Republicans use social media to preemptively bash Obama energy speech

Republicans took to social media Thursday to bash President Obama ahead of his energy speech in Florida, hitting the president on his rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline and high gas prices.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) used the opportunity to promote his transportation bill in the House, H.R. 7, which was delayed last week.

While POTUS "deflects" blame on gas prices reut.rs/z8IqrW GOP delivers solutions w/#AmericanEnergy Initiative on.fb.me/eqBPsw

— Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) February 22, 2012

Boehner continued to hammer Obama throughout the day, doubting whether the president would offer solutions to spiraling gas prices.

W/gas prices threatening economy, POTUS not expected to offer solutions in energy speech today wapo.st/yEjv9G @washingtonpost

— Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) February 23, 2012

Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) joined in, linking to his own Mid-Atlantic Energy and Jobs Act of 2012. On Thursday, he posted a political cartoon poking fun at the Obama administration’s explanations for the spike in gas prices.

This cartoon says it al! #energyindependencenow twitter.com/RepScottRigell…

— Rep. Scott Rigell (@RepScottRigell) February 23, 2012

Average price of gas could exceed $4/gal n June. SOLUTION = bit.ly/wYhIyu #VA02 #4jobs

— Rep. Scott Rigell (@RepScottRigell) February 22, 2012

Former presidential hopeful Gov. Rick Perry (Texas) tweeted his support for Newt Gingrich, whom he endorsed after dropping out of the race, this afternoon and jabbed the administration on gas prices.

Newt's energy plan...Gas prices cut in half, national debt paid down with fed land/water royalties, independence from foreign oil. Sanity!

— Rick Perry (@GovernorPerry) February 23, 2012

Gingrich himself tweeted a picture of a sign advertising gas for $4.21 per gallon in Los Angeles. The former House speaker has been hammering the president's energy policy in recent days, arguing that prices could be driven down by opening federal lands and offshore areas for drilling.

@Reaganworld emailed me this picture of gas prices in LA.We need American energy now. What are gas prices near you? twitter.com/newtgingrich/s…

— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) February 23, 2012

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) fired off a number of tweets before the scheduled speech, attacking the president’s decision to block the Keystone XL pipeline. In a longer post to his Facebook page, Cornyn blamed administration policies for gas prices doubling since the president's inauguration

If POTUS is really concerned about jobs and high gasoline prices, why did he block Keystone XL pipeline?

— JohnCornyn (@JohnCornyn) February 23, 2012

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) posted on his Facebook page that Obama's speech on energy policy would demonstrate how "adept" Obama is "at promulgating deceptive language masquerading as policy, actually just insidious political gimmickry."

He also complained about rising gas prices, writing that "last night it took 70 dollars to fill the tank of my 2008 H3 Hummer."

The president’s speech is expected to highlight long-term fixes, such as consuming less energy while diversifying the country’s energy supply and opening up new land for oil and gas drilling. 

But Republicans are hopeful that high gas prices could provide a hook to hit the president on his economic policies.

---