Under what party did gasoline and oil prices reach their peak? Republican, of course.

3/14/2012 12:29pm by 186

Republican Governor Bobby Jindal, not known for his analytical skills, is now claiming that gasoline and oil prices have reached their highest levels in years (if ever) under the Obama presidency.  Perhaps Jindal is too young to remember that, in fact, gas and oil prices were higher under – who? – Republican President George W. Bush.

Politico, quoting Jindal’s lie:

“The reality is, gasoline prices have doubled under this president, highest prices for oil and gasoline in a 150 years. People used to think it was because of incompetence from Obama administration on energy – I think it’s because of ideology. They’re pursuing a radical environmental ideology,” Jindal said on “Fox & Friends.”

In fact, the monthly average retail price of gasoline peaked at $4.26 a gallon in inflation-adjusted dollars less than four years ago, in June 2008. It then plummeted to $1.80 a gallon in the next six months during the global financial collapse. Oil isn’t near historic highs either.

Kudos to Politico’s MJ Leee for catching the lie.  In other words, gasoline prices reached their peak – wait for it – during the George W. Bush presidency, that would be the Republicans.  Note the chart below, red is gasoline prices under Bush, blue is gas prices under Obama.  Guess who wins?

Click chart for larger version.

And if you look back even further, it appears that George Bush’s peak gasoline price was tied for the highest ever (adjusted for inflation, noted as the “real” price in the chart I link to), and Bush’s tie wasn’t with Obama, it was with Jimmy Carter (in this table, Carter’s oil prices were slightly higher than Bush’s, which were higher than Obama’s) and Woodrow Wilson.

Oil prices were also higher under Bush - again, red is Bush, blue Obama.

Click for larger version.

Keep in mind that Jindal, like Bush, is supposed to be an oil expert because his state, like Texas, produces oil.  Yes, well the one oil expert failed to realize that the other oil expert had some of the highest oil and gasoline prices in all of American history.

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@aravosis | Facebook | Google+. Editor of AMERICAblog, joint JD/MSFS from Georgetown, worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, and as a stringer for the Economist. A frequent TV pundit, he has been on The O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline & Reliable Sources. Full bio and .

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