Liberal bloggers think that John McCain has been ensnared in an out of touch moment akin to the elder Bush not knowing the cost of a loaf of bread.
Here was McCain in an exchange with the Orange County Register:
MCCAIN: Oh, I don’t remember. Now there’s Secret Service protection. But I’ve done it for many, many years. I don’t recall and frankly, I don’t see how it matters.
The Huffington Post said McCain “stepped in it” and Think Progress declared that it represented his “cluelessness about gas prices.”
Nice try.
Any fair reading of the question makes clear that it was in reference to price of gas the last time he pumped his own gas, and really, do we now expect presidential candidates with Secret Service protection to pump their own gas regularly so they can answer such gotcha questions from reporters?
Meanwhile, Patterico notes that six days before the interview, McCain gave a speech in which he said, “The price of a gallon of gas in America stands at more than four dollars.”
So McCain obviously knows the price of gas. If he can be accused of anything, it’s not having more patience with a pointless question.
