Pickler Rides To The Rescue On 'Inflation'

Inflation: are we talking about the economy, tires, or Obama's ego?

This is the kind of thing that makes conseratives wonder if maybe, just maybe, the press is running a kind of protection racket for Barack Obama. The objective journalist Nedra Pickler, whose 'fact check' segments always somehow help Democrats but never Republicans, decided to 'fact check' this statement by John McCain:

"The only thing I've heard him say is that we should inflate our tires," McCain said. "So he has no plan for addressing the energy challenges that we face."

Notice that Pickler is not reporting on Obama's major gaffe when he said that proper tire inflation would cure our need for offshore drilling. Pickler charitably says Obama "may have been exaggerating" when making that claim (yet does not see fit to 'fact check' it). Nor is Pickler reporting on Obama's staggering flip flop on offshore drilling. Obama now supports some kind of limited OCS drilling. Obama pulled yet another huge flip flop by saying he now wants to pull oil out of the strategic reserve - but Pickler did not see fit to report on that.

Instead, she decided to 'fact check' McCain on his impression of what Obama's energy plans are. McCain did not literally mean that Obama has no energy plan - every presidential candidate has position papers and statements on every issue imaginable, and yes Obama does have a bubbly, pointless energy plan that does nothing whatsoever to relieve the high energy costs we face right now:

Besides the recommendation to keep tires properly inflated, Obama also suggested providing incentives for people to trade in gas guzzling vehicles for more fuel-efficient cars; investing in research and development to produce new fuel-saving technologies like long-running batteries; encouraging innovation in alternative energies; and retrofitting buildings to make them more energy efficient.

Pickler may work for the AP, but she is a flak for the Obama campaign, and she is obviously worried that her candidate Obama is being drubbed on this tire pressure gaffe. She is just dying to get that list out there to show how brave and visionary Obama actually is on energy.

Note, however, how none of Obama's ideas will produce a single drop of petroleum. McCain was absolutely correct when he said that Obama "has no plan for addressing the energy challenges that we face."