When gasoline prices jumped to record levels in the summer of 2008, Fox News' purported energy expert Eric Bolling acknowledged the importance of reducing our oil consumption, a viewpoint missing from his more recent commentary on gasoline prices. In fact, Bolling didn't mention it at all during his hour-long Fox News special “Paying at the Pump,” which was co-hosted by Sarah Palin.
Incolumnsfor the financial website TheStreet.com, Bolling recognized in 2008 that "[w]e need to decrease demand for oil and gas, not increase it" and “begin aggressive means to address the demand side of the equation,” including lowering the national speed limit. And on Fox Business' Happy Hour, Bolling said that “supply's fairly stable” so “demand is what's most important” for oil prices:
But in 2012, his Fox News special on gas prices never mentioned how decreasing dependence on oil, by increasing vehicle fuel efficiency, for instance, could address what he called the “gasoline crisis.” In fact, Bolling actually mocked Obama for suggesting people use gasoline efficiently and calling for government invest in research for alternative fuels.
Instead of looking toward solutions for making inevitable gas price spikes hurt less, Bolling and Palin pushed with bravado the supposed ways we could lower the price of gasoline -- expanding federal areas open to drilling, raising energy trading margin requirements, and getting rid of boutique blends -- all while inflating U.S. oil resources and hosting the oil industry to defend their tax breaks.
