All of this sounds eminently reasonable, correct and typically articulate – except one thing bothers me. Newt begins by saying we should dump oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to “punish speculators” for “betting against America.” Maybe I’m missing something, but I thought the SPR was “strategic” in terms of national security, not for “punishing speculators” and managing the price of commodities during an election year. It reminds me of my gripe with Al Gore who constantly talked about how his Social Security “lockbox” was sacrosanct, but saw nothing wrong with opening up the SPR — simply another kind of lockbox, right? — just in time for the Summer driving season during his bid for the presidency.

I’m open to counter-arguments on this. It just rings a sour note to my ear.