2008 Presidential Campaign Blog

“Pennies” Shows Clinton Campaign’s Gas Tax Gimmick Won’t Pay Off for Hoosiers

“Pennies” Shows Clinton Campaign’s Gas Tax Gimmick Won’t Pay Off for Hoosiers

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana families are feeling pain the pain of high gas prices. The Clinton campaign’s response is a “gas tax holiday” proposal even its own aides say won’t work, a plan they admit helps score political points. Worse yet, the Clinton campaign is attacking U.S. Sen. Barack Obama in a TV ad for refusing to embrace this election-year gimmick.

A new 30-second TV spot, “Pennies,” highlights the criticism Hillary Clinton’s gas tax plan has received from policy experts, a proposal described by USA Today as “political pandering.” The spot tells Hoosiers what Obama plans to do to help drive down gas prices and provide relief to consumers over the long term, proposals that include investigating oil companies for price gouging, taxing their windfall profits and giving working families a permanent $1,000 tax cut to help offset rising gas costs. 

“Pennies” :30 seconds

“Another negative ad from Hillary Clinton.

“But here’s what she's NOT saying.

“USA Today calls her three-month gas tax holiday "political pandering."  It’s an election year-gimmick, saving Hoosiers just pennies a day.

“Barack Obama's plan?  Take on price-gouging by oil companies.  Tax their windfall profits.  Invest in alternative energy. Give working families a permanent, thousand-dollar tax cut to help with rising costs.

“That's change we can believe in.

“I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message.”

Matt Gonzalez is Nader’s Vice Presidential Running Mate

Matt Gonzalez is Nader’s Vice Presidential Running Mate

In 2000, Gonzalez was elected to the 11 member San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which supervises a city with a budget of $6 billion. He became President of the Board three years later.

Gonzalez worked as a deputy public defender in San Francisco from 1991 2000, developing extensive trial experience.

Gonzalez is a 1987 graduate of Columbia University and a 1990 graduate of Stanford Law School.

At a press conference in Washington, D.C., Nader said that he first met Mr. Gonzalez during an anti-Iraq war speaking tour in California.

“I found him to be unwavering in his principles and committed to his politics with clear eloquence and humane logic,” Nader said. “I wanted someone who served in government and who knows what kind of challenges our cities face and who has a record of accomplishment in areas such as election reform, criminal justice, and the creation of the highest minimum wage in the country.”

“He profoundly understands that what we are trying to do is make this a better, stonger democracy,” Nader said. “We're both honored to be running together and look forward to addressing issues, conditions, and solutions ignored by the other major party candidates.”

Nader said that he chose Gonzalez because he “wanted someone who shares my sense of justice and opposition to the corporate state control over our society.”

“I wanted someone who is ready and able to stand up and fight the good fight,” Nader said. “I chose Matt Gonzalez because he's demonstrated – through his legal, civic, and political career – his steadfast commitment to the values and directions that have characterized my work and hopes for our country and its role in the world.”

Nader Launches Presidential Bid On NBC’s Meet The Press With Tim Russert

Nader Launches Presidential Bid

Washington, D.C. – Ralph Nader today threw his hat into the 2008 Presidential ring.

Nader announced his candidacy on NBC’s Meet the Press with Tim Russert.

At the same time, the Nader campaign launched a web site – votenader.org.

The campaign web site highlights twelve fundamental differences between the Nader campaign and the corporate Republicans and corporate Democrats.

In a letter posted on the campaign web site this morning, titled Civics Test, a group of Nader supporters ask:

“Of the following Presidential candidates – Ralph Nader, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain – which one supports a single payer, Canadian style, free choice, Medicare for all health care system?

Answer: Ralph Nader

Which one supports solar energy and would take nuclear power off the table?

Answer: Ralph Nader

Which one would cut the huge bloated wasteful military budget?

Answer: Ralph Nader

Which one would reverse U.S. Middle East policy in Israel/Palestine, Iraq and Iran?

Answer: Ralph Nader

Which one would launch an aggressive crackdown on corporate crime and corporate welfare?

Answer: Again, only Ralph Nader.”

A separate letter, titled “Mr Frugal,” agrees that Hillary Clinton’s campaign spending $3.8 million in January on one consultant alone was “stunning.”

“Give our candidate – we call him Mr. Frugal – $3.8 million and he’ll get us on the ballot all across this country,” the letter reads.

The web site encourages people to join a Road Trip for Ralph – where volunteers will travel the country, getting Nader on the ballot in all fifty states.

On Meet the Press, Nader said that “dissent is the mother of assent.”

Nader said people are feeling “locked out, shut out, marginalized and disrespected.”

“You go from Iraq, to Palestine to Israel, from Enron to Wall Street, from Katrina to the bumbling of the Bush administration, to the complicity of the Democrats in not stopping him on the war, stopping him on the tax cuts (for the wealthy).”

“In that context, I have decided to run for president,” Nader told Russert.

Nader called Obama “the first liberal evangelist in a long time.”

But Nader said that Obama is censoring his better instincts.

“Senator Obama’s record has not been a challenging one,” Nader said. “He’s not been a Senator Wellstone or Senator Abourezk or Senator Metzenbaum by any means. He has leaned, if anything, more toward the pro-corporate side of policymaking. The issue is – do they have the moral courage? Do they have the fortitude to stand up against the corporate powers and get things done? Yes, get things done for the American people?”