RUSH: Well, this is really encouraging news. “Just when it looked like the political climate couldn’t get worse for President Bush and the Republican Party, more storms have gathered. This month’s abrupt rise in gas prices is fueling new worries about the party’s prospects in the fall elections, which have been roiled by controversy over GOP policies on immigration, the federal budget and Iraq…. Republicans worry that because their party is dominant in Washington, they will bear the blame for high gas prices,” and so the Republicans are determined to strike a take-charge pose even if there is little they can do to provide short-term relief for motorists.
“On Friday, senior GOP congressional aides met with White House advisors to strategize. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) plan to send a letter to Bush today demanding an investigation of possible price gouging [by Big Oil]. Appearing Sunday on CNN’s ‘Late Edition,’ Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) even suggested that Congress consider a tax on oil companies’ profits.” So these Republicans, they’re not going to let grass grow under their feet. They’re going to get to the bottom of this!
They’re going to lead the effort to bring Big Oil up there and find out just who it is and where the gouging is taking place. So be confident, folks. Be comfortable and breathe easy. The Republican leadership in Congress is on the case and they will make sure that Big Oil comes up and has some explaining to do, even though there’s not a whole lot to be done. I mean, Big Oil doesn’t set the barrel price of oil, ladies and gentlemen. In fact, I got an e-mail from an expert on this on Friday or Saturday, a subscriber e-mail:
“Dear Rush: You were dead right today. None of the major oil companies have any influence over the price of a barrel of oil. The world market for oil is a commodity market. It is nearly perfect competition. There are over 1,000 companies supplying oil to the market. Some, like ARAMCO and CITGO, are owned in whole or in part by governments. On the demand side, there are seven billion consumers. In both cases, demand and supply, no one is large enough in the marketplace to significantly impact the price of oil in the market as a whole. India and China have doubled their demand for oil in the past ten years.
“This has substantially increased demand. Unless Congress is willing to declare war on India and China and use nuclear weapons to bomb ’em back to the Stone Age, demand will not decrease any time soon. Nigeria normally produces 3% of the world’s oil supply. They are totally closed down by terrorist rebels. The oil rigs destroyed by the hurricanes, about a hundred plus of them, have not yet been replaced. All 25 refineries on the Gulf Cost were shut down by the hurricanes. Only two of them are back to full production. We have not built a new refinery since ’72. Supply is way down. Unless Congress permits drilling in the Gulf coast, drilling in Alaska, permits more refineries to be built, supply will not increase any time soon. When demand goes up, the price increases. When supply decreases, the price goes up. No one can stop this.”
That doesn’t matter, folks. It doesn’t matter because Hastert and Frist are on the case, and they’re going to be holding hearings. They’re going to send a letter to Bush, and they’re going to find out exactly who’s gouging and how and why, and they’re going to see to it that you know they care. “But, Rush, are they going to stop it?” They
“‘Those who speak about sanctions would be damaged more than Iran,’ he told a news conference, ‘but no particular event will happen, so don’t worry about it.’ He also renewed criticism of Israel, calling it a ‘fake regime’ that cannot continue to exist. Israel has long identified Iran as its biggest threat, and these concerns have grown and Ahmadinejad has continued his calls for Israel’s destruction. ‘Some 60 years has passed since the end of World War II. Why should the people of Germany and Palestine pay now for a war in which the current generation was not involved?'” Okay, now, it’s interesting. If you analyze old Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it’s interesting here.
The guy keeps up his credibility with the Islamofascists by denouncing Israel, by denouncing the United States, while lining his pockets and the pockets of every oil producer in the world. I’m sure he means what he says about Israel. But every time he threatens Israel’s annihilation, he adds another five bucks to the price of a barrel of oil. (laughing) If you want to know why the oil price is going up, take a look at what old Mahmoud is doing. The guy bashes Israel, the markets go nuts! This guy starts pouting, “I’m going to bury you,” or “I’m going to knock you. You attack us, we’ll destroy you,” the next thing you know, the barrel price of oil is up three or four bucks, and the market analysts say, “That’s because of the feared conflict, the coming conflict between the United States and Iran, which is threatening the future oil supplies,” blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
So Mahmoud is getting his oil price up. You think Russia wants to shut him up? Hell no! Russia loves the price of oil going up. Everybody that produces oil loves the price going up. You think the Saudis are going to shut him up? Hell no! No way. The Democrats, too, they love this guy. The price is going up, that’s going to put them back in office. Democrats may hate the sinner, but they love the sin. Let’s admit it, folks: High gasoline prices are the Democrats’ ticket to ride here.
Poor old Cindy Sheehan. She’s not needed anymore. Step aside, babe. Make room for President Ahmadinejad! If you want to know who is price gouging, if you want to know why gas prices are high, it isn’t Big Oil and it isn’t a bunch of powerful Jewish people calling the shots. It’s the anti-Semite nutjob running Iran. This guy, every time he threatens — you mark it, every time he threatens to attack Israel, bam! The price goes up. You know, Iran has quite a lot of oil out there. So he’s profiting from it. The Saudis are profiting from it. The Russians are profiting from it. Everybody that “grows” oil, per se, everybody that has it is making out big, and the Democrats love it, too, because that’s resulting in higher gasoline prices. You’re going to blame Bush for it, and the Democrats win the House and Senate in November.
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