3 congressmen need to explain their hasty retreat on ANWR

[Judi Lynn]

Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
Floyd J. McKay / guest columnist

3 congressmen need to explain their hasty retreat on ANWR

"Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has long been a priority of the Bush administration, the energy industry and the national Republican leadership." That phrase, or a similar one, is boilerplate language in updates of the congressional battle over oil drilling in the Arctic.

"Boilerplate" is a newsroom term for language that frequently is attached to an updated story, to tell anyone who just arrived from Mars of the origins of the story.

In this case, it is a reminder that the GOP, the Bush family and the energy industry are a seamless web. It is impossible to determine where one ends and another begins.

Texas is the nexus of this power, and oil money has lubricated the campaigns that have allowed the Bushes and Republicans at the national level to run the United States for most of the past quarter-century. The last Democrat whom Big Oil supported was Texan Lyndon Johnson.
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002707199_floyd28.html