Drill Here Now McCain Mum in May

McCain's drill here drill now stance only occurred after the republicans figured they could tie oil drilling to lower gas prices, and for the most part, Americans swallowed the bait. To win this election, they're counting on Americans to be uniformed. 

Instant gratification works well with us. Why anyone would be listening to George Bush (McCain) is beyond me. 

If the republicans are so interested in energy now, it's purely for political gain because they have had years to do something about it. The world's shortage of oil isn't the republicans fault.

Even the Saudis are diversifying out of oil.

The fault of the republicans, who have been "leading" the country, is that they have never bothered to come up with a plan for life after oil. They've only been plotting: how to get more oil. I suspect the Iraq war had more to do with this than anything else.

Reuters: "There is a real misconception that proponents of drilling are fueling, implying that somehow this oil is going to go directly to U.S. consumers," said Julia Bovey, spokeswoman for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "The oil companies are the ones who are going to be the beneficiaries of this."
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said oil is traded globally "so any changes we make impact the world oil market - not a separate domestic market."

Boiling a complex issue into a picture book:

The Swamp: Oliphant: I guess the question of the moment is: Is $4 dollar-a-gallon gas the new gay marriage? I guess you think it is.

Tankersley: Ask me again in October. Let's see what gas costs then.
On the other hand: "San Francisco judge legalizes $6 a gallon gas" -- sounds like something to rile up Ohio voters, doesn't it?

Oliphant: It's one of those issues where it's a lousy play to be a progressive. Nobody wants to sacrifice for conservation. It brings to mind Jimmy Carter wearing a sweater. No president will ever wear a sweater again because of that.

Tankersley: You wear sweaters.

Oliphant: Only because they have puppies on them.

Tankersley: To be fair, I've always seen your style as less Jimmy Carter than Mr. Rogers.

Oliphant: Speaking of energy, here in Washington we have discovered that there really are monsters in the dark. Such as the Republicans in the House of Representatives.

Tankersley: You say "monsters." I say "smart politicians." Who would have thought that the House GOP would get more attention with the lights off in the chamber than they've gotten while in session?

Oliphant: The other day I was reaching for a lightswitch and tripped over Mike Pence (R-Ind.).

Tankersley: I would mention that Illinois' own Rep. Peter Roskam (R) said yesterday that coming back from his vacation in Michigan for this got the phones ringing off the hook in his D.C. office. So maybe it's resonating.

Oliphant: Well, it is smart. I just saw the aformentioned Pence on CNN, and normally he couldn't get on CNN in the morning unless he hit Lindsay Lohan with a car. Like with McCain, there is resonance to be found in gas pain. Everyone can debate whether offshore drilling would change anything, but it's a way of boiling down a complex issue to an easy word picture.

The Swamp also points out that in McCain's "speech" in May on energy, he didn't mention drilling once.

The U.S. oil exports have hit record highs:

Reuters: The White House on Wednesday made a new push for expanded offshore drilling to help lower fuel prices, days after new government data showed American petroleum product exports hit record levels.
Flanked in the White House Rose Garden by his cabinet after meeting to discuss energy issues, President George W. Bush called on Congress to pass legislation before its month-long August recess to allow more offshore drilling.
"To reduce pressure on prices, we need to increase the supply of oil, especially here at home," Bush told reporters.
Bush this month lifted an executive order that had banned drilling in most U.S. waters and wants Congress to end its own drilling ban before lawmakers leave town in August.
"The sooner Congress lifts the ban, the sooner we can get this oil from the ocean floor to your gas tank," Bush said.
Critics of the offshore drilling plan noted that the Energy Department released data this week showing that U.S. exports of finished petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel, soared to 1.592 million barrels per day in May.
The exports set a record for the month and were up 31 percent from a year ago.
Jim Greeff, deputy legislative director for the League of Conservation Voters, said the export data shows it was "misleading" for the administration or the oil industry to suggest new offshore supplies would reduce U.S. pump prices.
"The oil companies pushing for drilling is nothing more than a land grab," Greeff said.

Obama supports limited oil drilling IF it leads to an overall energy package.
The key point is that oil drilling will not lower gas prices.

McCain's Oil Drilling Hoax

Unfortunately, issues like these are too detailed for many people. McCain says he can make gas prices go down and people get happy. But I post anyway. In hopes.
Note that the price of oil has come down significantly but gas prices haven't.

RCP The prospect of significant new petroleum resources that could be available so soon would be excellent news -- aside from the obvious impact of burning still more oil -- if only what the senator said was true. But what he said actually made no sense whatsoever, as a statement about the future development of domestic oil, the alleged need to increase drilling off our coasts or the resources that such drilling might produce. So let's unpack that McCain statement (which was overshadowed by the news that his dermatologist had just removed a small lesion from the 71-year-old melanoma survivor's right cheek).

It may be true that "existing rigs" could produce additional barrels of domestic oil immediately, whether on land or in the ocean, as Sen. McCain suggests. If so, he might want to ask his friends in the oil business why those rigs aren't producing more oil now, at prices above $120 a barrel. An existing rig by definition is a rig that is operating legally on property already leased for exploration -- and can produce oil unencumbered by any environmental constraints on drilling. In case the senator doesn't understand, an existing rig is where someone has already drilled a well.
Where companies would have to install new rigs, the question is whether a lease already exists or whether the government would have to grant a new lease. New drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf would mean new leases that are now illegal.

But as the Associated Press reported last month, nearly 75 percent of the existing leases on federal lands held by petroleum companies are currently producing no oil. Those companies today hold nearly 30 million acres dormant, according to the AP. Nobody in the federal government even knows whether any exploration has taken place over the past decade.

Did you catch the news of republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska now being accused of accepting lavish gifts from oil companies? Where do oil companies want to drill? Alaska!

Who's pushing drilling? Bush McCain. The Bush-Cheney administration was all about oil. 

Recently, oil execs gave $1 million to McCain's campaign. 

The more we continue to rely on oil, the less attention will be paid to alternative and renewable fuels. 
AP on the oil hoax
NPR on oil drilling
The Institute for Energy Research on drilling

Bush Makes Way for Oil Drilling

George Bush makes way for oil companies to profit and that's not so bad. What is lame, is the fact that he's telling us that we'll get lower gas prices. Americans are once again being fooled.

CNN: Citing the high prices Americans are paying at the pump, Bush said from the White House Rose Garden that allowing offshore oil drilling is "one of the most important steps we can take" to reduce that burden.

However, the move is largely symbolic as there is also a federal law banning offshore drilling.

"This means that the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil reserves is action from the U.S. Congress," Bush said.

....
Experts say offshore oil drilling would not have an immediate impact on oil prices because oil exploration takes years.

"If we were to drill today, realistically speaking, we should not expect a barrel of oil coming out of this new resource for three years, maybe even five years, so let's not kid ourselves," said Fadel Gheit, oil and gas analyst with Oppenheimer & Co. Equity Capital Markets Division.

But it almost certainly would be profitable.

Obama's response:

offshore drilling would provide short-term relief at the pump or a long-term strategy for energy independence, it would be worthy of our consideration, regardless of the risks. But most experts, even within the Bush Administration, concede it would do neither. It would merely prolong the failed energy policies we have seen from Washington for thirty years. Senator Obama believes Americans need real short-term relief, which is why he has proposed a second round of stimulus with energy rebates for working families. And over the long-term, Senator Obama understands that our national security and the survival of the planet demand a real strategy to break our dependence on foreign oil by developing clean, new sources of energy and by vastly improving the energy efficiency of our cars, trucks and our economy. He is ready to lead such a transformation.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi calls Bush-McCain's offshore drilling proposal a hoax.