Re: Volkswagen Thing - fuel-efficiency rating?


Who was the Tennesse Govenor who ran for President that drove a Thing? And
not during any fuel crisis, it was his no-sh_t car. Cant remember his name.
Hello, Mike!
You wrote on 30 Apr 2006 18:26:57 -0700:

M> Going a Short Way to Make a Point

M> By Dana Milbank
M> Thursday, April 27, 2006; A02

M> Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.

M> Gas prices have gone above $3 a gallon again, and that means it's time
M> for another round of congressional finger-pointing.

M> "Since George Bush and *** Cheney took over as president and vice
M> president, gas prices have doubled!" charged Sen. Barbara Boxer
M> (D-Calif.), standing at an Exxon station on Capitol Hill where regular
M> unleaded hit $3.10. "They are too cozy with the oil industry."

M> She then hopped in a waiting Chrysler LHS (18 mpg) -- even though her
M> Senate office was only a block away.

M> Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) used a Hyundai Elantra to take the
M> one-block journey to and from the gas-station news conference. He posed
M> in front of the fuel prices and gave them a thumbs-down. "Get tough on
M> big oil!" he demanded of the Bush administration.

M> By comparison, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) was a model of
M> conservation. She told a staffer idling in a Jetta to leave without
M> her, then ducked into a sushi restaurant for lunch before making the
M> journey back to work.

M> At about the same time, House Republicans were meeting in the Capitol
M> for their weekly caucus (Topic A: gas). The House driveway was jammed
M> with cars, many idling, including eight Chevrolet Suburbans (14 mpg).

M> America may be addicted to oil, as President Bush puts it. But America
M> is in the denial phase of this addiction -- as evidenced by the
M> behavior of its lawmakers. They have proposed all kinds of solutions to
M> high gas prices: taxes on oil companies, domestic oil drilling and
M> releasing petroleum reserves. But they ignore the obvious: that
M> Americans drive too much in too-big cars.

M> Senators were debating a war spending bill yesterday, but the subject
M> invariably turned to gas prices. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid
M> (D-Nev.) engaged his deputy, *** Durbin (Ill.), in a riveting
M> colloquy. "Is the senator aware that the L.A. Times headline reads
M> today, 'Bush's Proposals Viewed as a Drop in the Bucket'?"

M> "I'm aware of that," Durbin replied.

M> Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) responded with an economics lesson. "Oil is
M> worth what people pay for it," he argued.

M> Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) sounded the alarms. "We are one accident
M> or one terrorist attack away from oil at $100 a barrel!"

M> Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) made a plea for conservation. "We have
M> to move quickly to increase our fuel efficiency," she urged.

M> But not too quickly. After lunchtime votes, senators emerged from the
M> Capitol for the drive across the street to their offices.

M> Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) hopped in a GMC Yukon (14 mpg). Sen. Jim
M> DeMint (R-S.C.) climbed aboard a Nissan Pathfinder (15). Sen. Ben
M> Nelson (D-Neb.) stepped into an eight-cylinder Ford Explorer (14). Sen.
M> Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) disappeared into a Lincoln Town Car (17).
M> Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) met up with an idling Chrysler minivan
M> (18).

M> Next came Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), greeted by a Ford Explorer XLT.
M> On the Senate floor Tuesday, Menendez had complained that Bush "remains
M> opposed to higher fuel-efficiency standards."

M> Also waiting: three Suburbans, a Nissan Armada V8, two Cadillacs and a
M> Lexus. The greenest senator was Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), who was picked
M> up by his hybrid Toyota Prius (60 mpg), at quadruple the fuel
M> efficiency of his Indiana counterpart Evan Bayh (D), who was met by a
M> Dodge Durango V8 (14).

M> As a political matter, Democrats clearly sense that they have the
M> advantage on the high gas prices, judging from the number of speeches
M> and news conferences. "The cost of Republican corruption when it comes
M> to energy is hitting home very clearly for America's middle class,"
M> House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) exulted yesterday
M> morning.

M> Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) introduced an amendment to repeal
M> oil-company tax breaks and distribute $500 tax rebates to consumers. It
M> was quickly ruled out of order.

M> But Republicans were clearly feeling defensive. "We passed an energy
M> bill last year, last July," House Speaker Dennis Hastert (Ill.) pleaded
M> at a morning news conference. "It changes CAFE [corporate average fuel
M> economy] standards. It changes some of the things that we can do -- I'm
M> sorry, changes not the CAFE standards, but changes some of the supply
M> issues, boutique fuels, all these things."

M> Only Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.), who can speak freely because he is
M> retiring, was willing to note the disconnect between rhetoric and
M> action. "People say, understandably, 'Solve our energy problems right
M> now, but don't make us do anything differently,' " he said on the
M> Senate floor.

M> If the politics of gasoline favor Democrats at the moment, the
M> insincerity is universal. A surreptitious look at the cars in the
M> senators-only spots inside and outside the Senate office buildings
M> found an Escort and a Sentra (super-rich Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl's
M> spot had a Chevy Lumina), but far more Jaguars, Cadillacs and Lexuses
M> and a fleet of SUVs made by Ford, Honda, BMW and Lexus.

M> A sampling of senators' and staff cars parked along Delaware Avenue NE
M> found that those displaying Democratic campaign bumper stickers had a
M> somewhat higher average fuel economy (23 mpg) than those displaying GOP
M> stickers (18 mpg). A fuel-efficiency rating could not be found for the
M> 1970s-era Volkswagen "Thing" owned by Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.).


With best regards, dukecola. E-mail: dukecola@xxxxxxxxxxxx


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