Political Skullduggery

The lawmakers in Washington are doing their best to convince the public that they are concerned about high gasoline prices.

Their best, however, is sometimes somewhat lacking:

The Republican House leadership, hopping aboard the new anti-oil-addiction campaign, staged a fine media event yesterday at a BP gas station at Ninth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue SE that featured a hydrogen-powered car.

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (Ill.), along with other top House Republicans, was photographed in and around the snappy blue General Motors HydroGen 3 van.

The event followed one by Senate Democrats on Wednesday, who rode in their gas guzzlers to an Exxon station a block from their offices to blame Republicans for high fuel prices.

Hastert, who appeared to have walked to the station, left in the very fuel-efficient vehicle, apparently headed for his office. But he went only a block or so before he got out and stepped into his pre-positioned gas-guzzling armored SUV to take him back to his office. Alert photographers, suspecting a ploy, had followed the speaker and captured the bait-and-switch.

Hastert's security detail is getting the official blame for his vehicle-hopping, but sources are saying that there were fears that Hastert's super-sized frame might have been too much for the energy efficient vehicle, even on the nine-block ride back to the Capitol.