The sheeple are waking up

You know the party's over for the Bush Administration when paltry bribes to the American people are seen as what they are. A few years ago, the Republicans were able to advance Americans $300 on their tax refunds for the following year and tell them that this less than $30/month would make a real difference in their lives. Now they're trying the same tactic with a $100 bribe to go away and shut up about gas prices, but this time it's not working:

Angry constituents have asked, "Do you think we are prostitutes? Do you think you can buy us?" said another Republican senator's aide, who was granted anonymity to openly discuss the feedback because the senator had supported the plan.

Conservative talk radio hosts have been particularly vocal. "What kind of insult is this?" Rush Limbaugh asked on his radio program on Friday. "Instead of buying us off and treating us like we're a bunch of whores, just solve the problem." In commentary on Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume called the idea "silly."

[snip]

Under the proposal, $100 checks would be sent late this summer to an estimated 100 million taxpayers, regardless of car ownership. Single taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes above about $146,000 would be ineligible for the checks, as would couples earning more than about $219,000. The $100 figure was determined by Mr. Frist's office, which calculated that the average driver would pay about $11 per month in federal gas taxes over nine months.

This is not to say that the Democrats are significantly better:

Even though some voters have been outspoken in their opposition to the $100 rebate, Democrats still want credit for being the first to think of putting money back in taxpayers' pockets. A few days before the Republicans went public with their plan, Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat of Michigan, proposed a $500 rebate plan, a figure that she said was more commensurate with how much the higher gas prices will cost Americans this year.

The whole concept smacks of hush money in an election year. There are no quick fixes to gasoline prices and the supply problems that are only going to get worse. We had the opportunity to make real progress after the 1970's oil crunch, and instead Americans forgot about gas lines and decided that they needed to play "Mine's Bigger" on the roads of America by guzzling as much gasoline as possible in the biggest vehicles possible. And now we are paying the price.

Stabenow is right to balk at including ANWR drilling in any package -- any oil found there is 10 years away from making it into the gas pumps on the mainland and is simply a drop in the bucket. The answer is to put some real government funding into mass transit and alternative energy research -- and to do it now. The problem is that there IS no money. Bush's adventure in Iraq and tax cuts for his friends have made sure of that.