Go pound sand, Washington.
Posted on 06/18/2008 7:25:17 PM PDT by neverdem
As gas prices soar past $4 a gallon, Congress and the presidential candidates are hard at work trying to assign blame for the record prices, and when they finish that, suggesting fixes.
For Republicans the answer is simple: We need more energy and the best way to get it is to expand domestic production through new drilling. For Democrats the problem is the energy industry itself -- both domestic and foreign -- and it needs to be brought to heel under new regulations.
The stakes are high. Polls show anxiety over energy prices now trumping terrorism as a top concern of voters. Getting out in front of the issue could rescue Republicans eager for a boost -- or turn the current pro-Democratic tide into a tsunami.
Democrats have attacked the oil industry for "excessive profits," called for suing OPEC and more recently alleged that "excessive speculation" by commodities traders has driven prices up. They have damned Republicans as "obstructionists" for opposing these efforts.
Republicans counter that this is a classic supply and demand problem. None of the Democrats' proposals would actually increase the supply of energy, they argue. Republicans have also repeatedly hit Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., for comments that suggest that he favors higher gas prices.
McCain Says Drill Offshore
GOP nominee-in-waiting John McCain attempted to move those numbers in his direction with a speech in Houston on Tuesday. The Arizona senator called for lifting the federal moratorium on offshore drilling...
--snip--
Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., a member of the House Appropriations Committee, advocated nationalizing U.S. refineries, Fox News reported Wednesday.
--snip--
But Republicans may have a winning issue. A new Rasmussen survey found that 67% of voters favor offshore drilling vs. 18% who disagree. Even a plurality of self-described liberals favor the idea.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Argh! The donkeys could lose Congress on energy.
The Donkeys could get stomped on this issue.
DRILL NOW!!!!!!!!
I wrote my Donkey, er congressman, on this issue. I can’t wait for the response.
If the Donk at the top of the ticket keeps braying “Change” he might win the White House but lose the Congress.
A Bush win would be catastrophic for the Dems on many levels.
Question: How do we lower gas prices?
Republican answer - “Drill more oil wells! Build more reactors! Build more rfineries!”
Democrat answer - “Hold more hearings! Tax the oil companies! Nationalize privately owned energy companies!”
Nice to see McCain flip-floping on energy. Perhaps the record fund raising by the GOP convinced him to reach across the aisle and work with Republicans.
As long as the blame is focused on them as it should be. This is a hot button issue and even McCain figured this out.
Go pound sand, Washington.
Cater all over again. Those of us who are old enough to remember know how that worked out.
why do we keep reading on FR there’s no diff between R’s and D’s?
As well they should. Hopefully, the hit in the pocketbook will knock some sense into the American public. 9/11 didn't do it, even though the behavior of the dems since that day has been scandalous at best.
P.S. RE: your tagline--me too--sometimes I think it's our only hope.
Because in some cases there isn't.
Rep. Maxine Waters spilled the neo-Marxist thinking in Congress last week when she started to say that “this liberal wants to nationalize -er-uh-let the government run the oil companies.”
It simply does not make sense to block domestic energy supplies when the problems are high price and dependance on foreign suppliers.
Don’t forget SUE OPEC.
Nope, it just some talk hosts in the "conservative" media have gotten so used to shooting the GOP in the back every day on every issue they don't know what else to do.
Time for Conservatives to turn off these talking head Democrat press agents posturing as "betrayed Conservatives" off.
91% of Republicans voted for increase US Energy production, 87% of Democrats voted against any increase in US Energy production
The always complaining crowd in the "conservative" media better wake up real soon unless they want to see what a 60+ Democrat Senate majority will do to them.
GOP isn't perfect, but they are 100,000,000 times better then the current Democrat Congressional Leadership.
Have you ever listened to some of the words coming from John McCain's or Arland Specter's mouths? Thank god McCain seems to be coming around.
I am a life long Republican And I don't like some of what I see.
That’s right. It’s our oil and we want it now!!!
My Senators and Rep are all for offshore drilling, but I keep emailing them just to show support. Everyone needs to do the same. It WILL change their minds.
Even if the prices weren’t high, we should be using our own energy as opposed to that purchased from our enemies. It just makes no sense!
It’s that “parity” thing again. The MSM always uses that old trick, granting veracity where there is none.
Virtually every story I've read recently posits this as an either-or question. That is not true. One can be pro-drilling, pro-renewables, pro-conservation, pro-nuclear, pro-clean coal, etc. all at the same time. That by the way is President Bush's position and, by and large, the position of the U.S. government, not that the MSM can be bothered to report it accurately.
We're going to need all of the above. In the short run, however, the timetables differ. The fastest way to increase supply is probably to ramp up ethanol, although we may have to ride out a tough year if the flooding is as bad as feared. New ethanol plants can and will be brought online much faster than major new oil fields -- e.g. ANWR, the OCS, oil shales -- can be developed. Plug-in hybrids can probably also be deployed in large numbers before these new oil sources will hit the market. Longer term, hydrogen fuel cells and/or improved batteries will change the equation.
We're working on all this stuff, but the MSM keeps reducing it to "Republicans want to drill while Democrats want to conserve and provide alternatives."
The Problem with Obama's Father's Day Speech
From time to time, I’ll ping on noteworthy articles about politics, foreign and military affairs. FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.
For Democrats the problem is the energy industry itself -- both domestic and foreign -- and it needs to be brought to heel under new regulations.
Thanks for the ping!
I’m glad to see something dividing them. Lately it’s been hard to tell who is who.
Very good. Republican organizations need to use billboards to get out the message that it is Democrats who are responsible for the $4.00 gasoline and they want it to go higher.
That is it to a T
I would just love it if you had a source on that. I NEED to quote that to my lefty friends and relatives.
(IT'S SUPPLY AND DEMAND, STUPID!)
Or
Remember Econ 101?
(IT'S SUPPLY AND DEMAND, STUPID!)
I have Oh-Bomb-Us and Dick Turbin. I gave up long ago.
Our county organization always has a booth at the county fair. We need to make stacks of copies of these and hand them out. WE also do parades. Maybe we could make cards and hand them out at the parades.
Is it ok with you if we use this?
I know, isn't that a riot? I've found that the more big scientific-and/or-bureaucratic sounding words you use, peppered with specific publication dates and references including words such as "Institute," "Committee," or "Journal," the more they freak out. If you're face to face, their eyes glaze over, and they just stop talking, if it's over the phone, it's as if the phone goes dead.
Actually, it may be the most beautiful silence in the world, to shut down a moonbat, albiet temporarily, since they generally can only go a moment or two without hearing their own voices.
Aghast at the possiblility of being wrong, they quickly change the subject.
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