From The Dispatch’s blog’s Mark Niquette:

It’s President Bush’s fault.

That essentially was Gov. Ted Strickland’s view today when asked his reaction to an announcement by General Motors that it is closing four truck and SUV plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico — including the facility in Moraine near Dayton — in response to a shift to production of smaller vehicles because of skyrocketing gas prices.

Strickland, a Democrat, said the decision is “disheartening” but understandable given the high price of fuel — and he blamed the Republican president for not doing more to address the impact that high gas prices have had on the economy.

“We’ve got an administration in Washington D.C. that is absolutely passive, totally asleep at the switch, not paying attention to what’s happened to the economy of Ohio or of America, and these car companies are facing the results of these incredibly high energy costs,” the governor said.

When pressed about what Bush could or should have done, Strickland pointed to continuing to supply the Strategic Petroleum Reserve despite the high prices and said he doesn’t buy explanations that the laws of supply and demand are at work behind the price spikes.

“What I think we have here is greed at work,” the governor said. “It is affecting our national economy, and we need a president and an administration in Washington D.C. who will accept the responsibilities to protect the economy of this nation and the people. And we don’t have that in President Bush.”

I know that Ohio’s MSM is still infatuated with Gov. Strickland and are too lazy to look at his 12-year voting record as a Congressional bench warmer. But if Ted can play this game, then so can I: Ted Strickland, we have higher gas prices because of liberal politicians like you.

For example, in 1993, then-Congressman Ted Strickland voted for HR 2264, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, the largest tax increase in history (Roll No. 199, 05/27/93; Roll No. 406, 08/05/93). This bill, which retroactively hiked taxes by $241 billion, increased taxes on gasoline by 30 percent and extended a 2.5-cent per gallon increase of the motor fuels tax through 1999.

And when the opportunity to repeal these exorbitant tax rates arose, Ted Strickland voted to keep gas taxes right where they were: Strickland opposed H.Amdt.551 to the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, which provided for a four-year plan to phase out all but $0.03 per gallon of the federal gasoline tax Roll No. 97, 04/01/98).

And here is what OnTheIssues.org has to say about Strickland’s voting record on energy:

• Ted Strickland voted NO on keeping moratorium on drilling for oil offshore. (Jun 2006)
• Ted Strickland voted NO on scheduling permitting for new oil refinieries. (Jun 2006)
• Ted Strickland voted NO on authorizing construction of new oil refineries. (Oct 2005)
• Ted Strickland voted YES on prohibiting oil drilling & development in ANWR. (Aug 2001)
• Ted Strickland voted YES on starting implementation of Kyoto Protocol. (Jun 2000)

At every turn, Gov. Ted Strickland while serving as an unnoticeable congressman from Appalachia, voted to oppose domestic gas exploration and the construction of new oil refineries, which is what American oil companies need if we are going to see cheaper oil. But now that he’s out of office, he is quick to pass the blame for what he is responsible for to someone else, and the adoring MSM is all to eager to help him.