In a country where the unemployment rate lingers at a lofty 8.3% after the worst economic disaster since the 1930s, it probably isn’t a good idea to whine about how much it costs to fill up the tank of your luxury car. Congressman Allen West (R-FL) recently decided to use his Hummer H3 to illustrate his latest talking point about President Obama and gas prices. West posted a statement on Facebook yesterday stating, “last night it took 70 dollars to fill the tank of my 2008 H3 Hummer, what is it costing you? What does it cost the President to fill his gas tank?”
If West was trying to complain about mistakenly buying an obnoxiously large vehicle without looking at its miles per gallon stats, then we commiserate — the Hummer H3 gets a less than noble 14 miles per gallon combined. If he was attempting to use his obnoxiously large vehicle to gain political clout in a country where a great number of people are worried about losing their houses and finding room in their checkbooks to buy healthy groceries, then we think he deserves some backlash. Thankfully his statement was not lost on Facebook users who read his post.
The comments that followed made West look out of touch and arrogant — and hopefully will tear a little at his heart strings. “I guess this just shows you how far out of reality politicians really are. He should try living paycheck to paycheck and have to decide if he should fill up his gas tank or pay bills or buy food,” said one Facebook user.
Others decided to give West a little advice, “What are you doing driving a Hummer? Get a Volt or something small and lead by action. You want people to save on energy and stuff then show us the way. How many of us here in Florida chipped in for that Hummer?” Others were not so diplomatic, “Any idiot that drives a Hummer deserves the shafting he gets when he fills it up.” From the diatribe that followed his Hummer comment West’s thought process look a little bit more like Mitt Romneys $10,000 bet than a commiseration with an ailing electorate.
Via Autoblog Green
Lead image by Burning Image on Flickr
Second image by Gage Skidmore on Flickr
I Payed €45 Euros ($60 Dollars) for 25 Liters (6.6 Gallons) of fuel to fill my Daihatsu Mira.
Now who’s complaining, just be glad you don’t live in the Netherlands right now.
I have a less audacious and not-nearly-as-luxurious Ford Ranger. It is not a big truck, but its 18-gallon tank at $3.699/gal costs nearly $70 to fill up.
I would love to be driving something more fuel efficient, but I lack the money. So, unless someone has $10,000 to throw my way to buy a Ford Fiesta, can we please do something about the oil speculation that driving up the price of gas? Low and poor income families are being hurt by this war on prices.
Whoa… I’m paying 107 to fill the tank of my little Fiat.. Welcome to Finland!
Wow, that’s incredibly cheap.
/EU
(Given 20 gallons, it would have cost another $100 here – $170 in total.)
Its a bit disingenuous to post pics of an H2, a much less modest vehicle than the H3, if indeed the guy drives an H3, which is based on the Chevy Trailblazer, hardly “obnoxiously large” or even all that expensive either.
Something is off in this post; either the pics, the claim, or the rage.