From Fox’s Special Report with Bret Baier Wednesday, February 15, 2012
On the effect of increasing energy prices:
The rise in the gas price has an effect on politics and economics. But generally speaking, if the slope is gradual … it is less felt by the electorate and less by the economy.
What killed Jimmy Carter is you had spikes in prices that were the “oil shocks” that shocked the economy, sent it into a tailspin, and also had an immediate impact on the voter by raising prices hugely and quickly, immediately.
I think as long as [gas prices are] rising 10 cents here or there, I think it won’t have an effect. But there could be a spike if there is outbreak of real unrest in the Middle East or even a mini-war. Then you would have a dramatic effect on the economy and it could put us into a double dip the way it did twice in the ’70s. And it could have an immediate impact on the way that people feel about the economy, and that would hurt Obama….
When you hear Jay Carney talking about “all of the above” [energy options, including domestic production], it’s complete nonsense. This administration has done everything it can to shut down drilling in the Gulf, killing Keystone, and basically [declaring] a war on our fossil fuels — in the name of pie-in-the-sky clean energy [at] which they have been throwing billions of dollars to no effect whatsoever.
On how Mitt Romney should respond to slumping poll numbers in Michigan:
[Romney] has been running on nothing except biography: “I’m a businessman” — and now in Michigan the ads are saying “I grew up here.”
That’s not [enough]. He has to come up with an idea, something that he can rally around, a proposal that’s important — like an analogy to Reagan’s supply side economics. He has nothing of that sort. He will give a big speech in Detroit four days before the election. It has to be something large — tax reform, entitlement reform, some new idea. Otherwise he is treading water.
On the president’s improving poll numbers in swing states:
Obama is on an uptick. The economy looks stronger. The Republicans in Congress have mishandled affairs. And the presidential candidates are destroying each other. It’s been a good run for Obama.