Republicans Get Their Panties in a Knot. Again.

[General Zod]

Over bike to work day of all things. . .

As tens of thousands of Coloradans pump up tires and lay out the sun block for Wednesday's Bike to Work Day, Democrats and Republicans are exhibiting sharply different views on the bike as alternative transportation.

State Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, and Assistant Majority Leader Terrance Carroll, D-Aurora, showed off their finest Lycra on Cherry Creek bike path this afternoon, urging Coloradans to take a stand against $4-per-gallon gas.

Mining the energy from leg muscles can save energy at the pumps, and could even help nudge down the price of gasoline, the lawmakers, said, astraddle their bikes. People can save $5 or $6 in gasoline each time they bike to work, they said, predicting that Bike to Work participants will save $80,000 on Wednesday alone.

But a pair of GOP lawmakers, guffawed, saying it's unrealistic for Democrats to hold bicycling up as a way to address skyrocketing gas prices.

"It is the bicycling politician who thinks we can pedal our way to energy independence," State Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, said. "This is the most absurd, ridiculous and totally convincing explanation of why Colorado Democrats are clueless when it comes to addressing our energy crisis."

State Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, said, "Colorado families are struggling at the pump and the answer we are getting from Colorado Democrats is shut down oil and gas production in Colorado and ride your bike: unbelievable.

"I'd like to see how they expect a mother of three in my district to get her kids to school and to buy groceries for her family using a bicycle."

The Denver Regional Council of Governments is predicting a record number of bicyclers for Wednesday — the pre-registration alone seems to guarantee that. There are more than 100 stations in metro Denver that are offering free breakfast to bicycling commuters on Wednesday.

Honestly. . .someone makes a quip about how it'll help to save gas costs and they take it to senseless extremes. It's like the Republicans are huffing too much oil lately or something.

[Oni Koneko Damien]

"I'd like to see how they expect a mother of three in my district to get her kids to school and to buy groceries for her family using a bicycle."

So I guess alternatively walking and biking six miles to and from work, school, and the store daily over a very nasty winter is impossible. Perhaps I should let them know I did that without a problem, and because of it, use non-automobile forms of transport more than ever today. My total gas expenses over the past year are around... oh... fifty dollars or so. And that's for the three or four trips halfway across the state I took as part of a carpool.

[NomAnor15]

Wow! Bicycles aren't capable of completely replacing oil all by themselves?! Do tell. [/sarcasm]

No shit, Republicunts. That's not what this is supposed to accomplish. But I guess it's more important to grandstand about energy independence than actually try to work towards it

[NomAnor15]

Ghetto edit: my post is directed at the OP, not Oni (just in case that's not clear). I just spent too long making my post, without actually looking to see if anyone else had gotten in there yet.

[Patrick Degan]

It's like the Republicans are huffing too much oil lately or something.

More like they're mainlining it.

[18-Till-I-Die]

The whole argument is such a strawman it barely justifies a response. I mean honestly...slippery slope doesnt even begin to cover it.

Thats like when someone asks "Why do you hate America?" because you point out that the War on Abstract Concepts is epic fail incarnate (this happened to me once). Why do i hate America? Cause retards like you can vote.

[18-Till-I-Die]

Ghetto edit: "Their whole argument..."

[cosmicalstorm]

Reading that made my head hurt.
I spent a year travelling ~10 miles/day using my old bike, I have never been in better shape and it saved me huge amounts of money.

[Vendetta]

"I'd like to see how they expect a mother of three in my district to get her kids to school and to buy groceries for her family using a bicycle."

I literally laughed out loud at this because my mother did and still does exactly that. Not in his district, of course, so maybe things are indeed different there. We do live in a small city, where distances are shorter than someone in a more rural area would have to cross.

Well, groceries for a family of five on a bicycle are going to be a tricky feat, unless the store is handy enough that it can be visited in multiple trips over a week replacing only what needs replacing at the time.

Of course, using the bike for general transport, and using a car only when its load carrying capability is actually necessary would be the common sense approach.

[Bounty]

"I'd like to see how they expect a mother of three in my district to get her kids to school and to buy groceries for her family using a bicycle."

I literally laughed out loud at this because my mother did and still does exactly that. Not in his district, of course, so maybe things are indeed different there. We do live in a small city, where distances are shorter than someone in a more rural area would have to cross.

Well, groceries for a family of five on a bicycle are going to be a tricky feat, unless the store is handy enough that it can be visited in multiple trips over a week replacing only what needs replacing at the time.

Of course, using the bike for general transport, and using a car only when its load carrying capability is actually necessary would be the common sense approach.

With America being built around the car, I can imagine there are places where biking to the store is neither safe or practical.

On the other hand, there are certainly places where it is an option and this bleating from the GOP is just ridiculous. My father used to take our only car to work, leaving my mother with just a bike, and we managed just fine. You'd be surprised how much a bike can carry; two kids + a weekend's worth of groceries are doable if you get the right equipment.

[PeZook]

Waaaaah! Waaaaah! Increased use of bikes won't solve all problems! We should only implement solutions which are perfect and solve everything in one go! Waaaah!

On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with a massively imperfect solution to terrorism which is Iraq. Nothing at all. Move along.

[That NOS Guy]

I just bought a bike to be used in my daily commute to tackle the cost of gas and assuming I save $5.00 in gas a day (conservative, but it's better then overblowing it) it's paid for itself by September and I get the fitness help. If the price of gas goes higher, it pays itself off even faster.

Where the hell is the problem in all of this? I'm not getting rid of my car, but it really saves me money in the longrun. You'd think an argument about "fiscal responsibility" would convince republicans.

[Darth Wong]

It's silly to pretend that a society which has been deliberately built around the automobile for the last 50 years can easily be switched over to bicycles, and the people in this thread who pretend that it can are just being idiots. "Oooh, my Mom can do it!" is not an argument, although even that is better than "I'm a teenager and I can get along fine with a bike, therefore everyone can", which would qualify for an Olympic gold medal if the Olympics had an event for stupidity.

Having said that, the idea that a major structural problem with the US economy and society can be solved without any restructuring of that society is equally idiotic, and that's the utopian fantasy that the Republicans are trying to sell. Some pain will be required, but no politician has the balls to say that. Even His Holiness Al Gore is absolutely full of shit on this issue, saying that de-carbonizing our economy can somehow be done while simultaneously achieving excellent economic growth.

[Kanastrous]

Some number of people can get by using bicycles, and should be encouraged to do so, for the benefits of saved fuel, decreased road congestion, and improved physical conditioning (when I bicycled to work, round-trip 16 miles per day, I got in good shape, but fast).

How's that?

[mingo]

I commuted to work, 7 miles each way, most of 14 years, for 7 to 7 and 1/2 months a year. Just think how much gas I saved. Currently I have a job 26 miles from home, not a real practical bike commute. But I CAN put my bike on the bus rack and bus to within that 7 mile range. Problem being the bus only runs that route on Friday evening, and Saturday morning, (I work nights, Friday Saturday and Sunday). So far this year, it's always been raining of threatening rain on Friday or Saturday. When the weather clears however, I can save 33% of my weekly gas bill. Oh, and I will bike 3 miles to school twice a week. Now imagine if even half the people that COULD do this, did. I heard a news report saying as a nation, we had already driven 30 BILLION fewer miles this year. What happens if at least SOME of the miles we HAVE to travel are traveled by bike. Will it drop the price of gas back to $1.50 a gallon so we can all jump back in our Hummers? Not likely, but I think it would have some impact.

Then add to that the health benefits of getting our nation of couch potatoes on a bike getting some aerobic exercise, that could reduce our health care bill. Bikes may not be the answer to every problem, but I think they could be a big help.

I will now take off my helmet and step down off my soapbox.
Thank You

[Darth Wong]

Anything which did drop the price of gas would only encourage people to use more. This is the problem people are not grasping; humans are like any bacterial infection: they will continue to expand and consume resources until they begin to compromise their environment. Individuals who conserve will only create more room for others to waste, unless a coercive central government forces them do otherwise.