One Jerk & A Bad Idea

Made the mistake of trying to watch CNN for awhile to get a different look at the Katrina coverage. Wolf Blitzer, who we regard as a reliable professional despite his surroundings, did just fine. But every once in awhile CNN interrupts Blitzer's performance with intrusive commentary from Jack Cafferty, a boorish business reporter whose lefty bias and antipathy for George W. Bush will not be hidden.

Cafferty turned one exchange into a rant against Bush for daring to "vacation" in Crawford, Texas, while the world was still spinning, or something that silly. It was petty and, considering the gravity of the catastrophe on the Gulf Coast, was really badly timed. Even had we agreed with Cafferty (and we do not, since he is an idiot) his ravings served no positive purpose in a time of emergency, and it distracted from the disaster coverage.

That was bad enough.

But then Cafferty decided to use the occasion to promote ... are you ready for this? ...

GASOLINE RATIONING!

Cue the organ music.

Yeah, that completely predictable response of the feeble-minded liberal whose only mantra in good times and bad is to increase the scope and power of the government into every aspect of life.

Cafferty had taken a poll, you see, and he read several responses he'd gotten from viewers indicating whether they wanted to see the federal government ration gasoline or not. Most of the comments he read actually were AGAINST rationing, although a couple were written in sarcastic form that might lead an idiot to think otherwise. Apparently it did.

Cafferty, who favors rationing now, wraps up his report with: "Well, Wolf, you can see that opinion is evenly divided."

The question? Was he consciously spinning the meager results of his rationing survey, or is it true that the liberal mind simply cannot conceive of the idea that most Americans do not agree with them?

Rationing did not work in the '70s. We were there. You cannot legislate the laws of supply and demand out of existence. People get hurt when you try. Rationing is not the solution to our present situation. Unleashing the energy industry by rolling back the deluge of red tape required to drill and to build refineries is the only sensible solution. We've dammed up the supply side while increasing imports of crude and refined product. We sowed the seeds of the present problems, and no government edict alone will provide a solution.

The Wall Street Journal online edition had a headline this week: Americans want gasoline, but not gasoline refineries. That pretty much sums up the prevailing liberal orthodoxy. Yet we think that most Americans, given a choice of $3 or $4 gasoline and spot shortages, would opt for a couple dozen refineries strategically placed around the country to increase supplies of fuels.

That's the poll Cafferty ought to be taking. But he won't.