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Republican Opportunism
Some people are horrified by tragedy and saddened by misery. Other people see opportunities in both.
9/11 was a tragedy for this country, but Bush and company used it as an excuse to do what they had wanted to do for a long time before this tragic event—invade Iraq. The misery at the gas pump Americans have been experiencing in recent months has provided yet another opportunity for Bush and the Republicans to promote an old idea that had little previous traction—offshore and ANWR drilling.
Searching through the waste bin for castaway ideas that were never good to begin with, and are no better in meeting contemporary needs than they ever were, may turn heads during times when heads are easily turned. But it’s a low form of politics. An approach that rarely if ever merits support.
16 Responses to “Republican Opportunism”
Whats the solution?
Neocon,
Stop voting for those Republicans and the Democrats who support them.
No doubt Bush used 9/11 as a reason to change the policy on preemptive war.
Some of us believe he did it in order to protect the country from a growing threat in a volatile area of the globe. Others think he just hates brown people.
No doubt Bush used oil prices skyrocketing to nearly $150 a barrel as an excuse to drill offshore and in ANWR.
Some of us believe he did it in order to increase the domestic supply and reduce prices on the world market. Others think he somehow makes money by pissing caribou off.
It’s interesting to hear the reasoning of other people and how they would handle the problems of the world.
Who should I vote for Chris?
Neocon,
Vote in a way that's maximally beneficial to yourself and society.
Chris,
You’re trying to trick Neocon.
George Bush isn’t running for president again.
Well but you said to stop voting for Republicans. When in fact Im a democrat. However I have found the democratic party to be as politically bankrupt as is the Republican party.
They just pretend to care for the poor but only pretend. If they really cared they would be doing something about the gasoline prices. Instead they just voted to go on break for the summer.
Message………we want you to continue to suffer in hopes that your suffering will translate to votes in November. Pitiful.
No wonder their job rating is less then Bush.
Jwest–
There is already plenty of untapped domestic capacity not being used. How about increasing the domestic supply by drilling there before drilling in any environmentally protected areas? Seriously–why all the right-wing eagerness to damage those protected areas in spite of other options? Why the desire to go “pissing caribou off”?
As for the war in Iraq, in advance of it we were told about the existence of WMD's. I'm not eager to call the President of the United States a liar, but he was certainly wrong about that. We were told oil revenue would pay for the war. Instead, we now have a huge deficit. We were told it would be easy–a few months in we were told “Mission Accomplished”. Instead we are five years in with at least another sixteen months to go and that only after the next President takes office. And your defense of this is to play the race card on behalf of “brown people”?
It was interesting to hear your reasoning!!
Oil drilling is allowable in the mtns of the rocky mountains…..very kewl………cept you need water to drill oil. Well that rules out the rockies………Its available to drill on the great plains…….well darn we need water again…..well that rules out the great plains…….Or you could drill using Carbon injection if you just had a coal plant around that could pipe you some carbon………..well darn that requires a coal plant.
So all those leases…….they could have billions of bbls of oil on them and its not going to matter. Without water or Carbon Injection……….the oil is non recoverable.
thus the intense desire to offshore drill……….lots of water.
George,
This may be hard to follow due to my use of facts.
Just because the government has granted exploration rights in certain non-environmentally sensitive area doesn’t mean there is oil there. The great Earth Mother didn’t spread it equally throughout the world.
Oil companies need to drill where the greatest potential is. Right now, that means offshore and ANWR.
On Iraq, if you remember, George Bush was skeptical of using WMD as a reason to oust Saddam. He had to take the word of British, French, German, Russian, Israeli, Belgian and finally U.S. intelligence agencies who all agreed Iraq had WMD. It was kind of a “slam dunk”.
Bush never said that oil revenue would pay for the war, but it certainly would if we were the type of country that seized the wealth of countries we defeat in war. I suggest liberals propose doing this to ease our budget deficit.
Using the same definition as was in effect for the past 10,000 years, the war was won three weeks after it started. What followed was a humanitarian mission to help Iraq establish a stable government free of terrorist and radical Islamic influence.
The “brown people” reference was a play on the liberal line of Hurricane Katrina, that “George Bush hates black people”.
Jwest–
Good luck on those facts!!
Neocon–
Not really sure the caribou who'd be pissed off live offshore, but whatever.
And, hey, weren't you agreeing with me about this just today? It's kind of far down that comment thread, in case you've forgotten.
The public supports more drilling. Only the fringe is rabidly anti-drillling. This is not a Bush scam, no matter how badly Bush or McCain handle this. Learn!
“Oil companies need to drill where the greatest potential is. Right now, that means offshore and ANWR.”
Meanwhile, Obama could appeal to less-learned normal people but defuse large-scale public concern if he just said he'd be open to drilling, but only on existing oil company lease-holdings, not on anything new. Is he smart enough to do this, the kind of fake “compromise” that at least yields slightly to reality and which is truly opportunistic?
“Some of us believe he did it in order to protect the country from a growing threat in a volatile area of the globe”
Increasing the threat is not the smartest way to protect against it..
Meanwhile, the threat was growing in Afghanistna, Paksitan, etc. it helps if you can read maps. .
if existing land leases are so useless for drilling, why were they sought and taken, and why haven't they been relinquished?
The drilling broohaha is a political trojan horse. And yes, the American people are stupid enough to fall for it. After all, they voted for Bush twice, supported a war without paying for it, gorged themselves on SUV's and personal debt and now demand cheap gas so they can do more of the same.
The flim-flam man wins every time.
The American people demand their own doom, and they'll likely get it.
“What followed was a humanitarian mission to help Iraq establish a stable government free of terrorist and radical Islamic influence.”
I can't believe this is a serious comment.
We smash someone else's country to smithereens, and then, out of the pure goodness of our hearts, we stick around to shovel some of the rubbish under the rug.
That rubbish includes terrorist and radical elements that weren't there before we broke the country, mind you.
How kind of us!
You know, if you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig.