Zoom-boing
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At the top of Tuesday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams pleaded: "Why now? In a tight economy with so many Americans living on the financial edge, why are they being asked to pay so much more for gas?" Moments later, he warned: "...there's still one thing that could crush it all and ruin any hope for a real recovery right now, and that's the price of gas."
Compare that sentiment to this question Tom Brokaw put to President-elect Obama in December of 2008 on Meet the Press: "Why not take this opportunity to put a tax on gasoline, bump it back up to $4 a gallon where people were prepared to pay for that, and use that revenue for alternative energy and as a signal to the consumers: 'Those days are gone. We're not going to have gasoline that you could just fill up your tank for 20 bucks anymore.'"
Here's how Matt Lauer reacted to the rising cost of gas on Wednesday's Today: "And some bad news for drivers and the overall economy. Gas prices are up 13 cents in the last month alone. There is new worry that we could hit all-time highs by the summer driving months."
Now look at what former co-host Meredith Vieira asked Chevron CEO David O'Reilly on the June 21, 2007 broadcast: "Would we be better off, sir, if gas prices were even higher, if it were four, five, six dollars a gallon? Wouldn't that provide the incentive we need to come up with alternative forms of gas and to stop this dependence that we have on foreign oil?"
So aren't these soaring gas prices exactly what Brokaw and Vieira were demanding? What changed?
Read more: NBC Pushed High Gas Prices Under Bush, Now Worried They Would 'Crush' Economy Under Obama | NewsBusters.org
And don't forget Steven Chu!
"Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." Steven Chu April, 2011
Just as long as it's done graaaadually.