Bachmann's Ridiculous Promise

[weltschmerz]

When Kelly Graham ran for student body president of our elementary school, she promised candy machines in the cafeteria and longer recesses. It would seem that Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann took a page out of Kelly's book -- she gave her word that if elected president, she'd lower gas prices to under $2 a gallon.

If the national average for a gallon right now is around $3.50, it would seem that President Bachmann would have to wave some sort of magic wand over crude oil prices and distribution in order to make good on her assertion. Is she friends with Christine O'Donnell? Christine's a witch, right? Maybe she's got a special spell or something. Because otherwise, lowering the cost of gas, which is attached to the global price of oil, sounds kinda impossible.

Bachmann didn't say how she was going to do it, just that we should take her word for it. The candidate told a crowd in South Carolina:

Under President Bachmann, you will see gasoline come down below $2 a gallon again. That will happen.

I guess she'll lift drilling bans, or invade the Middle East, or have Christine stew up some frog legs with pixie dust in order to bring our national gas price down, but research has shown that even if the whole continental shelf is opened to drilling, it would have very little impact on our wallets at the pump.

thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/124704/michele_bachmann_makes_most_impossible

[swamp]

Sweet! I'm voting for Bachman!

[pdr79]

I know this has to be taken with a few grains of salt given that it was a campaign rally, but the fact that anyone in her staff would let a statement like this come out makes her candidacy very difficult to take seriously.

[ed1066]

Good thing Obama kept his promise to keep unemployment below 8% and close Gitmo...LOL! Good to see his supporters holding his feet to the fire on that one...

[Deleted]

When is the last time you can remember a "politician" keeping their word to anything said on a campaign trail?

Democrat, republican, independent, ......does it matter

Politicians lie to get votes.....been happening for the 50 years i have been around

Nothing new to see here....

[swamp]

3 posts to make the thread about Obama. Nice work!

[Don Perignon]

Perhaps Bachmann plan is to "pray" prices downward?

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

Opening up drilling in Alaska and off the east and west coast, the Gulf, and on land, would accomplish this.

Nothing complicated about what she has said.

[swamp]

Aug 18, 2011 13:26:10 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

Opening up drilling in Alaska and off the east and west coast, the Gulf, and on land, would accomplish this.

Nothing complicated about what she has said.

Except that we don't have the refining capacity to make a huge difference in the supply of gasoline that would warrant such a huge downward departure on the price of gas.

[ed1066]

Aug 18, 2011 13:28:09 GMT -5 swamp said:

Aug 18, 2011 13:26:10 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

Opening up drilling in Alaska and off the east and west coast, the Gulf, and on land, would accomplish this.

Nothing complicated about what she has said.

Except that we don't have the refining capacity to make a huge difference in the supply of gasoline that would warrant such a huge downward departure on the price of gas.

Just an announcement that we are opening drilling in those areas would immediately cause the price of oil to drop by at least 30-50% on the world market...our energy independence equals the complete economic ruin of the OPEC states...they would panic and slash prices...

[swamp]

Aug 18, 2011 13:31:02 GMT -5 @ed1066 said:

Aug 18, 2011 13:28:09 GMT -5 swamp said:

Except that we don't have the refining capacity to make a huge difference in the supply of gasoline that would warrant such a huge downward departure on the price of gas.

Just an announcement that we are opening drilling in those areas would immediately cause the price of oil to drop by at least 30-50% on the world market...

Where did you come up with those figures. I agree, the price would probably drop, but I see 30 to 50% as not realistic.

[ed1066]

Where did you come up with those figures

Pulled 'em out of my ass...

[deziloooooo]

Aug 18, 2011 12:45:07 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

When Kelly Graham ran for student body president of our elementary school, she promised candy machines in the cafeteria and longer recesses. It would seem that Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann took a page out of Kelly's book -- she gave her word that if elected president, she'd lower gas prices to under $2 a gallon.

If the national average for a gallon right now is around $3.50, it would seem that President Bachmann would have to wave some sort of magic wand over crude oil prices and distribution in order to make good on her assertion. Is she friends with Christine O'Donnell? Christine's a witch, right? Maybe she's got a special spell or something. Because otherwise, lowering the cost of gas, which is attached to the global price of oil, sounds kinda impossible.

Bachmann didn't say how she was going to do it, just that we should take her word for it. The candidate told a crowd in South Carolina:

Under President Bachmann, you will see gasoline come down below $2 a gallon again. That will happen.

I guess she'll lift drilling bans, or invade the Middle East, or have Christine stew up some frog legs with pixie dust in order to bring our national gas price down, but research has shown that even if the whole continental shelf is opened to drilling, it would have very little impact on our wallets at the pump.

thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/124704/michele_bachmann_makes_most_impossible

Well that will do it, she's got my vote..

"Bachmann didn't say how she was going to do it, just that we should take her word for it."

[djAdvocate]

ok, she is certifiable.

[henryclay]

Except that we don't have the refining capacity

We have not built a new refinery in 35 years and counting. Are you opposed to drilling our own oil and building more refineries?

[deziloooooo]

Aug 18, 2011 13:26:10 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

Opening up drilling in Alaska and off the east and west coast, the Gulf, and on land, would accomplish this.

Nothing complicated about what she has said.

If so those oil gallons would probably be sent to China, Japan any where but here..

[billisonboard]

Aug 18, 2011 13:33:49 GMT -5 @ed1066 said:

Where did you come up with those figures

Pulled 'em out of my ass...

[deziloooooo]

Aug 18, 2011 13:36:51 GMT -5 henryclay said:

Except that we don't have the refining capacity

We have not built a new refinery in 35 years and counting. Are you opposed to drilling our own oil and building more refineries?

35 years?? wow..must be a reason oil companies havn't done so...

[djAdvocate]

Aug 18, 2011 13:36:51 GMT -5 henryclay said:

Except that we don't have the refining capacity

We have not built a new refinery in 35 years and counting. Are you opposed to drilling our own oil and building more refineries?

maybe she thinks gasoline comes from cows.

[deziloooooo]

One link I just looked at said a cost of a refinery today , US, estimated at 4/6 Billion...

Today, national and state legislation requires refineries to meet stringent air and water cleanliness standards. In fact, oil companies in the U.S. perceive obtaining a permit to build a modern refinery to be so difficult and costly that no new refineries have been built (though many have been expanded) in the U.S. since 1976. More than half the refineries that existed in 1981 are now closed due to low utilization rates and accelerating mergers.[18] As a result of these closures total US refinery capacity fell between 1981 to 1995, though the operating capacity stayed fairly constant in that time period at around 15,000,000 barrels per day (2,400,000 m3/d).[19] Increases in facility size and improvements in efficiencies have offset much of the lost physical capacity of the industry. In 1982 (the earliest data provided), the United States operate 301 refineries with a combined capacity of 17.9 million barrels of crude oil each calendar day. In 2010, there were 149 operable U.S. refineries with a combined capacity of 17.6 million barrels per calendar day.[20]

[djAdvocate]

wait- maybe she was making an expression like "a cold day in hell"?

[weltschmerz]

"Opening up drilling in Alaska and off the east and west coast, the Gulf, and on land, would accomplish this.

Nothing complicated about what she has said."

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No, it wouldn't. It all goes on the global markets. Do you really think companies like Exxon will say "Oh! This oil is going to Americans? In that case, we'll sell it for less. I'm sure our shareholders will understand. They won't mind making less money."

Seriously? Canada is swimming in oil. We've got oil coming out the wazoo. We're still paying a lot at the pump, because it goes on the global markets.
What's so hard to understand about that?

[Angel!]

Aug 18, 2011 13:31:02 GMT -5 @ed1066 said:

Aug 18, 2011 13:28:09 GMT -5 swamp said:

Except that we don't have the refining capacity to make a huge difference in the supply of gasoline that would warrant such a huge downward departure on the price of gas.

Just an announcement that we are opening drilling in those areas would immediately cause the price of oil to drop by at least 30-50% on the world market...our energy independence equals the complete economic ruin of the OPEC states...they would panic and slash prices...

That wouldn't happen at all. Everyone would know it would take 5-10 years to get any significant production going, so there is no immediate impact to our demand at all. Prices might drop a little, but not even close to 30%.

[Angel!]

Aug 18, 2011 13:54:30 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

"Opening up drilling in Alaska and off the east and west coast, the Gulf, and on land, would accomplish this.

Nothing complicated about what she has said."

--------------------------------------------------------------

No, it wouldn't. It all goes on the global markets. Do you really think companies like Exxon will say "Oh! This oil is going to Americans? In that case, we'll sell it for less. I'm sure our shareholders will understand. They won't mind making less money."

Seriously? Canada is swimming in oil. We've got oil coming out the wazoo. We're still paying a lot at the pump, because it goes on the global markets.
What's so hard to understand about that?

Yeah, SF - you were just explaining to me the other day that it was the global marketplace that was going to cause our food prices to skyrocket.

I suppose she could forbid private companies from selling on the global market & ensure that all production stays in the US. Wouldn't that go against capitalism though? Seems the right would have a problem with this.

[weltschmerz]

If America adds to the global oil market, other OPEC countries will subtract. It's in their best interests to keep the prices as high as possible.

[floridayankee]

Character assassination in progress.......Must destroy the evil, conservative woman.

Where's dezi with his "same old, yadda, yadda, yadda?"

[weltschmerz]

"Character assassination in progress......."
---------------------
Damn right. It's one of the stupidest things I've heard, and I make no apologies for pointing it out.

[magichat]

www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/projects/elkpointrefinery/

New refinery in Elk Point, SD

[weltschmerz]

“Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 per gallon again,” she said in Greenville. “That will happen.”
Left unsaid was what magic would be used in a Bachmann administration (shudder) to accomplish such a feat. I can imagine many ways to do it, but all of them seem rather challenging. We could redefine what we meant by "gallon", or what we meant by "dollar." Perhaps Bachmann will introduce a new currency, known as Bachmann Bucks, and they will be like dollars but much more awesome and God-fearing. They will have pictures of Michele and Marcus Bachmann on one side and Jesus on the other, they will play snippets of Randy Travis songs when you take them out of your wallet, and every one will smell like freedom and tar sands.

www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/17/1008061/-Open-thread-for-night-owls:-Michele-Bachmanns-two-dollar-gas?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29

You should read the whole thing...it's pretty funny.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

If elected President, I promise the following:

1. Return of the Smite Button
2. Free air conditioning for everyone
3. I shall abolish fleas, mosquitoes, cockroaches and gnats
4. Television commercials should be limited to one every 15 minutes of show, and no turning the sound up.
5. Every American will be given the power to issue traffic tickets to people previously designated as idiot drivers.
6. Fast Food restaurant food will be required to look just like the photograph advertisements
7. Airline seats will be made 1.5 times roomier.
8. Total revamping of the current tax system, with everyone voting for me getting a significant reduction over what everyone else pays
9. Free cable TV, including whatever nifty channels you want
10. Every year, you get to select a free household appliance from a nifty catalog

Oh, and $2.00 per gallon gasoline! ;D