I've gotta give it to the GOP, this little stunt in Congress has paid off thus far

[Hippo_Tron]

I went to see them on the House floor today. The place was more or less an echo chamber with tourists applauding pretty much their ever word. Now I would imagine that most of them were on staff led tours all from Republican offices. Or maybe it was partly that they let people come onto the House floor which is not something you get to do on your everyday tour of the capitol.

Anyway they have cameras set up outside the House chamber and it is getting coverage in the MSM. Thus far the Democrats have tried ignoring it and then sent out a memo about their big oil contributions. I don't think that's going to do the trick. The Republicans said they are going to be staying there for "as long as it takes" and that means this will continue to get press coverage because it's summer and there's nothing else to talk about.

Here's what I think the Democrats should do. The current "gang of 10" plan basically lifts the Federal moratorium on offshore drilling leaving it up to the states except in Florida and Florida won't have a say in the matter. Now I would imagine that by the end of this whole thing Florida's Senators will throw enough of a fit that they will get that stripped out and Florida will have the right to drill. So basically you will have a bill that says "states can drill if they want to".

But lets be honest about this. While 70% of Americans may want more drilling (according to some poll somewhere) nobody wants it in their backyard. So I think that the Democrats should offer a deal to the Republicans. Tell them that if they want a vote on the federal moratorium they need to get commitments from the state legislatures and governors of a certain number of coastal states that they will actually drill or seriously consider drilling. In other words, they need to actually put up or shut up.

The Republicans are talking a lot right now about how this won't get a vote because Nancy Pelosi is from California. Well I think they should tell the Republicans that even if it got a vote, there would be no drilling off of the California coast because their good buddy Arnold Schwarzenegger opposes it. Tell them that they need to convince Schwarzenegger to support drilling if they want it. There's no reason to waste time passing this legislation to end the federal moratorium if the states don't want to drill.

[ixion]

1. The MSM covers it, and the words 'stagecraft' or 'partisan event' probably

won't be used to describe it, albeit that's precisely what it is.

[Hippo_Tron]

4. The problem is that the Democrats aren't responding

You would hope that just ignoring it would do the trick and they would look like asses. Unfortunately that's not the case.

This is like in The American President where Lewis points out that people are buying the bullshit because Bob Rumson is the only one doing the talking. In the absence of genuine leadership they will drink the sand thinking it's water.

Republicans are offering people a bullshit solution that they claim will work in the short term whereas Democrats aren't offering anything (or at least not very vocally) that will alleviate peoples' problems.

Real leadership would be to tell people that gas prices won't come down no matter what congress does, because we're no longer the world's only major consumer and we have to live with that. Unfortunately we all know from Jimmy Carter's experience that, that's a sure-fire way to lose no matter how right it may be.

So the next best thing is to call them out and make people realize that they are full of shit.

[spanone]

2. and the longer the democrats ignore it, the more ingrained it becomes in the public's mind

[defendandprotect]

3. Right-wing propaganda has been very damaging to America ---

and the Democrats still aren't quite sure about tackling it ---

I don't think they've ever given this enough thought ---

The Repugs have been running this program all week --- C-span special evening discussions

Democrats had better actually REALLY respond this time around ---

[denverbill]

5. I agree that the public is falling for it. They want the government to 'do something'.

I think if we open offshore drilling, we've got to DEMAND that oil companies relinquish any leases on which they are not actively drilling and/or pumping oil. No new leases until all of the existing ones are already being worked, or returned to the people, so we can let other companies drill there.

I have my doubts that will have much impact, but if the oil companies are sitting on reserves just to prevent other companies from drilling them, they need to get their asses kicked.

Maybe we ought to also pass a law prohibiting exportation of refined petroleum. Oil companies claim refineries are always constrained by capacity limits and environmentalists are preventing new refineries. But if they are going to export the crap anyway, they can build a refinery somewhere else.

[Hippo_Tron]

6. I think the relinquishing of their leases may be a good idea

They argue that they don't drill there because those land doesn't have any oil on there. So if that is the case then there's no reason that they need to keep it.

As far as prohibiting exportation, I don't think that's a good idea. If we restrict our exports then other countries will retaliate with theirs and that will work against us since we import far more oil than we produce.

[alarimer]

7. The Democrats are going to end up caving, like they always do.

This is why the Republicans ALWAYS win because compromise invariably means that Democrats give in. This is what is so wrong with the idea that we need to work with these assholes. We do not. We need to shut them out.

[Hippo_Tron]

8. I'm less concerned about the compromise than I am about the politics

As I've said, this is going to amount to nothing in terms of environmental consequences because nobody wants drilling in their own backyard. Basically congress will have spent an entire summer talking about something that won't happen.

The problem is that Republicans are getting all of the political gain from this snake oil and Democrats are getting zilch.

[Gold Metal Flake]

9. Tie that to a five year sunset on existing unused leases.

Put Up or Shut Up meets Use It or Lose It.

[ColbertWatcher]

10. Sorry, but I diagree...

...http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3730000&mesg_id=3730000

[Hippo_Tron]

11. The ones that are still there are mostly from really red districts

Duncan Hunter, Phil Gingrey, Lynn Westmoreland. Those people could go home and say that abortions and gay marriage are causing high gas prices and their constituents would believe it.

The ones that actually have competitive re-elections are back at home facing their constituents because when you're running for congress all politics is local and this stunt is about getting national attention not local attention.

[ColbertWatcher]

13. So, they're taking their constituents for granted? n/t

[Hippo_Tron]

16. Of course they are, but they will get re-elected anyway

[ColbertWatcher]

18. I say, we shouldn't make it easy for them. n/t

[Hippo_Tron]

20. Be my guest

But I'm telling you, hell is going to freeze over before we can defeat some of these guys. Lynn Westmoreland is probably the most ineffective member of the congress and yet he still gets re-elected because his district is so Republican.

[ColbertWatcher]

21. Lynn "Can't Name The 10 Commandments" Westmoreland!?

Damn, I was hoping his ass would be out with the next scandal.

He'll get his comeuppance.

[Hippo_Tron]

22. Your best bet is to catch him doing something inappropriate with underage boys

Ala Mark Foley. In that case he will have to resign. Then his seat will probably go to his wife but if you're really lucky, another Republican that he doesn't happen to be married to. If the stars align right, a Democrat will win the special election by an extremely narrow margin. Said Democrat will then probably only survive one maybe two terms in congress.

Don't get me wrong, there are a whole lot of Republicans that are going to rightfully get their asses booted out of congress this November. But the Lynn Westmorelands of the world will always be around so long as there are congressional districts clustered with enough stupid people.

[ColbertWatcher]

23. Are you saying Lynn Westmoreland is a pedophile?

Not like Rush Limbaugh, but still?

I have not heard that rumor before...interesting...

[peanut2010]

12. Shoot if I had a drill I would drill in my own backyard.

right next to my wind generator on the other side of my moonshine still right behind my solar panels just below the barn where I turn used vegtable oil into bio-diesel that I put in my million mile plus Ford Aeromax that makes my living.

[EFerrari]

14. The Democrats needed to say "Emergency Oil Reserve" three weeks ago

and that would have been that.

[Hippo_Tron]

17. Obama just announced his plan to do that today

And maybe he can play it up in the next few weeks and make the GOP and McGramps look like idiots. The idea is getting very good press coverage and economists are saying that just the threat to pull an indeterminate number of barrels out of the strategic petroleum reserve sends the speculators running like hell away from the market.

Even though I knew that this was a good idea it really hadn't occurred to me. Perhaps this is the card that I've been waiting for the Democrats to play.

[AllentownJake]

15. When it come to empty symbolism and political stunts

they will always win that war.

[The Gunslinger]

19. They should just say they will allow drilling

if it is run by the government and sold to the US citizens at cost. We would see how quickly the republicans true colors show up because they are not fighting for the American people, they are fighting for big oil profits.

[radfringe]

24. remember last year when Pelosi

held the house in session past a 'scheduled' break and the repubs whined?

dems should be issuing a statement mentioning the above, plus a list of legislation that was blocked by the repubs in a effort to depict dem congress as a 'do-nothing' with trent lott's statement prominantly highlighted

[MiniMe]

25. The dems need to keep calling it a publicity stunt

Like the repukes did when they were actually made to fillibuster.