Does It Matter?

So John McCain doesn't know the price of a gallon of gas or can't remember the last time he pumped his own gas.

Oh, I don’t remember. Now there’s Secret Service protection. But I’ve done it for many, many years. I don’t recall and frankly, I don’t see how it matters.

The only reason it matters is because if the same question was asked of Barack Obama and he came back with that line, the Republicans would jump all over him for being an "elitist." But the Republican candidate can get away with not knowing or caring about how much a gallon of gas costs because they're not supposed to care about things like that. They're worried about much bigger things, things the ordinary citizen can't possibly understand, like the inner workings of the War on Terror and stuff like that. Besides, if they did know or care, then they'd be expected to actually do something about it. But as long as it doesn't matter, they don't have to do anything, and they have the escape clause built right in: "What does it matter how much a gallon of gas costs when al-Qaeda is trying to kill you?"

That's really how they see it.

Oh, by the way, I paid $4.09 at the Shell station around the corner from my house. Pumped it myself, too.

(Cross-posted.)