American Spectator

Fueling Enmity

SUV Democrats

DNC chief Terry McAuliffe is driving around town in a giant Cadillac Escalade that gets about 10 miles to the gallon. House minority leader Dick Gephardt's Ford SUV gets just a little more mileage out of its tankful of fuel. And Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle? His staff won't say what he drives at home, preferring to point to a more economical GM luxury car he gets driven around in when in the capital. But after the Democratic leaders learned that Republican operatives were driving around town filming their gas-guzzling cars at the same time that these honchos were saying the Bush energy plan was folly, the DNC is making a move to put the men in more fuel-efficient automobiles.

"Those SUVs are going into the garage and you'll see them all in more modest wheels before this energy debate gets hot," says a DNC source, who says that Gephardt has already arranged to have a sedan and driver tool him around town for the next few weeks. The same for McAuliffe. "We aren't going to let the Republicans point the finger at us for being wasteful with energy," says the DNC source. "We're smarter than that."

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2001