the Editorial Page (and I mean that page, not the Op Ed page). Are you going to tell us that the Editorial Pages of the NYTimes, WashPost, LATimes, SF Chronicle, etc are conservative? The WaPo? Darn tootin’ their editorial page is conservative, aside from the occasional issues regarding either the First Amendment or race/gender equity. Everything else, they are center-right. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/69 "2005-04-06T20:58:05Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > I’m sure there’s quite a lot more to be googled up. Here’s the [essential one](http://www.issues2000.org/2004/More_George_W__Bush_Energy_+_Oil.htm): > [@](#): > > Bush said today that he would bring down gasoline prices by creating enough political good will with oil-producing nations that they would increase their supply of crude. “I would work with our friends in OPEC to convince them to open up the spigot, to increase the supply. Use the capital that my administration will earn, with the Kuwaitis or the Saudis, and convince them to open up the spigot.” Implicit in his comments was a criticism of the Clinton administration as failing to take advantage of the good will that the US built with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf war in 1991. Also implicit was that as the son of the president who built the coalition that drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait, Mr. Bush would be able to establish ties on a personal level that would persuade oil-producing nations that they owed the US something in return. > > (Source: Katherine Q. Seelye, NY Times Jun 28, 2000 ) A blast from the past, from the Good Old Days when the government was running surpluses, and oil at $28/barrel was considered expensive enough to give the Arabs a talking-to over. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/70 "2005-04-06T21:57:43Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Wonder what the price in Barstow is… Your soul. And it has nothing to do with gas… ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/71 "2005-04-06T22:41:23Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > We have a shit public transportation system. It’s just, as far as I can tell, the Government wants us to use it anyway, so they have to make private transport less attractive by comparison through confiscatory fuel taxes, a speed camera every hundred yards, and so-called “traffic calming” measures that reduces vehicular progress to below walking speed and would rip the sump out of a Humvee. Fortunately I’m not bitter. Sorry for talking out of my ass. I was in Europe many years ago. I did not need to rely on public transportation to get anywhere important. I had a blast getting on a train going anywhere and did not really care when I got there. I guess in those happy hazey pre-employment days I was more focused on the trip than the destination. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/72 "2005-04-06T22:57:40Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > The WaPo? Darn tootin’ their editorial page is conservative, aside from the occasional issues regarding either the First Amendment or race/gender equity. > > Everything else, they are center-right. Are you sure you’re not talking about the Washington Times? I’ll see if I can find what there Republican/Democrat endorsement ratio was in the last election. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/73 "2005-04-07T01:22:26Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Are you sure you’re not talking about the Washington Times? I’ll see if I can find what there Republican/Democrat endorsement ratio was in the last election. Nope, I’m talking about the Post. Wanna count with me where they stand on actual _issues_ over the next few days, just for kicks? Sure, they endorse Dems, by and large. But that’s because about half the Dems these days are about where moderate Republicans used to be in the 1970s, and most of the Republicans wouldn’t say a word against Pat Robertson if they had a mouthful. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/74 "2005-04-07T01:23:48Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > I’ll see if I can find what there Republican/Democrat endorsement ratio was in the last election. Why limit it to one election, when we can more easily see a pattern of bias over [the last 70 years?](http://gadfly.igc.org/politics/liberal_media.htm) > [@](#): > > The magazine _Editor & Publisher_ has been tracking newspaper endorsements of presidential candidates since 1932. Contrary to the myth of the liberal media, **in only two elections since then – 1964 and 1992 – have more endorsements gone to the Democratic candidate than the Republican.** The 2000 election was no exception, according to a survey E&P (11/6/00) commissioned of newspaper executives: 48 percent said their paper would support George W. Bush, while only 23 percent were picking Al Gore. Personally, 59 percent of publishers said they planned to vote for Bush, v. just 20 percent inclined to Gore." > – **Extra!** (FAIR), January/February, 2001 Heck, just look at the [2000 election:](http://www.tipponline.com/articles/00/ep110200.htm) > [@](#): > > George W. Bush is heading for a surprisingly comfortable win in Tuesday’s presidential election, according to a new E&P/TIPP survey of the nation’s newspaper editors and publishers, completed Tuesday. … At the same time, the survey revealed that the nation’s newspapers have **endorsed Bush over Gore by a better than 2-1 margin.** It’s also interesting to note that some large conglomerates have only recently allowed their individual newspapers to endorse whoever they want, instead of [having their choice dictated to them:](http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000633662) > [@](#): > > For the first time since 1912, the Ventura (Calif.) County Star has been set free. So has the Abilene Reporter-News in Texas, The Cincinnati Post, and even The Gleaner of Henderson, Ky. > > In fact, all 21 daily papers of The E.W. Scripps Company have been freed – to make their own endorsements for president. > > … Since the tradition began 92 years ago, **the Scripps editors endorsed mostly Republicans,** with only four Democrats getting the nod: Woodrow Wilson in 1912, James M. Cox in 1920, Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, and Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, according to company historians. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/75 "2005-04-07T01:47:57Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Nope, I’m talking about the Post. Wanna count with me where they stand on actual _issues_ over the next few days, just for kicks? > > Sure, they endorse Dems, by and large. But that’s because about half the Dems these days are about where moderate Republicans used to be in the 1970s, and most of the Republicans wouldn’t say a word against Pat Robertson if they had a mouthful. Ah… you grade on a curve. 🙂 But it really doesn’t matter. If you don’t like the Post, then substitute another big city newpaper with a liberal editorial page-- there are plenty. My point still stands, and that is that there are PLENTY of liberal (or leftish or anti-Bush, whatever term you want to use) editorial pages out there. If they aren’t bashing Bush on the price of oil, then maybe that’s because to do so would have no merit. Note: I’m not arguing with you on that subject, but with the OP. You just happend to have challenged my statement about the Post. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/76 "2005-04-07T01:49:31Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Why limit it to one election, when we can more easily see a pattern of bias over [the last 70 years?](http://gadfly.igc.org/politics/liberal_media.htm) If you could read, you would know that we’re talking about the Washington Post, not all newspapers taken together. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/77 "2005-04-07T02:54:13Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > If you could read, you would know that we’re talking about the Washington Post, not all newspapers taken together. But you will concede that, taken all together, newspapers do exhibit a conservative bias? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/78 "2005-04-07T05:04:59Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > But you will concede that, taken all together, newspapers do exhibit a conservative bias? No. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/79 "2005-04-07T11:52:04Z")
Whatever the political bias of the papers, no one seems to be linking Bush to high gas prices. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828/80 "2005-04-07T14:41:11Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > If you could read, you would know that we’re talking about the Washington Post, not all newspapers taken together. So what’s the point? Ranting that the WaPo has a liberal bias (in your delusional mind, anyway) is as meaningless as ranting that the Wall Street Journal’s op-ed page has a conservative bias, or that the Weekly World News keeps supporting Bat-Boy in his ongoing election career. However, this exchange… > [@John Mace](#): > > > [@Fear Itself](#): > > > > But you will concede that, taken all together, newspapers do exhibit a conservative bias? > > No. …speaks for itself. Keep wallowing in that denial there, son. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-hits-2-21-a-gallon-wheres-the-liberal-media-dammit/297828.md?page=5)