"Are They With Us Or Against Us?"-Hillary Uses Junior's Phrasing For Her Gas Tax Gimmick

Hillary was in the process of getting slammed on that Gas Tax Holiday which is really just a windfall for Petroleum> And yes, she used Junior's phrasing to defend herself (and McCain, by extension). Phrasing used in the War on Terra.

Why are we talking about Kantor, again?

Unlikely Allies Campaign for a Gas-Tax Holiday

By JULIE BOSMAN
Published: May 2, 2008
DES MOINES — Senators John McCain and Hillary Rodham Clinton found themselves taking a lonely stand on the campaign trail Thursday, defending the proposed gasoline-tax holiday while critics from both parties lined up against it.

Three times, twice unprompted, Mr. McCain, of Arizona, brought up the idea, which Senator Barack Obama’s campaign began calling "the McCain-Clinton gas-tax holiday." Their proposal would suspend the federal excise tax on gasoline, 18.4 cents a gallon, for the summer travel season.

Mrs. Clinton, campaigning in central and southern Indiana, championed her plan as a boon to commuters, truckers and summer vacationers. At an event in Jeffersonville, Ind., on Thursday evening, Mrs. Clinton amplified her frequent pledge to introduce legislation to suspend the gas tax, saying she wanted to put members of Congress on the spot on the issue.

“Do they stand with hard-pressed Americans who are trying to pay their gas bills at the gas station or do they once again stand with the big oil companies?” Mrs. Clinton, of New York, said. “That’s a vote I’m going to try to get, because I want to know where they stand, and I want them to tell us — are they with us or against us?” (Some Clinton supporters and superdelegates in Congress are among those who oppose a gas tax holiday.)

..../ by Thursday afternoon, opposition to the plan was robust and bipartisan, including Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota; Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa; and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California. Even lawmakers in Mrs. Clinton’s backyard, including Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City (a former Republican, now an independent) and Gov. David A. Paterson, a Democrat, expressed doubts. “It’s about the dumbest thing I’ve heard in an awful long time from an economic point of view,” Mr. Bloomberg told reporters, adding that he did not see “any merit to it whatsoever.”

The gas-tax holiday has emerged as one of the most contentious topics in the presidential race, with Mr. Obama, of Illinois, alone among the three candidates opposing the idea. The divide offers a glimpse into a prospective general-election issue, should he win the nomination.

“Listen, these gas prices are brutal on people,” Mr. Obama told voters Thursday in Columbia City, Ind. “Now, John McCain decided that he would solve this problem after being in Congress for 25 years by suspending the gas tax for three months. What that would do is save the average driver 30 cents a day — a nickel and a quarter, 30 cents a day. It would save you a total of about $28 for the entire year — $28.”

The raised tone of Mr. Obama’s voice underscored the potency of the issue. His advisers pointed to a raft of experts and newspaper editorials ranging across the ideological spectrum who agreed with him, and the campaign hoped that voters would agree in Indiana’s primary on Tuesday. (The conservative editorial board of The Wall Street Journal said the idea “smacks of poll-driven gimmickry.”)

snip

Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton are broadcasting dueling television advertisements on the topic. For his part, Mr. Obama is using a 60-second commercial in Indiana and North Carolina to explain his resistance to lifting the gas tax for the summer. “Honest answers,” the advertisement states. “Not Washington gimmicks.”

Mrs. Clinton cast herself as a modern-day Theodore Roosevelt taking on major economic interests. She called the gas tax holiday a first step to building a coalition of Americans to challenge oil companies and ultimately bust up and minimize their power by steering the nation’s energy policy toward alternative fuels. Her plan includes imposing a windfall profit tax on oil companies.

“I’m the only candidate who has a plan to give relief to the nation’s drivers and to pay for it,” Mrs. Clinton said Thursday in Brownsburg, Ind.. “And people need relief.”
snip
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/us/politics/02mccain.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

"Mrs. Clinton cast herself as a modern-day Theodore Roosevelt"

...and a collective groan was heard throughout the nation.

"Oh, my g..."

"She didn't say--"

"Yep, she did."

She's forcing us, within our own party even - to choose sides against each other.

"you're either with us or you're against us" is the common catch phrase of the rove playbook.

:puke:

How the hell do people even respect her anymore?

Just asking, Howie!

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/hillary_will_introduce_gas_tax.php

Hillary Will Introduce "Gas Tax Holiday" Legislation
By Greg Sargent - May 2, 2008, 3:37PM

Hillary spokesperson Howard Wolfson, on a conference call with reporters moments ago, confirmed that she'd be going forward with her plan to introduce the gas tax holiday legislation.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opposes the proposal, so there's very little chance it will ever come to a vote, at least in the House. If it did, however, it could put members of Congress -- the same ones who are also super-delegates being courted by Hillary -- in a bit of a spot.

Anyway, she's going forward with it.

So why is she holding on so strongly to it? It doesn't make sense to me.
:shrug:

that you appear to be trying to buy votes.

This wretched little political gimmick is really sad. And now she's going to use it against her Senate colleagues as a political football? It stinks to high heaven. I hope she keeps it up. Everyone should take a long, hard look at the Queen Bee.

This is "White House or BUST!"