The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) faced widespread backlash on Thursday afternoon for bragging that President Joe Biden had caused gas prices to drop by 2 cents per gallon, a claim that may not even be accurate given that oil prices plummeted in response to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The DCCC tweeted out a graph, which featured half-cent increments, that showed that gas had barely dipped in price, writing: “Thanks, @JoeBiden.”
Thanks, @JoeBiden. pic.twitter.com/0iHwTLv7fB
— DCCC (@dccc) December 2, 2021
The Washington Post ripped the tweet as potentially being “the worst defense of the Biden administration yet,” noting that “since Biden took office, the price of gas has risen more than a dollar on this same measure.”
Notable responses included:
- Daniel Dale, CNN “fact-checker”: “This is parody-level misleading-with-axes stuff.”
- Glenn Kessler, Washington Post “fact-checker”: “What an utterly ridiculous chart. Truly dumb.”
- Josh Jordan, statistician: “I absolutely cannot get over the @dccc thinking it was a good idea to tweet that gas prices have dropped TWO CENTS and thanking Joe Biden for it. Because families experience [sic] inflation are going to be grateful that gas prices have dropped two cents after rising $1 this year. … Who thought this was a good idea?! First, Biden is taking credit for gas plummeting due to the Omicron news. Second, this chart is beyond misleading… just back out to see the bigger picture. Yikes.”
- Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY): “Gas prices are up more than 50% since Dec 2020 and Dems are demanding you thank them. Here’s TWO CENTS: After you delete your tweet, restart Keystone, start tapping more into our own domestic energy supply, and stop fast-tracking foreign pipelines abroad.”
- Congressional Leadership Fund: “Wow! Don’t spend those two pennies all in one place, kids.”
- House GOP Policy: “This is just embarrassing.”
- Mark Hemingway, RealClearInvestigations: “Some graphic designer spent like an hour doing this, and no one in charge at the DCCC said, ‘this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen’?”
- Logan Hall, The Daily Caller: “How will you spend the two cents the democratic party saved you this week?”
- Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC): “Retweeting this account is a first for me. But if this is the message they want communicated to the American people, then I’m happy to lend a hand.”
- Emma Vaughn, GOP Press Secretary: “I’m old enough to remember when Pelosi called $1,000 ‘crumbs.’”
- Job Creators Network: “Democrats are celebrating gas prices dropping by 2 cents in the last week, despite prices at the pump having risen by nearly 50% under Biden. How pathetic.”
- Ben Casselman, The New York Times: “This is the chart-crime equivalent of a Nigerian email scam. It’s so blatant that you kind of have to admire the sheer chutzpah.”
- Brian Riedl, economist: “As someone who releases my own 110-page chart book each year, I am in awe of the people who conceived, built, approved, and posted this chart. I could never come up with this level of bulls**t. Bravo.”
- Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL): “I’ll combine the two cents I saved on gas with that 16 cents I saved on my 4th of July BBQ and put a down payment on a pack of gum. Thanks, Brandon!”
Other top responses included:
What this chart would look like with January 20, 2021 as a starting point: https://t.co/87qgkZZ5Qr pic.twitter.com/1DmESB7eZy
— Gregory Korte (@gregorykorte) December 2, 2021
The social media intern making this graphic https://t.co/0g4rtQBB9r pic.twitter.com/kwgO9nWSs4
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) December 2, 2021
Thanks, @JoeBiden. https://t.co/4ka1FhH5ew pic.twitter.com/2Avu3SMa4m
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) December 2, 2021
the digital director at the DCCC has a graduate degree https://t.co/9eGtsIGJzZ
— Joe Gabriel Simonson (@SaysSimonson) December 2, 2021
oh man. why? https://t.co/FOgDaa5x23
— Sam Stein (@samstein) December 2, 2021
https://twitter.com/ScottJenningsKY/status/1466517246109487104
Release 50 million barrels from our emergency supply—without an emergency—so we can get back a whole 2 CENTS? https://t.co/gqhOW7Bg19
— Rep. August Pfluger (@RepPfluger) December 2, 2021
Beyond satire https://t.co/ezsaXXaXeL
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) December 2, 2021
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) December 2, 2021
This reminds me of high school when I'd double-space paragraphs to make my papers seem longer. https://t.co/0V9CAGiAUk
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) December 2, 2021
My favorite part is the half-cent increments https://t.co/QDSMDkOor3
— Alex Clearfield (@AlexClearfield) December 2, 2021
https://twitter.com/intlcarly/status/1466521602041032706
Us: No tweet could be worse than the Biden campaign bragging about $0.16 savings for July 4th.
DCCC: Hold our beer. https://t.co/k6HrWxF6r9
— ForAmerica (@ForAmerica) December 2, 2021
