XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.republicans, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: X@Y.com   
      
   Republicans are beholden to their Sharia Muslim Saudi Oil Masters who want   
   the USA reliant on middle east oil forever.   
      
   Republicans want you to fall out of love with your Tesla as they campaign   
   on largely untrue statements about electric vehicles   
      
      
      
      
   On social media, in political ads and at campaign rallies, Republicans say   
   Democrats’ push for battery-powered transportation will leave Americans   
   broke, stranded on the road and even in the dark. Many of the attack lines   
   are not true — the auto industry itself has largely embraced a shift to   
   EVs, for instance, and some Republican lawmakers are quick to cheer the   
   opening of EV battery plants in the U.S. that promise new jobs.   
      
   But political analysts say the GOP messaging exploits voter hesitancy on   
   EVs that may have put Democrats on the defensive at a time when Americans   
   are especially feeling a financial pinch. EVs cost $65,000 on average, a   
   fact GOP candidates cite.   
      
   More than two-thirds of Americans say they are unlikely to purchase an   
   electric vehicle in the next three years, according to a new poll by The   
   Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Democrats are   
   twice as likely to say they plan to purchase one as Republicans, 37% to   
   16%, respectively.   
      
   “There’s still lots of selling to do before EVs catch on with the American   
   people,” said Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist and longtime staffer to   
   the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. He described early   
   Democratic messaging suggesting that EVs were an immediate solution to   
   rising gasoline prices as a mistake. “That creates an opening for   
   Republicans in this election, which begins and ends with the economy and   
   inflation.”   
      
   In a key Iowa House race, an ad by a Republican-aligned group features a   
   man standing beside a pickup truck as he calls Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne   
   and the Biden administration “clueless and out of touch” for supporting   
   “expensive” electric vehicles with batteries currently made in China.   
      
   In competitive Nevada, GOP Senate candidate Adam Laxalt mocks Democratic   
   Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s support for her party’s sweeping climate and   
   health law, which includes tax credits to purchase EVs. Laxalt warns that   
   Nevada drivers will have to forgo charging their EVs during extreme heat to   
   avoid straining the power grid.   
      
   The issue has also become a flashpoint in governors’ races in states such   
   as Michigan, Minnesota and California, where Democratic incumbents have   
   defended their support for a rapid transition to EVs — California set a   
   goal for all new vehicles to be electric or plug-in hybrid by 2035 — and   
   grappled with questions over how to pay for charging stations and road   
   upgrades as gasoline tax revenue begins to decline.   
      
   Even with higher gasoline prices, the inexorable march to an all-electric   
   future faces challenges, none of which will be resolved before the midterm   
   elections that will decide control of a closely-divided Congress.   
      
   Hindered by supply chain shortages and manufacturing that currently depends   
   on battery parts made mostly in China, electric vehicles are in the cost   
   range of luxury cars and remain out of reach for most U.S. households. That   
   has Republicans hitting harder on prices — former President Donald Trump   
   riffs frequently that EVs will lead to the demise of the U.S. auto industry   
   — and Democrats talking up recent drops in gas prices and jobs created by   
   EVs and other clean energy. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy pledges   
   an agenda of increased U.S. oil drilling and undoing Biden’s climate and   
   health law if his party retakes the chamber.   
      
   As president, Biden racked up congressional wins that included sending $7.5   
   billion to states to build out a national highway network of up to 500,000   
   EV charging stations. Democrats’ climate and health law also extends tax   
   credits of up to $7,500 starting next year to consumers to purchase EVs.   
      
   Autotrader analyst Michelle Krebs said EVs are a hard sell during the   
   campaign because they remain a distant future for most Americans. Unlike   
   stimulus checks in 2020, the tax credits for EVs in Democrats’ climate and   
   health law are still being sorted out and could ultimately leave few   
   Americans eligible. Currently, EVs make up about 5% of U.S. new vehicle   
   sales.   
      
   “Not everybody sees EV charging stations in their neighborhoods right now,   
   so that has an impact,” she said.   
      
   In an interview, White House infrastructure adviser Mitch Landrieu said the   
   high price of EVs — including up to $400,000 for an electric school bus —   
   is “a legitimate criticism," but added: “The more of these we make, the   
   cheaper they are going to get."   
      
   General Motors, Ford, Toyota and other carmakers have pledged to ramp up EV   
   production dramatically, he said, and as they do EVs will “become more   
   affordable.” GM, for instance, plans to start selling a compact electric   
   Chevrolet SUV next year with a starting price around $30,000.   
      
   Gregory Barry, 45, a Republican father of two in Audubon, Pennsylvania,   
   says he’s open to electric vehicles once they become more affordable and   
   take less time to charge but says it’s a mistake for the U.S. to ignore oil   
   and other energy sources in the meantime.   
      
   Dissatisfied with Senate GOP candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz on other issues, Barry   
   said he ruled out voting for Democrat John Fetterman over his seemingly   
   contradictory positions on fracking and will likely cast a ballot for a   
   third-party candidate.   
      
   Meg Cheyfitz, a 67-year-old self-described progressive in Columbus, Ohio,   
   worries about climate change and believes the government isn’t doing enough   
   to tackle the problem. But she has no intention of buying an EV, saying she   
   and her husband can’t easily install a charger at home since they park   
   their cars on the street. Cheyfitz also believes EVs remain a relatively   
   unknown technology with potentially mixed effects on the environment.   
      
   “Tax credits for EVs aren’t enough,” said Cheyfitz, who voted for Democrats   
   on the ballot during early voting but says she won’t back Biden if he runs   
   in 2024. “I don’t really see them taking meaningful action at all on   
   climate.”   
      
   Environmental groups dismiss the notion that the issue of climate change   
   has gotten lost in the midterm elections, citing recent White House   
   announcements highlighting billion-dollar private-sector investments in   
   domestic manufacturing of batteries for EVs as well as $1 billion in   
   federal spending for electric school buses. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen   
   hailed a new “battery belt” in the Midwest, and Vice President Kamala   
   Harris traveled to Washington state to promote the purchase of 2,500   
   “clean” school buses under a new federal program.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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