{mosads}Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) joined in, linking to his own Mid-Atlantic Energy and Jobs Act of 2012. On Thursday, he posted a political cartoon poking fun at the Obama administration’s explanations for the spike in gas prices.
Former presidential hopeful Gov. Rick Perry (Texas) tweeted his support for Newt Gingrich, whom he endorsed after dropping out of the race, this afternoon and jabbed the administration on gas prices.
Gingrich himself tweeted a picture of a sign advertising gas for $4.21 per gallon in Los Angeles. The former House speaker has been hammering the president’s energy policy in recent days, arguing that prices could be driven down by opening federal lands and offshore areas for drilling.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) fired off a number of tweets before the scheduled speech, attacking the president’s decision to block the Keystone XL pipeline. In a longer post to his Facebook page, Cornyn blamed administration policies for gas prices doubling since the president’s inauguration
Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) posted on his Facebook page that Obama’s speech on energy policy would demonstrate how “adept” Obama is “at promulgating deceptive language masquerading as policy, actually just insidious political gimmickry.”
He also complained about rising gas prices, writing that “last night it took 70 dollars to fill the tank of my 2008 H3 Hummer.”
The president’s speech is expected to highlight long-term fixes, such as consuming less energy while diversifying the country’s energy supply and opening up new land for oil and gas drilling.
But Republicans are hopeful that high gas prices could provide a hook to hit the president on his economic policies.