Even rural Conservatives turning against Bush...

[NewJeffCT]

The Diesel Demographic
In State's Conservative Northwest Corner, Fuel Prices Make Even The Rugged Cry Out
May 7, 2006
By RINKER BUCK

The big, 80-ton excavation and logging trucks begin to roll in shortly after 7 a.m., their air brakes hissing down the valley. Walter Dethier's Berkshire Country Store in Cornwall, with three fuel pumps and a pretty decent deli, is just about the last stop along Route 4 in northwestern Connecticut. The work crews like to pile in for doughnuts and coffee before they head off for their contract jobs in neighboring Massachusetts or New York State.

At first, Dethier's rustic place among the Litchfield hills doesn't look or sound like the Lexington and Concord of a national revolt over fuel prices. The loggers and the backhoe operators, in their stained caps and Carhartt vests, banter about the weather and the Red Sox. But then Ed Wright of Goshen, a tall, beefy man, puts down his coffee cup and looks out to the gas pumps. The posted price for both regular gas and diesel fuel is $3.19, and Wright winces, casting a glance over to proprietor Dethier behind the cash register.

"Hey, Walt!" Wright says. "Remember when diesel was always at least 75 cents behind regular? What are you doing to us, bud?"

Dethier is gray-haired, with intense green eyes. His sarcasm gene is hyperactive, and he wears the slightly mournful expression of a basset hound.

http://www.courant.com/news/local/northeast/hc-nedieseldemo0507.artmay07,0,4027915.story

[Arugula Latte]

1. I hope this a-hole goes out of business:

Dethier is a lifelong Republican conservative - "I don't discriminate against anyone," he says, "except liberal Democrats."

Well, buddy, you reap what you sow. Connect the dots, dumbass.

[NewJeffCT]

2. I hope so, too

Of course, he'll curse the government while he collects unemployment, and then social security & medicare.

[NewJeffCT]

10. kick for Tuesday

want the day crowd to see it.

[MikeNearMcChord]

3. I am surprised they didn't drink then Talk Radio kool-aid

and blame the damn AYYY-RABS and AYRANIANAS! GIMME THAT DAMN EURRRRL, DAMN LIEBRUULLS COMMIES TAXING IT TOO!

[ComerPerro]

4. So, they're mad now. But wait till October, when the RW is protecting them

from the threat of gay marriage and illegals...

They will forget about the gas prices...

[NewJeffCT]

5. Probably

but, we could always hope that they stay home.

[ComerPerro]

But if they stay home and don't vote for Republicans

then they will be forced into a gay marraige with an illegal alien!

[LuCifer]

6. Well, yeah!

I moved to a seriously rural BFE part of Central FloriDUH a year and a half ago, cuz I had no choice. I thought certain my car was going to be fired bombed cuz you could still see the Kerry/Edwards stickers. Well guess what?! I have yet to met ONE person here who supports DUHbya and co. I shit you not. And I am still blown away by this!

[NewJeffCT]

7. but, I bet a lot voted for him

justifying it by saying he's the lesser of 2 evils when compared to a commie-pinko flip-flopper Librul like Kerry.

[Cha]

13. Good for you..cause

that is a beautiful part of the country, imo.

[TheFarseer]

8. These kind of dumb bastards will blame environmentalists

and even more stunningly, liberals or Clinton for not dealing with the terrorists that are causing high gas prices. Blame anything but who's at fault. IF they are mad at the republicans, which I'm not sure they are, all they would need to do is get back to gay bashing, which they will, and those votes are safe again.

[NewJeffCT]

9. this doesn't sound like blaming tree huggers

>>>
Because diesel is less refined than gasoline and traditionally has been cheaper to produce, Wright is deeply suspicious about current pricing, which has diesel and gasoline pegged at virtually the same price. He's convinced that oil companies have manipulated the price of diesel to collect windfall profits. He voted for Bush in both the 2000 and 2004 elections but now dismisses the president as a "Texas oil man" who has done nothing to address America's long-term energy needs. But something even deeper about the American scene troubles him now.

[Cha]

14. Did you read the whole

article and the point the op was making?

[Cha]

11. Mitchell is so right!

"The situation is a lot simpler than most people realize," Mitchell says. "Petroleum is a product that runs this society, affecting every aspect of our lives from the lights in our house to the gas in our cars. And the cost of that essential commodity has doubled in the last two years. Well, who put us in that situation? We did. The American people keep reelecting governments that have a zero energy policy and we blindly continue on. Until we stop doing that as a democracy, we're just getting what we asked for."

And the ones who didn't vote for these unethical oil barrons have to suffer right along side with the ones who "don't discrimate except for liberal Democrats"!

[lonestarnot]

12. Wooodamnwhoo! And the people shall be deceived no more!

[NewJeffCT]

15. I hope so

One of the guys mentioned in the article is the uncle of a very good friend of mine. This guy is probably more along the lines of a very libertarian conservative - thinks he can do it all without the government. (I always think of an article in The Onion from a while back - "Libertarian breaks down & calls fire department to save burning house")

So, if he is complaining about the federal government, he must be really pissed.

[lonestarnot]

16. Interesting.