What a coincidence that just days after Republicans decided to use the rising cost of gas as a vehicle to attack President Obama, you can barely turn on Fox News without hearing a discussion about it. Last night, Bill O’Reilly did his part for the effort by announcing that President Obama actually wants prices to go “as high as possible” to satisfy his anti-fossil fuels agenda.
According to O’Reilly (via Fox News’ Lou Dobbs), we have plenty of oil but what we’ve got is being shipped overseas by the oil companies who can get higher prices for it out of the country.
“What is the federal government doing about that? Zero. Nothing. Nada,” O’Reilly said. “Apparently, the president doesn’t want oil companies to have an easier time, that’s why he killed the Canadian oil pipeline.”
O’Reilly later added, “The Obama administration wants the price of oil to go up as high as possible so that Americans demand alternative energy, electric cars, things like that. And the oil companies know they can make more money in China so they send the stuff over there and at the same time they raise the price at the pump here.”
As Juan Williams pointed out in a later discussion about this, it’s ludicrous to suggest that Obama would deliberately try to drive the price of gasoline up during a re-election campaign.
Nevertheless, O’Reilly added, “It’s my job to tell you the truth and right now we are all being taken advantage of – by an administration that has an anti-fossil fuel agenda and an oil industry that manipulates the US market."
Saddam Hussein faced a similar dilemma ten years ago. Though he wanted the world to know he had nothing to hide, he also wanted to bluff his archenemy Iran into believing Iraq still had WMD.
Bluffing did not go well for Saddam, and it might not go well for Ahmadinejad.
But since the price tag for ridding Saddam proved high, we ought to reflect what we are asking of Iran now. On the eve of a threatened attack, we are asking it to take us to the depths of its arsenal and show us all it’s got.
Such great expectations are a sign we have been talking to our friends too long and are in need of a broader perspective. Exactly when was the last time we asked Pakistan, India, China or Russia to show us their arsenal?
âBut those countries are not advocating the destruction of Israel.â
True, but Israel is not a thorn on their side either.
Surely, however, we can see beyond the hyperboles and figure out their underlying purpose. Or have we forgotten that not all Iranians are thrilled with Ahmadinejad?
He sure hasnât.
Nor has he forgotten that that his countrymen hate Israel even more. So he tells them that Israel will be wiped from the face of the earth. Expectantly, this nonsense unites them against a common enemy. It even becomes a diversion from the misery and isolation brought on by his anachronistic regime.
Quite clever work by Ahmadinejad — and not a rial spent or a bullet fired.
So why are we letting the crazy talk about destroying Israel get us all worked-up — to the point of turning the world topsy-turvy again.
Can we not plainly see the machinations of an unpopular regime trying to hold on to power?
Does Killer O’Reilly want more Government Control?
Did Hell freeze over?
He IS correct that gas prices are being manipulated, but ONLY by the oil companies
