42% Believe Fall In Gas Prices Is Due To Political Manipulation By Bush

[kpete]

Americans look for political manipulation as gasoline prices plunge
Posted 9/25/2006 7:01 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this



By Brad Foss, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — There is no mystery or manipulation behind the recent fall in gasoline prices, analysts say. Try telling that to many. motorists.
Almost half of Americans believe the plunge at the pump has more to do with politics and the November elections, than economics.

Retired farmer Jim Mohr of Lexington, Ill., rattled off a tankful of reasons why pump prices may be falling, including the end of the summer travel season and the fact that no major hurricanes have disrupted Gulf of Mexico output.

"But I think the big important reason is Republicans want to get elected," Mohr, 66, said while filling up for $2.17 a gallon. "They think getting the prices down is going to help get some more incumbents re-elected."

According to a new Gallup poll, 42% of respondents agreed with the statement that the Bush administration "deliberately manipulated the price of gasoline so that it would decrease before this fall's elections." Fifty-three percent of those surveyed did not believe the conspiracy theory; 5% said they had no opinion.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-09-25-gas-poll_x.htm?csp=15

[muntrv]

1. Only 42%? The 58 percenters are in a total coma.

[smtpgirl]

7. I guess so, I am one of te 42%'ers

one of the October surprises!!

Sheeple will jump all over the cheap gas, little do they know they are beign used like a cheap suit.

[beltanefauve]

12. So does this mean

that 42% of us are whackjob conspiracy theorists? That's actually a pretty high number.

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Contrary to what bush wants, it gives people a creepy feeling

that they are being gamed, it's like the apple in the garden of eden.

[GCP]

3. Bush isn't manipulating the prices

He doesn't have to. The oil biz knows what to do, and they're doing it. You don't actually think he'd have to 'give an order' do you?

[mystique]

4. I think it's helping him in the polls

..We just have to wait and see what happens in Nov. But, Oh mighty God, people are soooo stupid...

[rusty charly]

5. i've posted this elsewhere

but i think another angle is: the oil barons don't want to be blamed for the repuke loss in november.

they can say: hey, you lost, but it's wasn't OUR fault!

[Skittles]

8. you got it, Godless

the oil companies are bush whores

[kentuck]

6. It's about politics but it's not about Bush manipulating the prices...

imo.......

The oil companies know, they don't have to ask, that the Republicans will not raise taxes no matter how high gas prices go. They also know the Democrats will slap a windfall profits tax on their asses if they are in charge. So, how do they prevent that from happening?

They drive down their prices just before election, just in case the Democrats win. The price will be so low, there will be no incentive to add a windfall profits tax. If, by chance, the Repubs maintain control, God forbid, then the prices can go back up without worrying about a silly windfall profits tax. It's all planned by the oil companies without the direct assistance of the White House.

[spag68]

9. oil

All they have is take their people out of the futures market. They still make plenty and their friends get out with hefty profits.

[PsN2Wind]

10. You got it Kentuck!!!

I was telling everyone I knew, and some I didn't, that the prices would go down dramatically before the mid-terms. I said the oil companies would be more than happy to forgo some short term profit for long term gain.

[beltanefauve]

13. Asked if it was possible

that oil companies would reduce prices to help Republicans, Shore responded: "What company in their right mind would step forward to kill their profit?"

Uh, wasn't that a yes/no question? Sounds like she dodged it to me.

[Bozita]

11. largest in-kind political contribution in history

[Matilda]

14. Prices are falling in Australia too.

I'd guess this is international. While falling prices will probably give Howard a boost, he's not
facing an election for quite a while yet, so if he was going to engineer anything, he'd probably
prefer to wait.

[Scoot420fla]

15. People are waking up

and seeing the Bush/Cheney/Oil relationship.

[radfringe]

16. regardless of whether or not it's electioneering manipulation

the scuttlebutt in my neck of the woods is expectations of prices going back up again soon after November 7, 2006

many of those I've spoken to have stated they are holding off ordering heating oil until just before/after November 7. They are keeping a close watch on gas prices as an indicator of heating oil going up/down.

They do not expect fuel prices to continue falling after November 7 regardless of who wins in Congress as bush is still in the driver's seat and all it will take for the prices to spike again is a booga-booga terra-lert or more saber-rattling at Iran.

[PhilYerHead]

17. Maybe the corporateers are getting anxious re, the anger of the masses.

n/t

Maybe it isn't George, the republicans, the democrats et al.

Maybe, just maybe the corporations are worried about the anger of the masses.

One can only hope.

Look up Mario Savio at Google, find his speech about throwing oneself upon the gears of the "machine".

I'm having trouble finding the full text but here is a link for a start.

http://www.heartlandcafe.com/hj_index.htm

The Free Speech Movement

The Mario Savio Legacy
By Bernard Stein

"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part."

-The conclusion of Mario Savio's memorable speech before the Free Speech Movement (FSM) demonstrators entered Sproul Hall at UC Berkeley to begin their sit-in on December 3, 1964.

Peace.
PYH

whoops, found it, or at least the end!

http://www.fsm-a.org/stacks/mario/mario_speech.html

Editorial note: This is the conclusion of Mario Savio's memorable speech, before Free Speech Movement demonstrators entered Sproul Hall to begin their sit-in on December 3, 1964. His climactic words about "the operation of the machine" have been quoted widely ever since, out of context, as the existential emblem of the FSM. (Or mis-quoted, since he said "passively" rather than "tacitly.") The beginning of Savio's talk -- about the technical details of the failed negotiations and the administration's reprisal --has never been transcribed. We hope to make it available soon, for it provides a fuller view of the balance of thought and feeling in his speech, and in the FSM.

" We have an autocracy which runs this university. It's managed. We asked the following: if President Kerr actually tried to get something more liberal out of the Regents in his telephone conversation, why didn't he make some public statement to that effect? And the answer we received -- from a well-meaning liberal -- was the following: He said, "Would you ever imagine the manager of a firm making a statement publicly in opposition to his board of directors?" That's the answer! Now, I ask you to consider: if this is a firm, and if the Board of Regents are the board of directors, and if President Kerr in fact is the manager, then I'll tell you something: the faculty are a bunch of employees, and we're the raw material! But we're a bunch of raw material that don't mean to have any process upon us, don't mean to be made into any product, don't mean to end up being bought by some clients of the University, be they the government, be they industry, be they organized labor, be they anyone! We're human beings!



There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!



Now, no more talking. We're going to march in singing "We Shall Overcome." Slowly; there are a lot of us. Up here to the left -- I didn't mean the pun."


on edit, I have no idea why the lines are running through the most important end to his speech. They appeared there when I hit post message. ????