Posted on 07/18/2008 5:10:18 AM PDT by Kaslin
WASHINGTON -- Gasoline prices are flattening consumer wallets and hobbling our economy, while the Democrats sit back and play politics with the issue.
Voter surveys show that the economy and gas prices top the list of the most critical issues facing our country. A Washington Post/ABC News poll reported last week that 85 percent of voters polled said gas prices will be either extremely or very important to their vote in this year's elections. And with good reason: Americans are getting walloped with huge gas bills, while utilities, buckling under ever-higher energy prices, are raising electricity rates to historic levels.
Other industries are getting hit, too. Airlines are cutting back on flights and services as higher fuel costs eat into declining revenues. Increased trucking costs are driving up the price of nearly everything that's shipped. Tighter budgets mean consumers are cutting back on discretionary spending. Retail sales barely budged last month, even despite government tax rebates.
Part of the answer to rising oil prices is to boost domestic production. President Bush has been pressing that solution almost weekly, but to no avail among Democrats on Capitol Hill.
While Bush and the Republicans have kept up a steady drumbeat for sharply increased oil production, the Democratic majority has sat on its hands, refusing to deal with the crisis. The reason: Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress are dead set against offshore drilling. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are more than happy to let Bush and the Republicans suffer the political consequences.
"They're running out the clock until November, to the detriment of all of us and our economy, because they think it will help them at the ballot box," said a Republican leadership official.
Last week, Bush lifted the executive ban on drilling for oil on the Outer Continental Shelf that was imposed by his father. The next step must be to end the ban by statute, but Pelosi and Reid apparently have no intention of acting on any energy bill, no matter how critical the situation becomes.
The response in Democratic cloakrooms seems to be "let Bush and Republicans turn slowly, slowly in the wind" -- an apt turn of phrase that fits into the Democrats' rigid energy orthodoxy, which supports biofuel, solar and wind, spurns oil production at home.
The Obama and Pelosi Democrats are captives of their global-warming special interests, who are dead set against drilling. Obama never mentions oil except when he attacks Bush and the Republicans as captives of the oil lobby. He is all solar panels, witchgrass and windmills. The specious argument against drilling asserts that it would have no effect on the supply or price of oil for years. Well, we may not see the full result of cancer research for many years, but that didn't mean we should have given up.
In the last decade, Republicans sent President Clinton a bill to drill for more domestic oil to make us less dependent on foreign product. We would be producing a lot more oil, and prices would be lower if it had become law, but Clinton vetoed it, and that's why we are in the mess we're in now.
Actually, it's another left-wing lie that passing a drilling bill now would have no effect on today's oil prices. Just the act of declaring a pro-production oil and gas policy would "send a message to the market and result in lower prices for oil and gas," John McCain is telling voters on the stump.
International oil traders bet on what the world's supplies will be in the future because supply determines price. Increasing oil exploration and production will drive future prices down. We saw an example of that this last week when crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell sharply by about $11 a barrel in two days after the Energy Department reported that commercial petroleum stocks rose the previous week.
Americans instinctively understand this common-sense axiom of supply and demand economics. That's why polls show that over 70 percent of us support drilling for more oil in wilderness areas and beneath our oceans. But our patience is coming to an end with the Obama Democrats who say no to more oil drilling, no to more refineries and no to nuclear power. Last week, the Gallup Poll said the Democratic Congress's approval rating has sunk to 14 percent. It has dropped below 20 percent only six times in the last 34, years and the Pelosi Congress accounts for four of them.
The conventional wisdom says Democrats will likely make major gains in Congress in November, but they may not do as well as expected if the voters blame them for inaction on the biggest economic issue in the country. The GOP will be hammering them on this for the rest of the election cycle.
There's a way to start digging ourselves out of this deep energy hole, and that is at the ballot box. Remember that the next time you fill up your tank.
If you like $5/gal, Thank Congress. If you want $10, Vote Black Racist Oblack.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Someone should read the Declaration of Independence in the Chambers!!
I had a long trip yesterday, and thought about this the entire way.
Dammit, WE know the Dems have us by the throat, but the public is incredibly passive. (I suppose that includes me as well.)
They know they will win, their guy will be President, and they, and their media chohorts will spend months and years crushing any opposition to their control-freak policies.
Other than call my Congress Critter, I haven’t put up a fight. And still I see our way of life slipping away with only whimper...when we should be in the streets.
We sorely need a powerful voice, and leadership. But it is not there in Congress, the press, Republican candidates...
They will just like the last thirty years.
Insane, right? I would bet good money that we will hear this in some fashion -- if not before the election, then shortly after the election results are final. If this does affect the Dems in November, we'll surely hear some talking head mention how the GOP played fast and loose with Americans' wallets at the gas pump "in order to steal the election."
Didn’t you just hear what Pooplosi said after Bush criticized CONgress for not drilling? She said it was all his fault because he has done nothing about it since he has been in office.
Of course not, Congress voted down every energy proposal he or the Republican minority presented, and there are many.
And the press and the American public believe every word she said, and have no clue that there was ever an attempt to increase domestic energy. They are worse than the enemy.
Yesterday, I heard Pelosi explain to Blitzer on CNN that Congress's low ratings were Bush's and the Senate's fault. Bush won't cooperate with them and all the "wonderful" bills the House has passed are being filibustered by Republicans in the Senate.
According to this logic, Clinton's high approval ratings during his term were really high approval for the Republican Congress.
Doesn't make any sense. Most "yellow dog Dems" are beginning to acknowledge that THEIR party is blocking the path to energy independence and domestic production.
On this one, the 'Pubbies are finally starting to speak up and shine a very bright light on the Dems' obstructionism. And the rats are scattering as quickly as they can to avoid that light!!
In all fairness, out of 535 elected representatives to the Congress of the United States of America, only TWO Dems have us by the throat - Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi!! These two people REFUSE to allow meaningful discussions of domestic oil production and they refuse to allow any legislation to come to the floor for a vote that would authorize domestic oil production.
I think the dems are afraid of drilling because if we drill and the price falls significantly, their entire argument is exposed. The plan for controllable alternate energies will end. It’s all about control.
We can stop using oil. Now who wants to live in the Stone Age...
Paging the 'Rats: It's not all about gasoline...
Pelosi must have been sleeping; not that this is anything new, but the President has been after them since at least 2003
The Bolshecrats will continue to pass “stimulus bills”, that, in effect subsidize the cost of gas. It does nothing to stem the flow of dollars to oil producers, though, the joke is on the producers since their dollars will become worthless. Having subsidized gas people will continue to use oil at the current pace, which, will lead the Bolshies to ration gas, since, with plentiful cheap gas there will be no need to change ways. Obama said that high prices were necessary, so yes, $8 a gallon is optimistic. At current prices, you can already see reduced traffic to fast food and tourist destinations. This will lead to a layoff in these industries, which will spiral out of control to the rest of the economy. If you want an alternative world without oil, you can’t get there without a vibrant economy. Bolshecrat whining won’t do it.
If the GOP would get on the same page an attack the democrats every day on this issue, McCain wins and they actually make gains in congress. The gop doesn’t strike me as being smart enough to take advantage of the opportunity, but it’s there for the taking.
The liberals took credit for the excellent economy that the Republicans established when they had the majority. Now since they have the majority unemployment has gone up. Gas prices have doubled. The DOW has fallen from 14,000 to below 11,000.
How many times did they filibuster the Republicans? She has no reason to complain whatsoever
Thanks my fellow Americans. Thanks for putting Pelosi and Reid in charge. What next? Another enemy of America, Obama? How dumb are these voters?
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