State, national GOP torch Dems over gas prices

Randy Pullen, Chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, is doing his part to make the case on the local level that the national Republicans are pushing in Congress: Democrats have failed to deliver on their promise to ease gasoline prices, and worse, are actively working to ensure they continue to climb.

Beginning on Tuesday with an assault on Democrats on several issues, an AZ GOP press release read:

"Despite making gas prices a central theme of 'Campaign 2006,' Democrats in Congress have actually worked to increase gas prices.  From voting to strip oil companies of a tax benefit, which allows for exploration and clean-energy research, to Democrat leadership’s refusal to support stability in the Middle East, to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s personal negotiations with state sponsors of terrorism… it’s no wonder gas prices have dramatically increased since Democrats took power in Washington."

Read the release.

He followed up with a second release the next day, featuring praise for Sen. John McCain's drive to institute a summer gas tax holiday, and conversely, scorn for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in his opposition to the tax cut.

"When it comes to taxes, Barack Obama, Harry Mitchell and Gabrielle Giffords are holding the pump nozzle wide open,” said Pullen in his second salvo. “Rather than reduce the burden on American families, they keep pouring fuel on the fire.”

Pullen claimed Barack Obama "would have caused gas prices to rise to over $6 per gallon by 2016" by voting for the CLEAN Energy Act of 2007. That bill sought to make oil companies pay royalties and fees that are currently subsidized by the government.

However, Pullen's data relied heavily on sources such as a Hertiage Foundation report put out in the Washington Times and McCain's campaign website to make his case.

Full press release.

Today on his blog Pullen for the Party, however, Pullen dug deep into Obama's past to push the hypocracy angle.

"In regard to John McCain’s proposal, Obama said, ‘I’ve said I think John McCain’s proposal for a three-month tax holiday is a bad idea.' This is an interesting stance to take for a man who, less than ten years ago, supported a gas tax holiday and looked for ways in which he could benefit politically from it," claimed Pullen.

"Responding to the rising cost of gasoline in 2000," he continued, "Obama voted to suspend Illinois' state sales tax on gasoline. Obama went on to say about his vote, which helped families, 'I originally voted for the suspension because I thought that it was extraordinary circumstances, given the huge hike in prices…'

"If the recent hike in gas prices do not amount to extraordinary circumstances, it’s hard to imagine what truly might."

The National Republican Congressional Committee also got into the act, and, following the pattern they've established, sent out identical press releases targetting Reps. Mitchell and Giffords, who they've pegged as in danger of losing the seats they gained two years ago. 

"In the face of a slowing economy and soaring cost of living," read the release, "Giffords/Mitchell and her/his fellow Democrats rejected a call to force Speaker Pelosi to tell the American people how she plans to relieve their pain at the pump."

Republicans say the "secret" plan House Speaker Nancy Pelosi alluded to in the campaign to regain the House in 2006 has not been revealed, and worse, Democrats are deliberately frustrating Republican efforts to bring it to light.

"Gabrielle Giffords voted in lock-step with her Democrat leadership to block a bill to force Speaker Pelosi to “reveal the ‘commonsense plan’ to lower gas prices [she] promised two years ago,” said the release, with NRCC spokesman Ken Spain adding, "“While inaction might be the hallmark of this Democrat-led Congress, Gabrielle Giffords/Harry Mitchell owes Arizona voters an explanation as to why she/he has gone to such a great extent to ensure nothing gets done on this issue.” 

Uncharacteristically, the Arizona Democratic Party has yet to take on the accusations, though that silence will likely be broken shortly,

Yet D.C. Democrats are wasting no time in battling back.

As The Hill reported yesterday:

"House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Wednesday that while there is no known short-term fix that will lower gas prices. Democrats are looking at plans such as market manipulation or a moratorium on purchasing oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until prices stabilize...
"In a letter sent to the White House on Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called on President Bush to work with Congress to get  several key pieces of legislation signed into law."

And in response to the assertion by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) that Democrats don't have any actual solutions to the crisis, "Pelosi countered Boehner by releasing a list of House Democrats’ energy-related bills — and how GOP leaders voted on them. In her response letter to Boehner, Pelosi wrote, '[On Tuesday] I wrote to the
president encouraging him to support these initiatives. I hope that you will also join us in our effort.'"