Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Although the full moon is still half a month away, the surreality continued with Bush asking congress for authority "to give him the authority to raise fuel economy standards on all cars." [CBS Evening News 04/28/06]

ABC World News Tonight reported, "This is a pretty significant shift by the President. The Administration opposed this kind of move as recently as when the energy bill was passed last August. It's something that Democrats and some moderate Republicans have been calling for a long time. They want to raise the current standard, from the current 27.5 miles per gallon up to about 36 or 40 miles per gallon. The President is now saying he wants the authority to do this on his own. The question would be, how high does he want to raise them? Will he go up to 36 or 40? Or will he do something less? But this is a significant shift."

Finally, Bush seems to be grasping the fact that Republican policies are a losing proposition and is following Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's lead in stealing the Democrats'ideas.

Clearly Bush's change of heart has something to do with the crushing effects of rampant gas prices. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Rising gas prices have intensified discontent with Washington and handed Congress a frightening midterm election backdrop: a deeply pessimistic electorate, despite a robust economy." Continuing a "trend that has persisted for a year, Democrats lead -- beyond the poll's 3.1 percentage point margin of error -- in public preference for which party should control Congress."

And in the Senate, Bush's lapdogs are offering to pay Exxon and Co. additional billions of dollars for their price-gouging treachery -- but only if Democrats okay the pillaging of the Alaskan Wildlife Preserve.

According to the AP, Senate Republicans "proposed a $100 rebate check for millions of taxpayers Thursday to counter high gasoline costs, but linked the assistance to drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge, assuring the measure would face stiff opposition from most Democrats."

The Democrats "derided the GOP plan, and its political chances appeared weak." The Democrats "noted that although the package incorporated some ideas they already had introduced, it contained a provision that almost assuredly would torpedo its passage: opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling."

CNN's The Situation Room said that "it is probably unlikely -- given the partisanship -- that they will actually pass any of these proposals this election year. It's very unlikely, most people say."

And, as this is an obvious tactical setup, the Democrats will be blamed for fighting the Republican "Gas Rebate".

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist even "acknowledged that the measures would have a limited impact," but "with the Republicans trailing badly in the polls, Congress and the White House are under pressure to respond."

Of course! Who cares about the economic impact as long as there is considerable, positive, political impact for the Republicans.