As scary as it sounds I think McCain may actually be dumber than Bush.

Just remember who's running McCain's campaign this year (Karl Rove). What else would you expect?

Hay now thats not nice to say about bush he earned his dumbness hahaha

Like it or not; men like Bush and McCain would not get into office unless they had votes from the public. The public are the ones who are ignorant; they just get taken advantage of by shysters like Bush/McCain.
Winston Churchill said it best "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." Never a truer word said...

So you think that by saving one tank of gas a year, we WILL gain energy independence?

If we all try a little, we will gain very little.

Not that you shouldn't inflate your tires, but the the energy supply situation in this country and around the world will not be solved by everyone saving one tank of gas a year. You can save as much or more than this by driving less or buying a more efficient car (even used) , I'm sure.

I'm not a McCain supporter and he is definitely creating a strawman here to argue against. However, politicians (Obama included) always talk a lot about populist issues like the price of gasoline during election season to garner favor with the electorate.

The issue of the true reason for the high price of oil (higher demand and plateaued supply) has been clouded with half-baked ideas like a gas tax "holiday" or selling the strategic petroleum reserve.

You can't be a politician and ignore this situation, but you can't be a politician and admit that you have very little control over the price of oil. Carter tried this and look what happened to his popularity.

As a politician you have to pretend that you can solve all of the problems and that you can do it while making everyone richer and happier too.

I will go deflate my tires immediately.

I find it ironic when presidential candidates (both parties included) yell at congress for going on vacation, when was the last time mccain was actually in washington d.c. doing what he was elected to do in congress? I hate election time :(

So we want to FIGHT . . . . for our RIGHT . . .
. . . to waste energy?

Besides the obvious and surprising large efficiency advantage, there's also a significant safety advantage.

The defective Firestone/Ford Explorer rollover debacle was exacerbated by underinflation. So how many people died, and how much did that cost our economy? It pretty much tanked a 100-year-old industrial company (Bridgestone retired the Firestone name) and put a serious dent in Ford.

So to trivialize the opportunity of implementing simple steps like that, especially when the scale of savings rival the "solutions" being offered by the drillophiles, is just plain stupid.

"The Department of Energy estimates that 1.2 billion gallons of fuel were wasted in 2005 as a result of driving on under-inflated tires "

I'd be curious to know how many gallons of fuel (per year) will be pumped by drilling in ANWR...

I can't believe people actually think inflating your tires will solve or even make a dent in the energy crisis. Wake up people!! The only thing that can have an immediate impact is conservation. More drilling and hybrids can help, but not today. If you must drive, take tips from hyper milers and quit speeding on the highways. But that would require a behavior change, and many are too selfish to make that change. Previous comments typical from the left. Long on name calling, and short on substance.

People love to hear what they want to hear...

This is the kind of BS that wins elections. The guy running his campaign is the guy that flattened Kerry. He knows what he's doing. The 'merican voting population is a whole lot different from Treehugger readers.

OK, McBluster really is off track here. Obama is pushing for efficiency in energy use and even hints of conservation. Seems pretty sensible. So what's the Republican retort? Let's get really greedy and "drill offshore." Why can't McCain's handlers get him to take a sensible approach to energy management? I think this ploy of catering to Americans' fears of high gas prices simply makes finding sustainable solutions to our energy crisis a tougher task.

I missed the part where McCain said anything about the effectiveness about tire inflation. Actually I'm sure McCain is all for properly inflated tires. His point is that it is a good tip, not an energy policy. This would be like treehugger coming out and saying properly inflated tires will halt climate change.

Going to drill our way out of the oil shortage ...

Just don't expect lower prices 'cuz the oil companies get to charge world prices ...

McShame won't have $4 /gal ... heck no, his way will have the price at $8 /gal.

The stupidity makes Obama's conservation methods and renewable energy options look SO much better that I can (almost) overlook his fumble on thinking there is such a thing as "clean coal" ...

@ hendu ... may actually be dumber than Bush ...
Sad but true.

Going to drill our way out of the oil shortage ...

Just don't expect lower prices 'cuz the oil companies get to charge world prices ...

McShame won't have $4 /gal ... heck no, his way will have the price at $8 /gal.

The stupidity makes Obama's conservation methods and renewable energy options look SO much better that I can (almost) overlook his fumble on thinking there is such a thing as "clean coal" ...

@ hendu ... may actually be dumber than Bush ...
Sad but true.

You guys better look at what folks DO, not what they SAY. Obama criticized McCain for continuing the Dick Cheney energy plan, but if you look at the 2005 votes, Obama voted for it, McCain against it. Actions speak louder than words. And on the tire inflation, go back and look at their quotes on the issue in full.

ok - tire inflation comments aside because they've been addressed - I was seriously bothered by how much he verbally stumbled during that.

And also - did SENATOR McCain ever say he didn't want to take his 5-week recess? Taking away vacation is not the way to win friends and influence people.

Is McCain still pretending he's running as a pro-environment Republican or has he given that up now he has been bought by the oil companies?

As for McCain being dumber than Bush it's true. McCain finished bottom of his class while Bush was merely an average student at Yale.

It's hard to accept that McCain has any supporters at all. And you know, I used to actually give McCain the benefit of the doubt. He used to be the Republican that wasn't so bad. Boy has that changed over the past couple of years... The guy is sooo out of touch. He may not be worse than Bush but he definitely seems more of a puppet. McCain doesn't have that whole sociopathic thing going on like Bush does.

This may backfire on McCain. By trying to energe Bush's base (and not all bikers are Bush Republicans) you're probably energizing Obama's base more. I was beginning to dim on Obama because he drifted to the right, but this video makes me certain Obama's still 1000 times better.

Wow and this is what you guys have to look forward to running your country. This is a scary thought ... but the scariest thought is there are people supporting him!!! Yikes!!!

Please post the details of the calculation that supports the amount of the savings being suggested. I do not believe that it is useful dialogue to simple pick and choose a few undocumented statistics, tie them together and reach a conclusion. The goal should clearly be the most efficient use of our limited resources but since our resources are limited (capital, intellectual, labor etc.) we must be very careful how we allocate them.

It's funny so read your holier-than-thou comments when you can't even spell the word "presumptive" ! Who's the idiot?!!

LA: Tell me you have never made a spelling mistake in your life. But thanks for the correction.

It's kind of funny because although the crowd did respond a bit to the tire inflation "joke" you can tell it was a lot less popular than drilling off shore.

Why? Because as a motorcycle rider myself, I can tell you that everyone who rides a motorcycle understands the importance of proper tire inflation. While in a car the worse thing that happens is poor mileage, on a motorcycle poor inflation is way more deleterious.

Just sayin'.

Hahaha Emily, I was thinking the same thing. It sounded like he couldn't make up his mind between saying dollars and bucks. It came out "4 dollars...ducks!...box!....bucks 4 dollars!!!!". Unfortunately something I do far too often...

Both candidates will get a lot of money from the oil and gas industry but I don't see the industry getting either in their pocket. McCain is certainly no friend to them after voting against the President's energy bill, and windfall profits tax has probably been said by the Obama campaign more in the last few months than in all time before that. However both candidates will claim they can do something to fix the problem (this bluffing also gets them more money from oil and gas industry), when really they can't. They both know that the market will work itself out and all that matters is that it looks like they can do something.

Re how much oil McCain is talking about: ANWR, offshore drililng and shale oil are conservatively estimated at over 1 trillion barrels, which is 20 TRILLION GALLONS of gasoline. For Obama to say, and I quote, that "we could save all of the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling" merely by inflating tires is lunacy, and he deserves to be mocked for it.

Where'd you get the 1 trillion barrels = 20 trillion gallons conversion?

And where did the 1 trillion barrels number come from?

Re 1 trillion barrels of shale oil, the U.S. Dept. of Energy estimates are actually in excess of 2 trillion barrels: http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/reserves/npr/NSURM_Documentation.pdf

For the crude to gasoline conversion, see here: http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/eng99/eng99288.htm

Tire inflation can save one tank a year, according to the Department of Energy. That won't reduce our dependence on foreign oil at all!! This is because the airlines, manufacturers of plastics, chapstick, heating oil, petroleum products won't get their 3%.

3% with automobiles does not mean 3% of national consumption.

Even if it did, 3% savings in miles per gallon would not reduce the 200%+ increase in the price of gas in the last 5 years. Wake up!!!