MoveOn plans to ‘push back hard’ against House GOP
By Klaus Marre
Posted: 08/04/08 10:48 PM [ET]
Liberal group MoveOn.org is urging its supporters to “push back hard” against House Republicans who have been seeking to pressure Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to allow a vote on offshore drilling.
Although the House is in recess, several Republicans on Friday and Monday have taken to the floor of the chamber to discuss the country’s energy woes and demand that Pelosi bring back the House and give the GOP an up or down vote on expanding domestic oil production.
Now MoveOn is planning to get involved.
“Republicans have been escalating their attacks on [Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.)] and the Democrats over oil drilling, and we need to push back hard,” the group said in an e-mail to supporters, asking them to come to a 4 p.m. rally at the Capitol.
“Speaker Pelosi blocked their plan because it won’t help lower gas prices—but it will line the pockets of Big Oil executives, the same people donating millions of dollars to Republicans,” the e-mail said. “But Republicans are working hard to make it seem like they’re fighting for cash-strapped commuters—and not the oil companies who wrote their plan.”
The group plans to point to the ties between the GOP and Big Oil.
“We’ve invited the media, and having a good crowd is critical to show them that voters don’t want oil industry gimmicks—they want real solutions like alternative energy to solve our energy crisis,” the e-mail said.
MoveOn acknowledged that “Republicans have been dominating the debate around gas prices for weeks with their sham drilling plan,” adding that the House protest is “getting a lot of press coverage.”