Reply #10: If the price of gasoline skyrockets before the election...

[spin]

say to 5 or 6 dollars a gallon, the Republicans will benefit at the polls. This might easily happen if Israel decides to attack Iran and the Strait of Hormuz closes down for a month or two.

My biggest fear is that Nancy Pelosi's stopping debate and votes on energy policy will be viewed by voters as a reason to vote for Republicans. True she is opposed to off shore drilling and "wants to save the planet", but she doesn't seem to realize that if we don't drill for the short term offshore near the U.S. we have to buy oil from foreign countries with very little respect for the environment.

We know there is a large off limits oil field in the Gulf of Mexico and many experts say that because we already have infrastructure in the Gulf, we can begin to see new oil in as little as 18 months. Other oil rich areas may require as long as 10 years to become productive, but the longer we wait the longer it will be before these fields will come online.

The American people are becoming upset with politicians who merely play political games and do little or nothing to address the problems that are emptying their wallets. Perhaps we need to stop all this bickering between the two parties and try some bi-partisan approaches. The people are noticing, which is why the job approval rate for Congress is in the single digits.

CONGRESS’S approval rating, always pretty low, recently hit a truly dismal 9% in one survey: under the leadership of Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, the legislative arm is considerably more unpopular than even George Bush’s executive one.
http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11848416

But there is hope:

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of 10 senators offered an energy plan Friday aimed at producing more domestic oil via offshore drilling, reducing energy prices, and aiding the troubled economy.

The plan also would require automobiles to be more fuel efficient and would provide research money for improved batteries to move away from petroleum-products in cars: the plan calls for 85 percent of vehicles to run on non-petroleum-based fuel in 20 years.

Senators said the bill also would promote more renewable energy sources and nuclear energy, as well as carbon capture techniques to reduce greenhouse gas production through tax and other incentives.

"This bill would do more to lower gas prices at the pump" than any other plan, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference. "Any change in production would send a powerful signal to markets" that would ease back on speculation that primarily Democrats have blamed as one reason for sky-high oil prices.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,395942,00.html

If these politicians succeed in their efforts to produce a comprehensive energy policy, maybe we can build on this effort to encourage more bipartisan activity to solve many of the very serious problems we face.