The New York Times, ladies and gentlemen:

I know, I know — I should expect it by now. When the president is a Democrat and something bad happens, everything is invariably covered within the frame of Republican “pouncing.” But this one is particularly egregious. The idea that the key problem with “higher gas prices” is that it might lead people to criticize President Biden is just insane. I honestly cannot imagine being so detached, so monomaniacal, so utterly privileged in my position in society that I could no longer grasp that “provide fodder for Republican criticism of Biden” is about number 437,295 in the list of sentences that ought to follow a headline that starts with “Higher gas prices . . . ” Gas is how people in America get around. It’s how they get to work, and take their kids to school, and do their shopping. It’s how things are delivered to their homes. To jump immediately to the politics of it is a sure sign that you and your team is filled with the sort of unreconstructed weirdos who hear that mortgage rates have hit a historic high and immediately think, “that may be a problem for the Democratic candidate in the sixth district of Tennessee.” Good grief, guys.