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Democrats hit shutdown threat: GOP tactics on oil drilling 'a last gasp'
Washington Times ^ | 8/5/08 | S.A. Miller

Posted on 08/05/2008 2:06:59 AM PDT by JohnHuang2

Democratic leaders slammed Republicans on Monday for threatening to force a government shutdown this fall unless Congress lifts the ban on offshore oil drilling and for simultaneously demanding lawmakers return from the August recess to vote on more drilling.

”This is a last gasp of a party without ideas, hamstrung by a politically weakened president and fully understanding that they are going to lose a significant number of seats in November,” said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat.

He said Republicans should have learned that government shutdowns don't work in 1995, when voters mostly blamed the then-Republican-led Congress for the budget standoff with President Clinton that brought the federal government to a virtual standstill.

(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: congress; democrats; drill; drillheredrillnow; drilling; drillnothingcongress; energy; gasprices; oil

Treading on air

In response to almost $4 a gallon gas, Nancy Pelosi sent Congress on vacation for the rest of the summer without a vote on more domestic oil drilling. On the bright side, 74 new post offices were named!

But House Republicans -- in an unprecedented move called 'opposing the Democrats' -- were back on the floor Monday to continue their protest which started Friday when dozens of Republicans, in response to Pelosi's decision to adjourn, took to the floor in protest instead of solving the energy problem by inflating their tires! The Comprehensive Tire Pressure Gauge Plan is so stupid an idea, Obama came up with it.

After it was painfully explained to him that cars don't run on air, Obama changed his mind again, at first pretending to support more drilling, then on Monday declaring that he favors tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (as opposed to my plan of tapping Obama's mouth for snake oil).

In another sign of how wonderful diplomacy always works, Iran is now threatening to shut the Straits of Hormuz, so draining our emergency reserves and making America more dependant on Muslim fanatics for oil makes perfect sense to Obama. Maybe he needs to adjust his airhead pressure a little.

In line with the brilliance of Obamanomics, Democrats argue hysterically that increasing the supply of oil via drilling won't lower gas prices, but decreasing the supply by draining the SPR will! Interestingly, oil in the SPR comes mysteriously from . . . drilling, which comes as a shock to Democrats who think it all came from wind power.

Proving the idiocy of draining the SPR to lower gas prices, Pelosi strongly favors it. She says she's against drilling because "I am trying to save the planet; I am trying to save the planet" -- further evidence of the dangers of a toxin found in Botox. As Pelosi explains, exploration and drilling to reduce the price at the pump is bad because it "misleads" the American people into "thinking it's going to reduce the price at the pump." We can't drill our way out of this, so let's drain our way out! (Democrat slogan: Drain Here, Drain Now, Pay More!)

Back on July 7, when gas was averaging 4 bucks a gallon, Obama stated he adamantly opposed tapping the SPR because it should not be touched except in a genuine emergency -- supply disruptions, terrorist attacks, shooting war, or dropping 9 points in the polls.

Four weeks later, with gas averaging below 4 bucks a gallon, Obama changes his mind again, adamantly opposing his own position in July. Last week, Hussein denounced offshore drilling as a GOP "scheme," so he adopts it a day later. Now he says he's for and against it.

The reason we even have a Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the first place is because we don't drill enough domestically. And while we're on the subject of lying to the American people, Obama claims the SPR drawdowns in 1991 and 2005 are good reasons we should drain away the SPR now, even though the U.S. Energy Department's own website makes clear the drawdowns were linked to actual or potential supply disruptions, not falling poll numbers:

* The 1991 drawdown occurred at the beginning of Operation Desert Storm as a way for the U.S. and its allies to assure "the adequacy of global oil supplies when war broke out in the Persian Gulf."

* The 2005 drawdown occurred "after Hurricane Katrina devastated the oil production, distribution, and refining industries in the Gulf regions of Louisiana and Mississippi . . . All Gulf of Mexico production, which equates to about 25% of domestic production, was shut in initially." Bush showed his "lack of concern" by immediately authorizing a drawdown to help the region.

Most of the oil in the SPR was bought when oil went for $20-25 bucks a barrel (or thereabouts), so Hussein's "broad energy plan" is to drain the reserves of bargain-priced oil and replace it with $121 a barrel oil.

In May, Congress voted to suspend temporarily the 70,000 barrel per day stockpiling in the SPR in order to bring prices down. In response, prices soared. In 2006, Democrats campaigned on lowering gas prices (prices hovered around $2.30 a gallon then). Nineteen months on, we can't afford a gallon of gas. It's yet another reason why Obimbo will wake up on the first Wednesday next November wondering how he blew it.

Anyway, that's...
My Two Cents...
"JohnHuang2"


1 posted on 08/05/2008 2:07:00 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
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To: JohnHuang2

Give ‘em hell John!


2 posted on 08/05/2008 3:11:01 AM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of the Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: JohnHuang2
If Dingy Harry and San Fran Nan want to keep gas prices high... let them go right ahead!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

3 posted on 08/05/2008 3:42:44 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: JohnHuang2
This issue is going to split the Rats into those up for re-election and those not.

That, in itself, speaks volumns about what the American people want on this issue.

4 posted on 08/05/2008 3:43:35 AM PDT by TexasCajun
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To: JohnHuang2
Democrats hit shutdown threat: GOP tactics on oil drilling 'a last gasp'

The Democrats are correct that the GOP tactics on oil drilling are "a last gasp." However, it is not correct for the Republicans. It is exactly correct for the Democrats! The filthy rich Democrats and their minions (like Soros), have lost touch with the American people. The Democrats might just as well said "Let them eat cake."

5 posted on 08/05/2008 3:46:21 AM PDT by olezip
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To: JohnHuang2
He said Republicans should have learned that government shutdowns don't work in 1995, when voters mostly blamed the then-Republican-led Congress for the budget standoff with President Clinton that brought the federal government to a virtual standstill.

Correction: The media blamed the Republicans making them hide under their desks which convinced the public that it was the Republicans who were at fault. Anyone paying attention would have seen the opposite, especially when Bill Klintoon told various governors to pack sand when they requested that the national parks be reopened in their states.

6 posted on 08/05/2008 4:25:08 AM PDT by Dahoser (America's great untapped alternative energy source: The Founding Fathers spinning in their graves.)
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To: JohnHuang2

if it is a last gasp that people won’t support, why deny the vote?


7 posted on 08/05/2008 5:01:26 AM PDT by edzo4
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To: JohnHuang2

PLEEEEASE write this up for every newspaper in the country!!!!


8 posted on 08/05/2008 5:13:29 AM PDT by Snow Eagle
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To: goldstategop

Nan and Harry...Last Gasp? How old are you two? Does this mean the two of you are getting older....and therefore, closer.....to senile dementia.....or has it already set in?


9 posted on 08/05/2008 5:19:14 AM PDT by WellyP (How much does Huma know?)
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To: JohnHuang2

Time to make this election Drill or No Drill.
If you like $4/gal, Thank Nazi Nancy. If you want $10, Vote No Oilbama.

Pray for W and Our Troops


10 posted on 08/05/2008 5:46:47 AM PDT by bray (Drill Congress!!)
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To: JohnHuang2
More poignant commentary I have yet to see.

Excellent post!

11 posted on 08/05/2008 6:12:33 AM PDT by roaddog727 (BS does not get bridges built - the funk you see is the funk you do)
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To: bray

Bump


12 posted on 08/05/2008 7:20:05 AM PDT by Issaquahking (Obama, the coming of the Antichrist.)
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To: JohnHuang2

Excellent post....may I forward it on to my e-mail contacts?


13 posted on 08/05/2008 8:10:40 AM PDT by FlashBack (www.proudpatriots.org/www.woundedwarriorproject.org/www.moveamericaforward.org)
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To: olezip

“let them eat ethanol”


14 posted on 08/05/2008 12:50:24 PM PDT by bs9021 (facts speak loudly)
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To: JohnHuang2

Shut it down. I could use a vacation.


15 posted on 08/05/2008 1:33:35 PM PDT by PLMerite ("Unarmed, one can only flee from Evil. But Evil isn't overcome by fleeing from it." Jeff Cooper)
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To: JohnHuang2

ahh Obima I checked the air in my tires ....now what?


16 posted on 08/05/2008 2:52:38 PM PDT by free_life (If you ask Jesus to forgive you and to save you, He will.)
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