Bush Faults Democrats for Gas Prices

The Washington Times ^ | May 18, 2008 | Sean Lengell

[kellynla]

President Bush yesterday characterized Capitol Hill Democrats as hypocrites for demanding that Saudi Arabia pump more oil while blocking attempts to increase domestic drilling in such places as Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.

Saudi Arabia announced on Friday that it would meet Mr. Bush's request to increase oil production, though the jump of 300,000 barrels per day was less than the president had wanted.

But rather than criticize the Saudis, Mr. Bush — after a round of meetings with Middle East leaders at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheik — instead heaped blame on congressional Democrats for skyrocketing gasoline prices.

"Those who are screaming the loudest for increased production from Saudi Arabia are the very same people who are fighting the fiercest against domestic exploration, against the development of nuclear power and against expanding refining capacity," said Mr. Bush yesterday after talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

[Theodore R.]

GWB may be “on to something” here, but the hapless American people have already tuned him out — three years ago!

[rabscuttle385]

Enlighten me as to what the Republicans did to increase the domestic oil supply during their years of control of all three branches of the Federal Government.

[MinorityRepublican]

There were always a couple of RINOs, especially in the Senate who come from states where environmental protectism is great.

[Menehune56]

GWB’s administration just put polar bears on the endangered species list, which means no drilling in ANWR ever. If there really is global warming we’re going to need that oil to run our air conditioners.

[Diogenesis]

The entire Congress is complicit.

From refusing to consider oil drilling to refusing to
investigate the Patent Office’s, now exposed, planned obstruction of clean, energy inventions.

[TruthFactor]

Investors Business Daily agrees with President Bush. This editorial is a thrashing of Congress. IMO, the Congressional leadership that's signed-up for the Global Warming scam needs to be put behind bars.

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=295831226052594

[lasereye]

A bill to open drilling in Alaska was fillibustered in the Senate. It passed the house. It would have passed the Senate if not for the fillibuster. It’s amazing how nobody knows that. In fact nobody seems to know what a fillibuster is.

In fact bills to open ANWR would have passed I believe during both the Reagan and Bush I administrations but for fillibusters.

[meyer]

President Bush yesterday characterized Capitol Hill Democrats as hypocrites for demanding that Saudi Arabia pump more oil while blocking attempts to increase domestic drilling in such places as Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.

I'm glad that he's saying this, but why so late? And, it isn't just democrats - the RINO's have fought against drilling in ANWR and off-coast as well. We are now basking in the glory of those decisions, and will do so for a long time.

[ghost of nixon]

I belive ANWR is more of a caribou hang-out (and only for part of the year) than a polar bear hangout, although I’m guessing the average voter would be clueless...however, they care much more about gas prices than polar bears. This is actually a strong and effective statement by Bush - and correct on every count. The Dems need to be hammered on this...

[gov_bean_ counter]

the RINO's have fought against drilling in ANWR and off-coast as well. We are now basking in the glory of those decisions, and will do so for a long time.

Ahhh, Jeb, your brother's on the phone.

[MNJohnnie]

Enlighten me, are you really so oblivious to politics that you don't know about the repeated Democrat lead filibusters that blocked any reform to Energy Policy during the last 8 years?

Here is a question you should hear being asked but will not of any Democrat

Democrat Congresscritter, Senator or Activist,

Two weeks ago the talking point being put out by your part to explain your opposition to any development of the USA’s own energy resources was that “We cannot drill our way out of this problem”

This week you Democrats are all claiming credit for “forcing OPEC to increase production”

Since, as you Democrats just claimed, increased production of Oil is the solution to high energy prices, why does your Party believe it is better for the USA to buy Oil from OPEC rather then produce it ourselves?

[Squantos]

Well it seems we can buy all we want for the high price so quanity isn’t an issue . And the profits for the oil companies are reported to be very high (true or false ?) so someone is getting it cheap and selling it high ?

I haven’t a clue what could be wrong........ < /sarcasm>

We have parked our vehicles for all but essential needs like once a week shopping trip and commute too / from work.

[MNJohnnie]

95% of the votes for those filibusters came from Democrats. Why is it the usual suspects on Freeper are always willing to give those Democrats a pass on every issue instead of holding them accountable for their obstructionism?

[Maelstorm]

Finally this is exactly how we should be hitting the Democrats. THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE! They are a party not just supported by Environmental nutjobs, they are a party of environmental nutjobs. They have stood in the way of building refineries, stood in the way of building nuclear power plants, stood in the way of utilizing our immense coal reserved, stood in the way of drilling off the coast and in ANWR. They as a party are more singularly responsible for our energy “crisis” than any other group. This should be one of the key attack themes against them and it is the unquestionable truth. Why do the Republicans have a problem just telling the people who the ugly bunch of antiAmerican troll analerotic disease ridden dope smoking tree huggers are? The evidence is there.

Where were the Democrats on the Soviet Union? On the spread of Communist socialism in South America, in Asia? Where were they on Cuba. They have managed to find themselves on the wrong side of every major conflict of the past forty years. They are wrong on our Enemies, they are wrong on Energy, they are wrong on Family issues, they are wrong on Taxes, and they are dead wrong on America. The Republican party needs to pass out Testosterone patches and ready for war because if it doesn’t find its soul it is going to find Barack Hussein Obama in the White House.

[MNJohnnie]

Here is a question you should hear being asked but will not of any Democrat

Democrat Congresscritter, Senator or Activist,

Two weeks ago the talking point being put out by your part to explain your opposition to any development of the USA’s own energy resources was that “We cannot drill our way out of this problem”

This week you Democrats are all claiming credit for “forcing OPEC to increase production”

Since, as you Democrats just claimed, increased production of Oil is the solution to high energy prices, why does your Party believe it is better for the USA to buy Oil from OPEC rather then produce it ourselves?

[stevie_d_64]

The truth hurts...

To bad it has zero play on the big picture...

Too many Americans are busy waiting for the outcome of American Idol and other nonsense to play out...

We are already seeing the tried and true argument about how the very same people are having to struggle to decide whether to buy food, medicine or $4.00 a gallon gas...But they certainly have Tivo to record the mind-numbing BS to occupy their “spare” time...

Sorry, my sarcasm attack got the best of me...

[nobdysfool]

Both Parties claim to be against higher gas prices, both parties claim to be for energy independence, but gas prices keep climbing, and we can't tap our own resources. The obvious explanation is that things are this way because that's the way Congress and the President want them to be. They are the ones who can change that. Not us. They are the ones with the power. Our only power over them is to refuse to re-elect their sorry butts, and elect men and women who will walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

If both parties claim to be for something, then there is nio reason why that "something" should not come to pass. If both parties claim to be against something, then there is no reason why that "something" should continue to exist.

If these states of affairs continue, despite statements to the contrary by both parties, then it is obvious that what they say is hot air, and they actually want things to remain as they are. That is why we have what we have right now, climbing gas prices, high food prices, and refusal to allow the use of our own resources, and blocking the building of more refineries and nuclear power plants. Despite all their talk to the contrary, Congress wants these states of affairs to exist and continue. Figure out how they stand to gain from it, and you will know why it is this way.

[lexusppd]

"Saudi Arabia announced on Friday that it would meet Mr. Bush's request to increase oil production..."

Wait a minute! Didn't I hear all over the news that the Saudis REFUSED Bush's request? What's going omn here?

[Blood of Tyrants]

What clean energy inventions? I hadn’t heard.

[Eurale]

“Enlighten me as to what the Republicans did to increase the domestic oil supply during their years of control of all three branches of the Federal Government.”

Uh, during that time oil was < $50 per barrel?

[o_zarkman44]

The Democrats are responsible for the current failures to start drilling in ANWR. But the GOP was in control of congress and had the ability to push the drilling policy thorugh. Congress has the ability to fix every problem affecting Americans, but does not have the will.

Politicians are always fence riding for the most potential votes. They say they are doing something, then in the middle of the night vote against it. The average American only hears the talk. But fails to follow thorugh the process and discover why these things never get momentum.

But ultimately the blame lays on the American people. We keep electing envionmental leaning people to congress as a trade off for other twinkies they promise. We place token pressure on politicians to follow thorugh.

[wita]

the Congressional leadership that’s signed-up for the Global Warming scam needs to be put behind bars.

Only the tip of the incarceration iceberg. Let’s start with treason and finish up with good old fashioned global warming.

Oh, because of the interrelated nature of the Constitution and protection of the nation, the result of belief in a scam is the same as treason?

I get it. All the better. We need those prison spaces for violent criminals, treason has other rewards that will save prison space.

Besides, there is too much hot air already. Think of it as killing two birds with one stone so to speak.

[Diogenesis]

When attempts were made to release
this under the FOIA, the Patent Office’s counsel purported
that Americans “were not interested”.

What say you?

[Nuc1]

About a decade an a half too late. Keep pounding away about this. The dims are so weak and our leadership think they are so strong. We can roll them. Don’t forget about the other issues of our time. Come on White House; FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT! The dims are not our friends and they are not patriots. Dang I wish Lee Atwater was around.

[CAluvdubya]

M husband calls Pelosi's office everyday to tell her the high cost of gas is her fault and that we need to be less dependent on others for oil and drill in ANWAR.

The kids that answer the phone just might not be dems by the time he's through :)

[Oldpuppymax]

And were it not for the Rinos, limp-wrists and various other traitors in the rep party, we would be drilling right now. But Bush should have been targeting these phony republicans rather than helping them win re-election, as in the case of our stellar senator from Pa! And had he rebuffed the attacks of the left over the past 7 years rather than simply ignoring them, maybe....oh, the hell with it. Bush is the lead RINO for Gods sake, just like his pathetically inept father.

[umgud]

We have enough oilshale and coal to provide energy for many centuries and the cost of oil has long since surpassed the benchmark for these technologies to be cost efficient. They can be clean, but because they’re not green, congress will do everything to keep them out of the energy mix.

[wita]

Isn’t the prime polar bear property on Canadian soil/ice. IOW we are legislating for an animal found more on Canadian property than on our own.

[meyer]

Nobody's giving the democrats a pass - they're expected to be stupid and they prove it time and again. What's worth arguing is how many republicans argued against drilling in ANWR and off Florida's coast as well. Voinovich? Jeb Bush? Schwarzenegger? And now, given McCain's penchant to capitulate to the environazis, we're sure to see more of the same.

[o_zarkman44]

I just has a thought about American Idol.

What if a program was produced that replaced the talent show with congresspeople? Let simon and his cast vote out the stupid acts first and then allow the American people to text their vote for the remaining few??

We could call the program American A-Hole!!

[kellynla]

I only wish we had more conservatives “step up to the plate” and run for local, state and federal elective offices in not only CA but around the country.
It is the only way we are ever going to turn this mess around. And we definitely need more conservatives to run for and get elected to governorships so that we have a better field of conservative candidates to run for POTUS!

[wita]

if it doesn’t find its soul it is going to find Barack Hussein Obama in the White House.

Along with a veto proof majority in the House, Senate, and Supreme Court. One way to solve the filibuster problem I guess.

[rabscuttle385]

Enlighten me, are you really so oblivious to politics that you don't know about the repeated Democrat lead filibusters that blocked any reform to Energy Policy during the last 8 years?

I've only been a voter for four years. And no, I have not been oblivious.

[CAluvdubya]

I agree and that's why my money is going to McClintock and any other conservative I can find to support at the "grassroots" level. Luckily, My congressman is Brian Bilbray and right next door is Duncan D. (he'll get my money, too)!

Work towards the future!

[kanawa]

I’m curious, does anyone know of another country in the world
that has oil deposits but does not exploit them?

[Nuc1]

The Democrats are responsible for the current failures to start drilling in ANWR. But the GOP was in control of congress and had the ability to push the drilling policy thorugh.

Would that this was true. Every good pro American initiative was stopped dead in the Senate by the cloture rule that requires 60 votes to bring a bill to the floor for an up or down vote. That is where the Republican Revolution was stopped dead by the dims. The pubbie failure was not attacking the dims over and over about this. The people were not educated about why things didn't change and they they think as you do.

[Starboard]

If there really is global warming we’re going to need that oil to run our air conditioners.

Great point! The logic of your argument is unassailable.

However, its not hard to imagine liberals demanding limits on home sizes to reduce oil consumption, except of course for those limosine liberals who have concocted carbon exchange schemes to allow them to continue to live in mansions.

[bray]

If you like $4/gal, Thank Congress in Nov.

Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters

[wita]

We could call the program American A-Hole!!

This program would be on every night. Once a week is not enough.

[bray]

Conservative Freepers are intellectually lazy. They hate President Bush so just like Libs they blame everything on him to make themselves feel good.

His energy bills would have eliminated this crisis but for the Senate killing them.

Pray for W and Our Troops

[RightWhale]

heaped blame on congressional Democrats for skyrocketing gasoline prices

Not so. Heaped scorn on Dems for faulty logic. Nothing can be done about 'skyrocketing' prices. This could have been dealt with painlessly but it is too late and there are 25 years of pain ahead.

[avacado]

"GWB’s administration just put polar bears on the endangered species list, which means no drilling in ANWR ever."

I am not so sure about that. I am in the seismic industry and we are doing surveys off the coast of the ANWR right now. The enviros won't know what hit them!

[NutCrackerBoy]

GOP brand name is in the toilet because they were "in charge" and what they did is perceived as stupid, particularly the Iraq War. Americans should look beyond that and concentrate their force against bad governance by both Parties but especially the Democrats! Their present empty promises, past brain-dead obstructionism (ANWR, Social Security), and past failed policies.

Even with regard to Iraq, it should be clear America's response to Islamic terrorism was way too weak, even going back to the Reagan administration. If invading Iraq was rash and had very painful results, still it brought an end to passivity.

[Kackikat]

You may want to find out who really did that!

[yoe]

For the past 25 years, there has been strong, bipartisan support for a moratorium on offshore drilling. In 1981, responding to public sentiment, Congress adopted the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Moratorium, which prevents the leasing of coastal waters off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and Alaska’s Bristol Bay for fossil fuel development.

Each year since then Congress has renewed the moratorium. In 1990, the first President Bush authored an additional level of protection deferring new leasing until 2002, which President Clinton extended to 2012. But these protections are now in danger of being weakened or overturned by the current Bush administration and its allies in Congress.

“Drilling off our coasts is not the way to achieve energy independence or bring down gas-pump and home heating prices,” says Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. “We don’t need to sacrifice our beaches and coastal waters to meet America’s energy needs.”

CHINA STARTS OIL DRILLING OFF FLORIDA

WHILE AMERICA TWIDDLES THUMBS, CHINESE TAP BILLIONS OF BARRELS

("Not all the oil) used goes to make gasoline, of course - there's fuel oil, jet fuel, the chemicals to make all the plastic in the world, as well as lubricants, greases, lipstick and petroleum jelly. But U.S. consumption of gasoline is astonishing - we burn it up at a rate averaging more than 320 million gallons per day, or about 3700 gallons per second, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That's enough one-foot-square gallon cans to cover a football field every nine seconds".

(Plastics)

(Plastics folks)

Now you need to go(here) and (here) and find out why "Farmer John" cannot sell his produce in his state - why Florida has a monopoly on certain fruits or vegetables or what the laws are governing the Dutch Greenhouses in Arizona - and - when did the Federal Government take over the pricing of dairy products rather than the states. Build a few more refineries and take back some States Rights....congress has abused and misused their powers over the years, time to reel them in, no more pay raises and less time spent in Washington would be a good start.

[Kackikat]

BECAUSE FreeRepublic is now made up of a large portion of democrats here to forward their causes, ere it be so deceptively. This is no longer the conservative grassroots forum as it began, but a political tool used to BASH BUSH, the administration and make sure all who can be kept from voting this year to get democrats in, will be kept away from polls through disgust or vote a candidate who cannot win against dems....it is ploy to make FreeRepublic a useless tool in the election, and seems to be working. Ever notice the hundreds of scrolling posts that have nothing to do with politics, breaking news or relevance?
I’ve been a member since before 2000 election, and it has been a bombardment since after 2004 election to increase dissension among republicans and independents to sway this election. To water down this forum, and its working ...WHERE IS THE FIRE to keep Dems out? It’s more complaining, whining, bashing and obstruction of facts than I have ever seen.

[EQAndyBuzz]

“GWB may be “on to something” here, but the hapless American people have already tuned him out — three years ago!”

The American people with the help of the MSM and the RATS tuned Bush out the day he “waited 7 minutes” before leaving that classroom on 9/11.

[Just A Nobody]

And now, given McCain's penchant to capitulate to the environazis, we're sure to see more of the same.

McCain is already on record having voted against ANWR drilling.

Drilling in ANWR was debated in the Senate in April 2002. By a vote of 46 to 54, the Senate failed to vote cloture and thus limit debate on April 18th. (and any possibility of drilling in ANWR)

So...who were the republicans that sold us out?
Roll Call Vote
NAYs ---54
(republicans voting with the rats)
Chafee (R-RI) -- FIRED!
Collins (R-ME)
DeWine (R-OH) -- FIRED!
Fitzgerald (R-IL)
* John Sydney McCain (R-AZ) * -- "presumptive” republican presidential nominee...yippee!
Smith (R-NH)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)

YEAs ---46
(Rats voting with the Republicans)
Akaka (D-HI)
Breaux (D-LA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Miller (D-GA)

ARCTIC DRILLING (Published: 03.20.2005)
On Wednesday the Senate, voting 49 for and 51 against, rejected a plan by Democrats requiring a higher hurdle for the Senate to approve oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). This occurred during debate on the congressional budget blueprint.
(S Con Res 18)

A yes vote opposed ANWR drilling.
● Yes: John McCain, R -- Ooooops! There you are again, Johnny!
Chafee (R-RI)
Collins (R-ME)
DeWine (R-OH)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)

Rats voting with the repubs:
Akaka (D-HI)
Inouye (D-HI)
Landrieu (D-LA)

[Kackikat]

Well I guess we can use up their oil, then butt out the dems, change the laws, and then use ours...