« Not so fast, Bill (and some Democrats) | Main | Dork Zone, Baseball Edition »

September 24, 2005

Catch a Wave on the News Cycle

So I think we can all admit, whether we know better or not (whether we have any economics training) that Sonny's suspension of the gas tax was good politics. Tampering with the market like that is never ideal from an economic perspective, but a lot of good politics (on both sides of the aisle) does not make good econ, and that's kind of par for the course.

The problem for the GOG gang is that September is rolling to a close and the gas tax suspension will soon be no more. And so I'm afraid my friends that that operation has decided to surf the news cycle. In what can only make me suspect that Bob Shrum is now in charge over there, Sonny's crack squad has decided to respond to the latest hurricane 1,000 miles away by closing Georgia's schools.

And I think, though I reserve the right to be proven wrong, that a large part of Georgia's population just exhaled. Soccer moms (and dads) who have to rearrange their entire schedules so that Sonny can get on the cable news shows may now view him as just a little out of touch. And cynics who never could pin down exactly what his style and philosophy were are now sure -- gimmickry.

So now Georgians breathlessly await the next development of worldwide events to learn how Sonny will reinterpret it to interfere with their daily lives. And Democrats and leery Republicans know that the more often you surf the news cycle, the sooner you jump the shark.

Posted by Chris at September 24, 2005 12:35 PM

Comments

Post a comment

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)


Remember me?