GOP Is Now Silent About Gas Prices

back in April of this year the average price of gasoline in the United States was about $3.92 cents a gallon. Some pundits were predicting it would go over $4.00 a gallon -- and maybe climb as high as $5.00 a gallon. And Republicans couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces. They thought they finally had a good issue they could use to flog President Obama, and they were quick to blame the president for the rising gas prices. Here's what some of the leading Republicans said back then:

MITT ROMNEY (GOP Presidential Nominee)
“He gets full credit or blame for what’s happened in this economy, and what’s happened to gasoline prices under his watch, and what’s happened to our schools, and what’s happened to our military forces. All these things are his responsibility while he’s president.”

JOHN BOEHNER (GOP Speaker of the House)
 “The president’s own policies to date have made matters worse and driven up gas prices.”

MITCH MCCONNELL (GOP Senate Minority Leader)
“This President will go to any length to drive up gas prices and pave the way for his ideological agenda.”

But that smile has now been wiped from their faces. Why? because the average price of gasoline in the United States has done nothing but fall in the last few months. It now is about $3.45 cents a gallon -- about 47 cents a gallon lower than it was. And it looks like it may fall even lower.

The Republicans were quick to blame the president when prices were rising. Have they been willing to give him the credit now that prices are falling? Of course not. They don't even want to talk about the price of gas anymore. They've known all along what many of us progressives were saying all along -- that the president has not control over the price of gasoline, whether it is going up or down. Here's how Think Progress puts it:

Obama’s policies haven’t changed since April: the Keystone XL pipeline has not been built, drilling hasn’t drastically changed, and the same regulations are in place. Yet gas prices have fallen. Economics says he isn’t responsible, either way.


They've known this all along, but didn't want to admit it. They're not interested in facts or truth, but only in beating up the president. And it doesn't matter to them whether what they are blaming him for was his fault or not.

I doubt we'll be hearing any more about gas prices in this election season.