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Why is the McCain camp criticizing good tire inflation?

I try to refrain from politics, but sometimes politics arrives unwanted at CleanMPG's doorstep.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16436.html

Potential VP candidate Pawlenty:

"Now, that’s an interesting thing — we want you to have good pressure in your tires, you know, it will very mildly add to your fuel efficiency......"

That campaign is disgusting, I watched a few of the McCain camps and they are absolutely terrible, I just cannot bare anymore, and of course he adds this to his list. I can only shake my head and hope our citizens are a bit smarter than this campaign is making them out to be.

He's using the tire inflation as a joke against Obama's and his current decision of rejecting his "McCain's" tax relief.

What an ass McCain is for doing this. By belittling the issue he shows how little he knows. Image just how much savings could be realized by everyone going to max sidewall and properly maintaining. Image a 5 to 10% reduction in automotive fuel usage across the US fleet.

and i apologize for his even looking at our governor for a VP. he's brought us PAWLENTY of taxes.......what a joke.

Yeah... I'm not real keen on McCain... or Obama for that matter. I want some more choices.

@ mparrish: this is an age of sensationalism and you can plainly see that in the kind of news we see on tv and the newspaper. mccain is just jumping on the sensationalist bandwagon as he is trying to contradict his opponent.

@ applemac: there are always choices...the problem is that nobody excercises their right to choose. whether you vote conservative or liberal, you are basically electing a different puppet/joker into office.
i live in canada and we have the same problem here, but i choose to vote socialist even though my values are nowhere close to that mindset. im excercising my right to choose something else.

What an ass McCain is for doing this.

Except it's not McCain doing it, but the RNC. Haven't got the link handy, but he's been quoted as saying that Obama's right about inflating tires.

If you saw the video of the speech, Obama is an idiot. In his speech he said that if people inflated their tires and did a tuneup they could save as much oil as what's in the areas currently off limits for drilling like off the coast of Florida, off the coast of California, and in Alaska for instance. There are billions of gallons of oil available within the United States that the Federal government has made off limits to the oil industry. True, we will save some oil by inflating our tires and doing a tuneup if needed but not enough to match what is available in all these areas. That's why the handing out tire gauges labeled "Obama's energy policy" is so funny. Oil companies have to pay the federal government large amounts of taxes and leases. If the federal government was so concerned about saving oil they could designate all or most of those taxes and leases to a designated account for enviromental research into alternative fuels or transportation energy. Instead that money goes into the pot for all to share.

Now if he had said something to the effect of, "We can all do our part to conserve our oil and gas usage by taking simple steps like ensuring our tires are properly inflated and our engines are properly maintained" then that would have been a better worded statement. It implies that each and every person can do their part to help to conserve. But his original statement was to do the above in place of drilling for more oil and that those steps would save more oil than what is available which is false.

Truth be told, enforcing speed limits would make an even bigger savings but niether candidate would dare make such a statement. Really, they are both pandering to a public that thinks it's entitled to cheap gas for their gas-guzzling lifestyles and exxon et al is obligated to provide it.
I expect Pelosi, Obama, et al to come up with the legislative equivilent of "as of this moment, you are on double-secret probation".

Yeah... I'm not real keen on McCain... or Obama for that matter. I want some more choices.

ME TOO!!!!!!!!!!

I voted for "W" first time around:( I'm setting this one out. I don't want that kind of MISTAKE on my hands again. The "least worst candidate" is no longer acceptable to me. I'll pass :flag:

why dont you vote independent instead and have your vote count for something instead of letting the rest of america decide your fate?

The McCain campaign is simply pointing out that Obama's energy policy proposals stink. Like most Democrats in Congress, Obama is against drilling for more oil in the U.S. and wants the price of gas to continue to be high (no kidding-he, and they, have said this). While keeping your tires inflated is a good idea, it is only serves as a public service announcement and cannot be considered a serious policy proposal.

Obama is against drilling for more oil in the U.S. and wants the price of gas to continue to be high (no kidding-he, and they, have said this).

Well, so am I, and so do I :-) What better way to reduce the use of anything, than to raise the price? On the other hand, Obama supports some really, really stupid things, such as so-called "clean coal".

Well, so am I, and so do I :-) What better way to reduce the use of anything, than to raise the price? On the other hand, Obama supports some really, really stupid things, such as so-called "clean coal".

I appreciate your honesty - but I don't think you want to try to get elected President with this as a major plank of your platform.

In his speech he said that if people inflated their tires and did a tuneup they could save as much oil as what's in the areas currently off limits for drilling like off the coast of Florida, off the coast of California, and in Alaska for instance. There are billions of gallons of oil available within the United States that the Federal government has made off limits to the oil industry.Well there was some implied assumptions that weren't verbalized. If the quote was:
Proper tire pressure and regular tune ups, would save more oil over the course of a year, than all the forbidden fields could produce in a year... then he may be very close to correct. But if he said:Proper tire pressure and regular tune ups, would save more oil over the course of a year, than there is in all the forbidden oil fields... then you'd be right, he's an idiot. Problem with oil is it's not that easy to get to. Pulling oil out of proven field is a bit like draining a swimming pool with a drinking straw. It takes decades to suck a field dry, no matter how hard they suck, it just can't go faster than a predictable rate. Putting multiple straws in the swimming pool doesn't even help. They just have to sit back and weight. So having a "5 billion" barrels of oil is great, but if it takes 100 years to draw it out, that only gives them 50 million barrels a year. Not so much.

So... I don't know how much oil is in the "forbidden" fields, and I don't know how long it will take, but given the quantity without naming the rate of peak extraction is pointless. It's like saying "most Americans will make a million dollars". The "million dollar" quote is actually correct. At 35k a year over 30 years, most Americans will earn 1 million dollars. Saying you'll make "a million dollars" is different than saying you'll make "a million dollars a life-time." The second quote sounds a lot less exciting, but is a lot more precise and true.

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According to members of my family, each of which have over 20 years of oilfield experience, they could have a rig up and pumping oil out the ground in far less than the standard "ten year" answer given by politicians and network news talking heads. I've seen land based oil rigs go up in a matter of weeks in areas near where I live. Off shore oil rigs simply need to be floated out to the right spot, anchored down, and start drilling. There's a little more to it than that but it can be set up and ready to go in less than a year. Oil is traded on the futures market. If those traders even think oil exploration in those forbidden areas is going to be opened up then you'll see them trading down the price per barrel.

So... I don't know how much oil is in the "forbidden" fields, and I don't know how long it will take, but given the quantity without naming the rate of peak extraction is pointless.According to members of my family, each of which have over 20 years of oilfield experience, they could have a rig up and pumping oil out the ground in far less than the standard "ten year"I absolutely agree that it won't take 10 years to put the straw into the swimming pool, but I haven't heard that they have any way to get the oil out any faster. I know the Saudi's are pumping sea water into the fields to build up pressure, but their fields have still been producing for years. I don't think anyone could drain a filed dry in the course of a year. Might not even be able to drain it in 10. My only request is that they name the rate and the capacity. Without both, neither figure hold any water.

So... Your right about the latency, but I still think it will take a while to get all that oil from below the ocean to local Exxon station.

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Think of it this way,...little more than ten years ago President Bill Clinton and certain members of Congress made the same 10 year statement regarding those areas the federal government made off limits to drilling. If their argument was factual then had they begun drilling then we'd have that oil now. I'd much rather American oil companies drilling in America because many foreign oil producing countries don't come anywhere near to being enviromentally friendly as American oil companies here in the USA. Rigs over there don't have to worry about little things like OSHA or EPA. If they all had to follow the same regulations as American oil companies then you'd really see the price of oil go up no matter what amount of supply.

If their argument was factual then had they begun drilling then we'd have that oil now.

Yeah, and if they'd implemented reasonable fuel economy standards & funded alternatives - if they'd just closed the SUV loophole - ten years ago, we wouldn't need that oil now. Who cares if gas is $4/gal, if you're driving a PHEV that averages 120 mpg or so?

Likewise, if we start on the standards now, we won't be needing that oil in ten years, so why bother drilling?