Friday, August 1, 2008
This is a god-send issue for Republicans if they know how to play it. I've been hearing for years about how we need to raise taxes on gas artificially (through taxes, natch) in order to decrease our use of fossil fuels and carpool more. Now the Democrats are pretending they're the friends of the commuter. Where's Tom Friedman and his gas tax (oh, excuse me, Patriot Tax, now? Here's a series of links on the issue:
Right Wing News: The Election Issue Of All Election Issues: Drilling Ban Expires Oct 1
...This should not be a issue in the 2008 election, the GOP should make it THE ISSUE of the 2008 elections.
Even with gas prices as high as they are, the Democrats want to keep a drilling ban in place while Republicans want to take action that will help reduce prices, in the short and long term. What do you think the American people are going to think about that news if the GOP has the guts to make it a centerpiece of their electoral strategy?...
Newt Gingrich: Pelosi and Reid's Big Choice: Lower Gas Prices or Go on a Five Week Vacation?
...With so many Americans skipping vacation this summer because of the high cost of gas, should Congress get to go on a five week vacation without doing anything about it?..
Wall Street Journal: Pelosi's Energy Stonewall
Hell -- otherwise known as Congress -- has officially frozen over. For the first time since the 1950s, Members will skip town today for the August recess without either chamber having passed a single appropriations bill. Then again, Democrats appear ready to sacrifice their whole agenda, even spending, rather than allow new domestic energy production.
Or even a mere debate about energy. The Democratic leadership is stonewalling any measure that might possibly relax the Congressional ban on offshore drilling. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid know that they would lose if a vote ever came to the floor, and they're desperate to suppress an insurrection among those Democrats who are pragmatic about one of the top economic issues. Behind this whatever-it-takes obstructionism is an ideological commitment to high energy prices. The rulers of the Democratic Party want prices to keep rising...
Charles Krauthammer: Drilling and Blissful Ignorance
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opposes lifting the moratorium on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and on the Outer Continental Shelf. She won't even allow it to come to a vote. With $4 gas having massively shifted public opinion in favor of domestic production, she wants to protect her Democratic members from having to cast an anti-drilling election-year vote. Moreover, given the public mood, she might even lose. This cannot be permitted. Why? Because as she explained to Politico: "I'm trying to save the planet; I'm trying to save the planet."
A lovely sentiment. But has Pelosi actually thought through the moratorium's actual effects on the planet?...
Update: High political theater by House Republicans as they stay on the floor in the dark after Democrats leave: Politico: House Dems turn out the lights but GOP keeps talking
