Ha!  How often do we get to call a statewide elected official “Sasquatch”?  That’s so money!  From the Republican American:

Research by The Associated Press found Mr. Blumenthal logs almost 7,000 miles a month in his taxpayer-funded Ford Crown Victoria that gets (wink, wink) 23 mpg highway, 15 city. Minus his commute from Greenwich, he travels about 150 miles a day. His Crown Victoria’s annual gasoline consumption likely exceeds 4,000 gallons, enough to fuel eight years of commuting by four carpoolers traveling 10,000 miles a year and averaging 23 mpg.

When it comes to his carbon and air-pollution footprint, Mr. Blumenthal is Sasquatch. And he fully intended to remain an environmental hypocrite until the AP questioned his mileage and vehicle preference. Suddenly, he was ready for a used Honda Civic hybrid, a token green gesture since he logs most of his miles on the highway and hybrids do best on in-town trips. (Note to AP: Trust, but verify.)

Moreover, while the feds say the Civic hybrid gets 49 mpg highway, Car and Driver magazine test-drove the 2006 model and barely got 40, which is just 7 mpg better than the real-world mileage of the conventional Civic. The Civic hybrid can do better than 40, the magazine said, but “the trick is to drive like a grandmother.” Either way, the savings on gasoline is quickly erased by the higher vehicle cost because the “cost-benefit ratio is out of whack.”

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