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Drill Here, Drill Now. "Yes We Can!"
- Filed under: Energy, McCain, National Landscape 2008
- Date: Jun 18,2008
When gas prices starting really jumping, I was very fearful of the repercussions for the GOP. For better or worse, that is pretty much how I look at everything. In a Rasmussen Reports poll released Tuesday, 67% of respondents said they favored off shore oil drilling. Even among liberals, more exploration was favored by a 46-37% margin. When you look at Congress, Republicans want to drill. Democrats do not want to. Using simple logic, that means Democrats are happy with recent price increases. By increasing our own supply, we can make life a little easier for millions of hardworking Americans. In general, Democrats and specifically one running for President of the United States are against that.
On Tuesday Senator McCain announced his support for the lifting of the federal moratorium on states being allowed to explore off their coasts for oil and gas deposits. The Outer Shelf Moratorium was passed in 1981 by Congress. Obama is not for drilling. John McCain is starting to come around, but not enough yet. It can't be too far around the corner as he seems to realize that $4 gas is the tipping point where people are starting to take a deeper look into why prices are so high. Every minute he waits and talks about global warming he is wasting time in this campaign. This is an issue people are really looking hard at. It is a no-brainer. The liberal left has nowhere to go. Obama and the Left are too beholden to the far left to take the side of the people here. Average people like me are fed up with being held hostage by the militant environmentalists. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her House Democrats like Betty Sutton promised us all solution to rising gas prices if America swept our Republicans. If they meant "higher prices for all" and "thinking of policies to make prices rise more" then they have achieved that campaign promise.
I am not against hybrid cars or clean energy or windmills or whatever Al Gore is talking about today. But none of that helps in the near term. And I don't want to pay $20 for 3 and a half gallons of gas. I am not alone. Drilling more at home will not solve the problem by itself, but exploring for and bringing more oil to market definitely helps drive prices down. More drilling needs to be combined with the alternative energy that is emerging. Barack Obama, fan of $4 gas, only likes the latter half of that last statement. The sound bite from that link alone would make a devastating commercial against Obama. RNC, Use it! (You have to because McCain is going to run a noble campaign). Use it if you want to win, Senator McCain, and I assume you do because you are running in spite of the coronation of Barack Obama. Probable Obama statement soon: "This sort of divisive politics should be beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate."
Now, if McCain would just decide he wanted to open up to drilling that mosquito infested wasteland part of ANWR we would be getting somewhere. It would be a flip flop, but it would be a flip flop people would look past. He just needs to simply say, "circumstances have changed," because they have. Go there and make your announcement (leave Ted Stevens in Washington). Oh, and if there is somewhere where we can't drill, what about nuclear?
Ohio blogger Matt Hurley of WMD got some recent attention with his thoughts on gas prices and the potential for it to be a Republican winner come this fall. He wrote, in part: 95% of the American people are very concerned or somewhat concerned about the the price of gasoline. That Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats continue to turn a deaf ear to this issue is amazing. Well Matt, they do have hearings and threaten sham windfall profits taxes that would just be based on to consumers. That has shown to really be helpful.
If it seems I write about this topic a lot, it is probably because I do.
Video: Myth, We are running out of oil.
Sign the petition: Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.
22 Responses for "Drill Here, Drill Now. "Yes We Can!""
There have been articles written that we are not EVER going to run out of oil. Scientists who have been on research vessels in the Gulf of Mexico have opened old long thought done wells only to find them full again. When the platforms have been re-rigged they were pumping as much crude as the day they were first drilled. now some scientists are beginning to rethink their position about how much oil we have in the crust to it is a naturally occuring product.
Ben says:
"By increasing our own supply, we can make life a little easier for millions of hardworking Americans. In general, Democrats and specifically one running for President of the United States are against that."
Setting rhetoric aside….this uninformed and simplistic thinking is the very reason we are currently neck-deep into high gasoline prices.
Starting to drill in new areas of North America will produce, at best, an increase of world supply by .3 percent….in 10 years.
The current high oil prices are not being caused by lack of supply. That is a simple and easy to understand fact. The Saudis, on at least two occasions, have explained that fact of life to George and Dick.
But just as in Reagan's market-solution days, the current GOP president would like to turn the "oil men loose" again.
Ignorant calls for yet more drilling, when American and now world demand is receding, is as misguided as attacking Iraq to hunt down an enemy in Pakistan.
Empty political rhetoric by a flailing political party desperate to stem the high tide coming in November.
you seem to have a childish understanding of the current challenges related to oil production and demand. you said:
"I am not against hybrid cars or clean energy or windmills or whatever Al Gore is talking about today. But none of that helps in the near term."
nowhere in your uninformed post do you mention that opening up ANWR or offshore sights does nothing to boost supply in the near term. i've read accounts that it would it take years for oil to be produced in ANWR and delivered to the market. i'm confused as to why average people like yourself are unaware that we can't produce our way out of this problem. why is the purveyor of small local blog so giddy and excited to be a supplicant to big oil?
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as for nuclear energy, the issue of whether to build more nuclear plants is somewhat unrelated to our dependence on oil. you see the US does not rely on oil to produce electricity. we chiefly derive electricity from burning coal and there is plenty of that. besides there are ramifications of increasing nuclear energy production. Can we store the radioactive waste from the nuclear power plants in your city or village? oil is used heavily for transportation and i'm not aware of any nuclear powered prototype cars (mr. fusion perhaps). how about "drive less, pay less"
The primary argument against the off shore drilling is that it doesn't help us in the short term. I also don't think that putting oil rigs off the coast of Florida is going to be very popular in that must win state for McCain. Florida Governor Charlie Crist just flip-flopped on the moratorium to stay in lock step with McCain. If the Republican Governor of Florida was against off shore drilling until yesterday, then that says to me that a majority of Floridians support elected officials who oppose the drilling.
Of course, it always takes 10 years, so why bother.
We'll just keep saying that for the next few or fifty years. It would take less than 10 years to get oil from Alaska or anywhere and just knowing that oil is coming helps to drive down prices.
oil is a speculative market - any known or expected changes in long-term supply will affect the price of oil today, regardless of whether or not actual supply won't be affected for 1 year or 10 years. if market speculators believe that the us will eventually have a source of cheaper/nearer/us controlled oil in the near future (decade or less) in will impact the price of oil today. it may only be a momentary blip in the long term rise of oil prices, but it still would likely cause an impact.
We are in no danger of running out of oil anytime soon.
…just knowing that oil is coming helps to drive down prices.
right. big oil wants the rights to drill in ANWR because that would bring down the price of oil in the near term. why on earth would they want oil to remain above $130 per bbl?
if they wanted the price to come down (they don't) they would be producing from the existing fields they are currently sitting on.
ANOTHER FRAUDULENT ISSUE.
THERE ARE BILLIONS OF BARRELS OF OIL SITTING IN AREAS ALREADY LEASED TO OIL COMPANIES. BUT THEY ARE CHOOSING TO NOT TAP IT. SO WE ARE GOING TO GIVE THOSE SAME COMPANIES MORE LEASES?????
WE NEED TO FOCUS ON INCENTIVES/DEMANDS TO THAT OIL BE OBTAINED NOW.
THIS NEW REPUBLICAN CLAIM IS MORE SABER RATTLING, AND NOT BASED ON FACT.
If we announced that we were getting serious about drilling, the speculators would stop buying and start panic selling.
Drill here, drill now, pay less: yes we can.
And don't even bring up the phony argument about drilling on garbage land that doesn't have big enough deposits to make it worth while.
As is always the case the progressive elite have identified the VILLIAN—Big American Oil and their lackeys in the gov. and private sector that have unfairly profited from the oil based economy of the US. That industrial giant not only has run roughshod over its own people but has damaged the citizens throughout the world and by the use of fossil fuels and obscene consumption have destroyed our planet. Only by creating a kinder gentler America that is less powerful can the world become a better place. Yes the remedy will affect our life style but our leaders will ensure that those that suffer the most will be protected through the necessary financial support to overcome the new realities. To argue with those that subscribe to this view their is no point arguing over the amount of oil available, the need to extract the oil or the short and long term effects on the price.
The Oil Executives have been proven liars when they come before Congress and testify.
But please forgive me for not seeing how they are good guys that want to help us.
Chuck K - not disagreeing with you, but if we said they could drill there, and they just lied again and said they would, that would cause at least a temporary drop in oil prices.
this is such a complicated issue. Ben I don't think that either Democrats or Republicans are 'happy' that gas is $4.00 a gallon. Drilling in ANWR is only one solution and again, one not likely to produce immediate product. Our country needs a multi-pronged approach that encourages new and little-used alternate energy sources. If our government had encouraged this approach twenty years ago, we probably wouldn't be in this situation now. It seems we as a country our in an 'energy rollercoaster' — whenever we have a gas/oil crisis, we talk about alternate forms of energy, but the enthusiasm and support soon wanes as the gas/oil supplies rise. I guess the forces of inertia, big oil and the comfort with what is known atill reign.
Mike D makes an excellent point regarding the speculative oil market and how in can be easily influenced.
Reverend–I don't believe you are correct when you say that
world demand for oil/gas is declining. Industrialization in countries like India and China,along with their rising expectations and consumption, will continue to spur oil/gas usage throughout the world. It's one of the major reasons that prices have continued to rise in the past several years. It's not all about the Saudis and the Mideast.
what's really elite angry con? how about $40 billion in profits per year per company. that would make them the corporate elite wouldn't it. that's okay because angry con worships at the free market altar of the corporate elite.
The money the corp. execs make is obscene and cannot be defended. Yes their profits have risen dramatically the last few years but they do not control oil prices. The US oil companies have become minor players, Exxon which is the largest American company only accounts for 3% of the oil market. Over 75% of the oil is controlled by various governments. Do you also believe that other companies that make huge profits with much higher rates of return than the oil compnies should be targeted as well? What about individuals such as Al Gore whose personal fortune has skyrocketed to obscene proportions should he be punished also?
I am not defending big oil only attempting to point out they are not the cause of todays situation.
Angry,
You cannot say with any certainty tha "they do not control oil prices"
We have no idea, because their is virtually no oversight or regulation on energy trading.
Chuck K finally hits it. Current exorbitant oil prices are caused specifically by oil futures traders gambling away on Wall Street. It's an artificial bubble that has enriched a handful of folks.
The oil futures market is not regulated…thanks to McCain's best buddy Phil Gramm. Mischief is being carried out.
anne: The U.S. used 1 percent less oil last year while the world used 1.1 percent more. Since the beginning of 2008 world consumption, because of the cost, has declined ever so slightly. The current situation, as I have explained for a long time, is not being caused by supply and demand fundamentals. We have plenty of world supply, yet the futures contracts still keep going up.
In short. The market is NOT working….just as in the American health care industry.
You want cheaper gasoline prices? The answer is a strict crackdown of regulatory control on the cheating, manipulating bastards who gamble our economic lives away in front of a computer trading terminal every day.
One word: Enron.
Rev,
We are on to the "Progressive" trick:
Step 1, Regulate an industry to death (No drilling here, drive up the cost of complaince, etc.)
Step 2, Declare a "market failure". As if there is such a thing.
Step 3. More regulations to fix the problem.
Step 4. Repeat.
Every time you get the same thing; more government and less freedom.
I dont care where they drill or what happens just bring the price down.
Reverend,
I would be interested in your comments about Robert Samuelson's editorial in today's Plain Dealer. In fact, it would be interesting to read several other readers of this blog opinions. Chuck? Gary?
I read it and thought it was interesting, anne. Thanks for the heads up.
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