Obama Voted for the Gas Tax Holiday in Illinois

and it didn't fraking work.

Wanna hear some straight talk &trade, here's what Obama admitted yesterday on Meet the Press.

As an Illinois Senator Barack Obama voted for a gas tax holiday, and at the end of the summer they found that Consumer's didn't save a penny!

I told you a couple days ago that the Gas Tax Holiday was nothing more than a cheap Bribe.

I"m keeping this short because Barack says everything that needs to be said here.

MR. RUSSERT: One issue that has really defined the two campaigns here in Indiana is this debate over gasoline...

SEN. OBAMA: Right.

MR. RUSSERT: ...the price of it and whether there should be a tax holiday...

SEN. OBAMA: Right.

MR. RUSSERT: ...from the federal taxes. This is Hillary Clinton's ad talking about you. Let's watch.

(Videotape of political ad)

Narrator: Now gas prices are skyrocketing, and she's ready to act again. Hillary's plan, use the windfall profits of the oil companies to pay to suspend the gas tax this summer. Barack Obama says no, again.

People are hurting, it's time for a president who's ready to take action now.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: Why are you against giving taxpayers in Indiana, North Carolina, a relief from federal gasoline tax this summer?

SEN. OBAMA: You're right, Tim, this defines, I think, the difference between myself and Senator Clinton. This gas tax, which was first proposed by John McCain and then quickly adopted by Senator Clinton, is a classic Washington gimmick. It, it is a political response to a serious problem that we have neglected for decades. Now, here's, here's the upshot. You're looking at suspending a gas tax for three months. The average driver would save 30 cents per day for a grand total of $28. That's assuming that the oil companies don't step in and raise prices by the same amount that the tax has been reduced. And, by the way, I have some experience on this because in Illinois we tried this when I was in the state legislature, and that's exactly what happened. The oil companies, the retailers were the ones who ended up benefiting.

MR. RUSSERT: You voted for it, too.

SEN. OBAMA: I did. Exactly. And that...

MR. RUSSERT: When gas was only $2 a gallon.

SEN. OBAMA: And, and that's my point. I voted for it, and then six months later we took a look, and consumers had not benefited at all, but we had lost revenue.

MR. RUSSERT: So you learned from a wrong vote.

SEN. OBAMA: Yeah, I learned from a mistake.

Barack Obama made a mistake and learned from it. He gained the benefit of Experience (Ding Ding Ding!) on this issue, and instead of continuing to give the people empty meaningless Happy Talk about it, he's telling the truth.

The Gas Tax Holiday is not going to work.

What's worse, it won't be paid for...

Obama: And, in addition, what happens is, is that this would come out of the Federal Highway Fund that we use to rebuild our roads and our bridges. And if we don't have that fund, then we're looking at thousands of jobs being lost in Indiana and in North Carolina.

Now, Senator Clinton says that she's going to use the windfall profits tax to fill it. First of all, she's already said that she's going to use the windfall profits tax for something else, as I have, and, and that is to invest in clean energy and, and other important measures. So that money, she's already spending twice. More importantly, nobody thinks that George Bush is actually going to spend--or is actually going to sign a law for windfall profits taxes, so that's not going to happen this summer.

So what this is, is a strategy to get through the next election. And Senator Clinton's own staff told The Washington Post, "We don't think this is really going to go anywhere. We don't think it's going to work, but we think it's a good issue to use in a campaign." And that's what Washington does. We, we, we don't deal with the serious issues that are in front of us, we try to figure out what's going to poll well and what can we do to get through the next election.

There is no practical way that George Bush, who is already threatening to Veto the Webb G.I. Bill if it's attached to the latest war supplemental, is going to RAISE TAXES ON THE OIL COMPANIES.

Not. Gonna. HAPPEN.

The result will blow a $6 Billion hole in our infrastructure budget that simply won't be replaced. This kind of cynical irresponsibility is not what we need in a President.

We don't need Clinton. We really don't need McSame.

We need Barack Obama.

Let me just close by saying this proposal will only save people 30 cents a day, 30 Pieces of Silver (well ok, "copper" whatever) - if it even worked, and it's not going to work. Comedian Lewis Black of Root of All Evil said it best when he describes his reaction to a previous tax scheme from Congress.

It would be better if my Congressman simply came to on my door and just pissed on my foot!

Are your socks all wet and squishy? That's not rain.

Vyan