A current Republican talking point gives credit for the drop in oil prices to President Bush’s decision to lift the White House ban on offshore drilling.
Never mind that the congressional moratorium remains in place, or that it would take years for any Outer Continental Shelf oil to come to market, or that companies are ignoring petroleum under land they already control.
Polling shows that Americans don’t like to pay high prices for gasoline, and worried Republican candidates need an issue, particularly one that counteracts the president’s drag on the ticket.
And so the idea of crediting the White House for falling oil prices has been seized by Senate hopeful Jim Gilmore, by GOP presidential nominee John McCain, by the party’s mainstream media elites like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
For this notion to be true, though, President Bush would have to be strong enough to control the price of oil with a single swipe of his mighty pen. If he has that power, why did he let the price get so high in the first place?
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The notion that you have to wait years to bring oil to market...
...from the OCS ignores the Destin Dome in coastal waters of west Florida where oil can be brought to market in 18 months. It embraces the failure to drill years ago which fueled (pun intended) our current energy crisis. Let's reverse the V-P's twisted logic into Democrat talking points--When Democrats block efforts to drill for more oil to "save the planet" how does that increase oil production and drive down prices? [It doesn't] "Oil companies need to drill on the leases they already have"--if the leases had oil there would be so many drilling rigs working they'd look like a pin cushion with oil at such high prices. Why do Democrats pretend to know there's oil in the leases when there isn't? Will the Democrat notion that we shouldn't use our resources force America to ration gasoline again like President Jimmy Carter (D) did? V-P, how much will gas cost in 5 years? In ten? How about next month? Did you inflate your tires today?
Slow response
About time you noticed. This has been going on for weeks. You've been so busy pandering to the right you missed the Republican's dismissal of all logic and reason.