The group some label the conservative counterpart to MoveOn.org is using the Web to hit House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, for underestimating the cost of a gallon of gas during an interview last week with CNN’s Larry King.
During the interview, Pelosi says gasoline increased threefold since President Bush took office and has risen to $2.56 a gallon. However, gasoline costs $3.60 per gallon nationally, according the Department of Energy. The conservative group Freedom’s Watch took that snippet from the interview and is circulating it online via YouTube. So far it’s got nearly 6,000 views and a pick up on the site RedState.org.
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Politicians walk a careful line to ensure they don’t appear out of touch with voters. Failed Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani came under fire during his campaign for underestimating the cost of a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread. Former president George H.W. Bush came under fire for being impressed with a long-implemented grocery store item scanner. “When the Speaker of the House can’t remember what a gallon of gas costs, it suggests she is painfully out of touch,” Freedom’s Watch spokesman Ed Patru told The Washington Times. “We don’t know whether she’s oblivious to the price of gas or had a momentary lapse in the middle of an interview with Larry King. … But what we do know is this Congress promised it had a plan to lower gas prices, gas prices have gone up about a $1.25 since she’s been Speaker and the only substantive thing this Congress has done on the issue is to pass an energy bill that raises energy costs.”
Update: A spokesman for Pelosi writes in to explain what happened. “That Freedom’s Watch video is obviously edited to take it out of context,” wrote Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly. “Of course she knows the price of gas. She just misspoke. That is clear from her response to Larry King, when he said $3.50, she replied, ‘$3.50, oh, down six cents. It’s higher where I’m from in California, sad to say.’ Clearly, she thought she had said $3.56.”
You can watch the group’s video below:
