Recently Barack Obama included amongst his suggestions for reducing our dependance on foreign oil that people do smart things like, well, conserve and, um, drive more efficiently. Apparently he shared with us all that keeping your tires properly inflated actually saves you gas.

And with gas over $4 /gallon, why wouldn't we all be interested in the small, personal steps we can take to reduce our use and save money...not just the bigger policy changes that will be called for?

The RNC, however, thought it was worth mocking by providing an Obama tire gauge with every donation.

Of course the down side of their knee-jerk mockery is the fact that...no, not just that it portrays the Republican candidate for President of the United States as a juvenile "I am rubber, youa re glue" kind of guy...but that they're mocking the truth.

Check out this Time article that support's Obama's contention that small personal acts can, in fact, save as much oil as new proposed drilling would produce.

EarthFirst has a nice recap, and a video of Obama's response here.

I am just...upset...sorry, I cannot think of a better word, that this is what we've come to at the highest levels of the political process. Stupid, immature, lame mockery...not to mention inaccurate...instead of substantive discussion.

Gah! Bah! Grr.