This morning I read this comment over at Huffington Post, written by "RepublicanTexasHammer" on the comment thread for the article Energy Report: Obama Goes On Offense About Gas Prices, Reliance On Foreign Oil. In relevant part, RTH writes:
In 2008 when the cost of oil reached $147 a barrel, President Bush quickly brought down the cost of oil to the $40 range, hitting bottom at $33 a barrel, by simply opening more offshore oil drilling. Gasoline came down to $1.59 a gallon the last week of December 2008.
Seriously, I'm speechless.
It's been clear to many of us for some time that a lot of GOP fans are living in an alternate universe, where inter alia Hitler was a liberal and Jesus was a conservative, and where all sorts of absurd and demonstrable falsehoods are accepted as fact, and as self-evident truth. It's also clear that GOP fans repeatedly cite the average price of gasoline on 20 January 2009 as proof that President Obama has caused the rise in prices, they're conveniently and deliberately forgetting or omitting the fact that they were north of $4.50 in the summer of 2008 and north of $3 for just about all of W.'s second term. They're making up history as they go along. We know that.
But this is the first time I've seen a GOP fan come right out and state, unequivocally and as fact, that not only does President Bush deserve credit for the precipitous drop in gasoline prices in the 4th quarter of 2008, but that he accomplished it all by himself by "simply (emphasis added) opening more offshore drilling." Honestly, I don't know what to say to or about this. It's just staggering.
Whether RTH made this up himself or was told this by someone on Fox or talk radio or read it on Drudge or RedState or FoxNation, I don't know. I do expect this, though, to become part of the echo chamber in fairly short order. I doubt it will work its way into Romney, Santorum and Gingrich's campaign speeches, if only because they've so thoroughly avoided mentioning President Bush at all thus far.
We are far past the point in America where, for reasons I'm still trying to figure out, validating our voting preference became more important to us than actually knowing or understanding anything. This comment by RepublicanTexasHammer cannot possibly lead him, or anyone else, to a good place.