Coincidence? I Think Not - Bush to Press Congress to Lift Offshore Drilling Ban Tomorrow

[K Gardner]

.. less than 24 hours after McCain proposed this to a cheering audience of Texans.

Governor Crist of Florida has also, just now and miraculously, come out in favor of lifting the moratorium on off-shore drilling. This is the next Gas Tax Holiday, folks. Only bigger. They're going to tie it to National Security. The oil industry is NOT going down without a fight. Talking points below.. right wing sites were ready for it.

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/06/breaking-bush...

As Americans pay more for gas than ever under this Congress--
Democrats continue to vote against drilling and oil exploration.

Over the past 30 years:

Democrats have blocked the development of new sources of petroleum.
Democrats have blocked drilling in ANWR.
Democrats have blocked drilling off the coast of Florida.
Democrats have blocked drilling off of the east coast.
Democrats have blocked drilling off of the west coast.
Democrats have blocked drilling off the Alaskan coast.
Democrats have blocked building oil refineries.
Democrats have blocked clean nuclear energy production.
Democrats have blocked clean coal production.

67% of Americans support offshore- 64% say it will lower gas prices.
Rasmussen reported:


A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey—conducted before McCain announced his intentions on the issue--finds that 67% of voters believe that drilling should be allowed off the coasts of California, Florida and other states. Only 18% disagree and 15% are undecided. Conservative and moderate voters strongly support this approach, while liberals are more evenly divided (46% of liberals favor drilling, 37% oppose).

Sixty-four percent (64%) of voters believe it is at least somewhat likely that gas prices will go down if offshore oil drilling is allowed, although 27% don’t believe it. Seventy-eight percent (78%) of conservatives say offshore drilling is at least somewhat likely to drive prices down. That view is shared by 57% of moderates and 50% of liberal voters.
Barack Obama opposes drilling for oil.

In related news... Al Gore’s home consumed 10% more electricity this year than last.
<snip>



(This is no coincidence coming the day after Al Gore Endorsed Obama)

Bush Began Hinting at this Prior to Leaving for Europe

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/arch...

"The United States has an opportunity to help increase the supply of oil on the market," thereby easing gasoline prices for hard-working Americans," President Bush said on Monday.

He reminded Congress that he has proposed opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Continental Shelf to domestic oil drilling -- something that would "help us through this difficult period."

Citing concerns about the environment, the Democrat-led Congress has so far refused to go along with domestic oil drilling.

"We remind our friends and allies overseas that we're all too dependent on hydrocarbons, and we must work to advance tech that help us become less dependent on hydrocarbons," Bush said on Monday as he headed out to Europe.

<snip>

List of Big Oil Lobbyists Funding McCain's Campaign: http://mccainsource.com/corruption?id=0014

[thewiseguy]

1. This should go well with the citizens of Florida

[K Gardner]

2. I'm just waiting for madfloridian to weigh in.. LOL !

[thewiseguy]

3. I am guessing he will be mad

[grantcart]

4. well its as much as a coincidence as this thing being attached to this guys hand

[K Gardner]

5. Its so stunning in its transparency, I can't believe anyone would fall for it, but as seen above,

the RW sites were ready and waiting with their maps and talking points.

[grantcart]

12. actually its made to order - its about time to get the greens involved

let them open their check book

also it will completely undercut Nader.


Finally its not the kind of issue that will help them reinforce their efforts to win women over.

[islandmkl]

6. as a florida resident, i can only say:

THANK YOU, M.C.JOHNNY & QUICKTURN CHARLIE!!

...let's put Florida back into play, shall we??

[K Gardner]

8. I do believe its going to be Gore v Bush again in FL this year if the OIL PLATFORM is what the

RW is running on..

[muntrv]

7. 16 billion barrels in ANWR/20 million consumed per day=800 days.

[L0oniX]

16. Exactly ...this is about oil companies making money off of small amounts of oil.

None of this solves the problem of massive consumption of oil/gas by Americans and others.

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. Let's drill in Hannity and Limbaugh's front yards.

Let's see how those two big-mouthed bastards react to that.

[Cha]

10. Of course Oil men and their lackies are going

to be all for offshore drilling. What about the environment and the tourists this will send elsewhere when they shoreline is ruined?

[Catch22Dem]

11. Jeb (R) and Arnold (R) oppose drilling

So, let them try to accuse Dems of blocking drilling. The truth (as usual) is on our side.

[TheCowsCameHome]

14. Mitt R-Money opposed wind power off the coast of Mass.

and I'll bet he would oppose oil rigs, too.

[K Gardner]

21. I never did understand the opposition to windmills.

[sandnsea]

26. Birds, sealife, tourism

They're proposing wave energy projects off my coast. I get it now. They want to put them in the crab beds. We've already lost our salmon to poor wildlife management. We don't have room for anymore mistakes.

[tishaLA]

13. They'll NEVER succeed in drilling off the CA coast

It's just not going to happen. We will do everything we can to block that asshole.

[K Gardner]

19. Is off-shore drilling a state's rights thing? It's been so long since we've had this

discussion as a nation, I've forgotten what I ever knew about it. I mean, Congress can't just pass it, can they?

[tishaLA]

22. I don't know but I do know that the legislature and

the governator will go to the courts to stop it. And the 9th circuit? They'll side with us.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

15. Gas guzzlers

where's our alternative energy sources?

[K Gardner]

20. This is exactly what Obama and Gore laid out in detail last night in MI.. the plans are

there..and probably could be implemented in as much time as it'd take to get the first barrel of oil out of the sea.

[pinto]

17. Offshore drilling is a blanket no-go here in CA. It's come up time and again,

roundly defeated by the electorate.

[Disturbed]

18. "help us through this difficult period." GW Bush

Another lie from Busholini.

[NYC_SKP]

23. These gas prices have been a long time coming.

And only now are we hearing about gas tax holidays and offshore drilling.

It's the fuel standards, Americans don't travel enough or they'd easily see how vulgar our SUVs and trucks are.

We were once on the right track, with progressive fuel economy standards and electric cars on the road.

I blame the Bush and Clinton administrations for their lack of vision and for giving automakers a pass since 1990. I'm confident that Obama will face this problem head-on.

CAFE, aka Corporate Average Fuel Economy. Note the flat line since 1990 CAFE standard beginning in 1990.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Average_Fuel_Eco...

[Tinksrival]

24. Cheney's last kiss to big oil and a "fuck you" to me and you

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/oil_a...

Searching For The True Source Of A Bogus Story
By Andrew Tilghman - June 17, 2008, 3:57PM

We've been trying to find the original source for that mysterious meme about China drilling for oil off the coast of Cuba and Florida.

It's flat out wrong. The AP debunked it a few days ago after Vice President Dick Cheney tried to pass it off in remarks to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about high energy prices.

But it lives on. GOP operative Mary Matalin repeated it on CNN just last night.

We've traced the evolution of the non-fact and found it emerged a few months ago with an inexplicable spate of letters to the editor at small and regional daily newspapers. Within weeks it was popping up as a talking point among many Republican lawmakers and getting traction from conservative pundits.

more>>>>>

[TexasObserver]

25. They're driving up the price of gasoline to stampede congress into drilling approvals.

I see right through this little scheme.

Big Oil knows it has only a few more months of GWB as president. 2009 means life is tougher for Big Oil. So now they're making a gambit. They are pushing energy and gasoline through the roof, so they can stampede a scared congress into doing something to respond to consumer/voters. That something is approvals for off shore drilling, for ANWR drilling, and such.

They create the problem, and they create the "salvation" for the problem.

They figure if they can make it law under Bush, they'll have the cover they need for the next few years to drill like crazy.

[K Gardner]

27. This is *exactly* what they're doing. I don't think it will fly this time. We'll see.

[TexasObserver]

28. They'll press for drilling, they'll promote TERROR, and of course, the WAR

FEAR
FEAR
FEAR
FEAR

the GOP way

[paparush]

29. DING! DING! DING! We Have a Winner

Falls right in line with Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine"'s theory of disaster capitalism .

They've created a "disaster" in high oil prices, so now they'll try to take advantage of the public turmoil.