Will we get a chicken in every pot, too?

I’ve read that Sen. Bill Frist wants to be president. With his support of today’s nonsense, he must think that channeling George W. Bush, circa 2000, is the way to achieve his goal:

Senate Republicans proposed a $100 rebate check for millions of taxpayers Thursday to counter high gasoline costs, but linked the assistance to drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge, assuring the measure would face stiff opposition from most Democrats.

Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee called the proposal “a bold package that will give consumers some relief” from gasoline prices that have passed $3 a gallon in many parts of the country.

Proper leadership does not include supporting a political solution to an economic non-problem.

I drive, on average, no more than seven miles per day. I drive those miles in a car that gets decent mileage. Danielle drives more than sixty miles per day, in a car that gets decent mileage. My friend Will doesn’t own a car, taking New York public transport instead. Assuming it’s appropriate to bribe voters subsidize the impact of gas prices (it’s not), how will this rebate be implemented to “ease the burden,” as Sen. Domenici promised today, with a little more precision than economic fire-bombing? And haven’t we learned by now that knee-jerk legislative solutions rarely work as intended?

For a little bipartisan fun:

Democrats, meanwhile, were assembling their own package of measures, including a proposal offered by Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., for a 60-day suspension of the 18.4 cent federal gasoline tax and the 24-cent a gallon diesel tax. He said it would provide immediate relief of $100 million a day for motorists.

Apparently Sen. Menendez believes it’s good policy to further burden future taxpayers with a $6 billion liability so that we can continue pretending that economics consequences can be ignored a bit longer. Why not nationalize the oil business now, instead of making us wait?

Idiots, every one of them.