Is it right for Rachel Maddow to have a bit of fun at Newt Gingrich’s expense? You betcha, and we should all join in!
After all, we are celebrating falling gas prices, and the recent low of $2.45 per gallon! It seems like only yesterday my husband was on the verge of cardiac arrest, as he drove five miles out of his way to get in line with hordes of others seeking a three cent break on gas that was steadily heading past five dollars a gallon!
The current price tag of $2.45 is particularly relevant in view of Newt’s campaign promise, as he vied with Mitt Romney for the top Republican spot in the 2012 election. Newt Gingrich promised us that if elected, he would do the unimaginable. He would deliver us from Saudi shackles and bring us gas at the pumps for Two dollars and fifty cents! We were a nation suffering sticker shock at the pumps, but one popular promise does not a presidency make.It takes big dollars – lots of them. While Newt is no pauper, Romney was lighting cigars with dough…Or would have been, had he smoked. Gingrich also made some less popular promises. His ideas for making the ‘takers’ pull their own weight bordered on a Dickensian workhouse mentality – but with less heart.
To bring us back to the present time, the big rabbit Newt promised to pull out of the hat was to stop the steadily climbing gas prices, which marked the entire Bush presidency. Prices began to climb in 2002 and reached record highs in 2008…With no end in sight.
Back in the good old days, from 1946 to 1960 Americans thought nothing of climbing into our enormous gas guzzlers and driving just for the fun of it. If you adjust the numbers for inflation, we are now paying the same price for gas that people did in those years! This is exciting news. I am only disappointed that Democrats are so modest about this achievement.
You know full well that if Republicans had lowered the price even slightly, we would see billboards and PSAs to the effect.
At least we have Rachel Maddow to point out that even when $2.50 gas was merely a twinkle in his eye, Newt was already crowing as he campaigned with a gas can prop with $2.50 stenciled on it!
As Rachel kindly points out. Newt’s promise has been fulfilled, even if Obama did it for him!