"It's exactly this practice that makes lying such a successful and common strategy."

Thank you, Mr Chait!

Chait, presuming  you are one of the TNR's who was ranting about Hillary and McCain calling for a suspension of the gas tax, you are being a hypocrite here.  Obama's "plan" now endorses raiding the strategic oil reserves, which is the same thing (unless we're never planning to restore them).  Where's the outrage now?  Oh yeah, I forgot, Obama isn't Hillary Clinton.

And there's still Obama's position that he thinks offshore drilling is bad -- yes, he now says he'd trade some offshore drilling as a bartering chip with the GOP, but he's not in favor of it as policy, never mind that the psychological impact might have an effect on oil prices -- i.e., our empowering Iran to build nukes and inviting Israel to launch a new middle east war at the worst possible moment.  

But hey, let's get lathered up about the tire guages -- goodness knows Obama doesn't have the money to run some "Why is McCain lying about Barrack Obama's energy policy" tv ads.  

Thinking more about this McCain tire gauge lie , I'm wondering why Barack Obama doesn't just

"Obama's "plan" now endorses raiding the strategic oil reserves, which is the same thing "

How are these two proposals, "the same thing"? Gax Tax is paid by the Oil companies, who then have no incentive to pass any savings to American consumers when setting their selling prices. Raiding the strategic reserve creates a surplus of crude which drives down the market price, which is a major factor is gas price. The only similarity between the two proposals is their intent to lower the price of gas at the pumps; in every other aspect, source, mechanism,  (and side-effects like an even worse shortage in the highway fund) are different.

"never mind that the psychological impact might have an effect on oil prices"

Off shore drilling won't have any actual affect on the market for too long to matter. And electing a president with an energy policy that promises to significantly reduce petroleum dependence "might" have the exact same effect, and "will" have "real", not "psychological" effects if that president actually begins enacting legislation to that effect.

"But hey, let's get lathered up about the tire guages "

But hey, you like to get lathered up about anything "Obama" because you don't want anyone to get arrogant or overconfident and blow this election. :)

Lymon, you're an ultra-maroon. (Pardon my French.) He's not wholeheartedly endorsing Obama's plan. Or even mildly endorsing it. You've completely missed the point of the post, apparently. It was to point out the fact that the media will repeat whatever campaigns say without addressing the truth of the matter. McCain is saying an outright lie over and over again and the media is complicit in this. There isn't an ounce of hypocrisy in denouncing a lie about Obama's energy plan (and Chait even adds the qualifier, "agree with it or not"), even if the plan includes tapping into the strategic oil reserves. Not an ounce. You're really becoming Tep-esque in your ability to take any post on any issue whatsoever and turn it into an anti-Obama diatribe. Get your own f***ing blog if that's what you want to do.

Roz:  while I probably don't deserve it, I wear "Tep-esque" as a badge of honro.  

Sorry, after the beating Chait et al. gave Hillary Clinton on issues such as the gas tax, to blow a gasket on this obvious hyperbole (will anyone with an IQ over 10 TRULY THINK that Barrack Obama is running for president and doesn't have some policy positon on energy besides "tire gauge," or realize the nature of McCain's jibe --  my God, what a low opinion of the average voter) and say nary a word about raiding the strategic oil reserves for a few cents per gallon savings is worthy of comment.  Anyway, it's not like anyone is over there holding your head in front of the screen saying "READ LYMON, OR THE PUPPIES DIE!"

GS -- Hopefully by now they've lost the overconfidence.  As I keep saying, I'm voting for him -- I might even travel to a swing state and be a poll watcher for him.  That doesn't mean I'm whoring my beliefs for him -- I couldn't beleive before, or now, that the strategic oil reserves should be touched for anything but the kinds of emergencies they were created for (say Israel bombing Iran, Iran closing the straights, etc. -- which doesn't seem all that impossible these days).  

Lymon, I think you're underestimating the number of people with political IQs over 10. You know how many people are still convinced that Obama is Muslim.

And no, nobody's forcing me to read your posts. But your posts usually are thoughtful in some measure, and I don't want to have to avoid people on the threads because they feel a duty to rail against Obama. Those automatic anti-Obama responses get very tiresome.

Hey, I agree with Lymon that Obama proposing raiding the reserves is just stupid pandering. Nothing wrong with admitting one of Obama's few mistakes.

No, but rozenson is right that lymon was berating Chait with stuff that missed the point of the post. Whatever you may think about Obama's plan, it's not limited to tire guages, and McCain is a liar liar pants on fire. That was the sole point of the post, not: "Obama's energy plan is flawless". If lymon wants to change the subject, fine, but say so, and then I don't think rozenson would have objected at all.

"I couldn't beleive before, or now, that the strategic oil reserves should be touched for anything but the kinds of emergencies they were created for "

I can't disagree with you on this.

And speaking about calling a liar a liar, Olbermann noted on Friday that Obama's latest response to McCain's attacks on his energy policy basically called McCain a "liar liar pants on fire" though he didn't use those words. Hopefully more MSM will catch on and the story will ignite something useful.

But then, as Chait pointed out, its SOP to not actually analyze anything the candidate says, so they might never notice.