A Lot of Hot Air

Like pretty much the whole world, I thought the entire tire gauge flap with which the McCainiacs attacked Obama was awfully ridiculous. As a quick recap, Obama suggested that, in light of rising gas prices, most of us could cut down out gas consumption by having our cars tuned up and making sure our tires were inflated to the correct pressure. Yeah, just like your mechanic down at the garage always says. I presume a wealthy guy like John McCain has a chauffeur and thus doesn't deal with the details of keeping a car running, but I can't really fathom just what he thought was so hilarious about Obama's assertion. It may have been Obama's argument that his suggestions would result in about the same amount of energy savings as offshore drilling would. Whatever the reason was, it amused McCain, and he and his surrogates started to use the tire pressure meme as a basis for ridiculing Obama, passing out tire gauges to reiterate their points. The issue raised such a high profile, in fact, that Popular Mechanics decided to take a look. They discovered that Obama is correct in his assumptions.

That's all nice background, but what caught my eye is how McCain continues to run with the tire gauge idea. John Aravosis noted that McCain was trying to piggyback the "joke" on Obama with fundraising activities. For anybody who remembers overpriced military items--coffee makers, screwdrivers, etc.--a $25 tire gauge tells us what we can expect from a McCain administration.