Posted by: McQ on Tuesday, July 08, 2008 I sometimes wonder (in fact I often wonder) about the real mental acuity of the Speaker of the House. She does not impress me as the brightest bulb in the pack: The speaker blames what she labels the Bush-Cheney big oil agenda, using graphics to point out gasoline prices have more than doubled in the Bush administration.You have to remember that when Ms. Pelosi and the gang were running for reelection in 2006 they promised that if the people would give them a majority, they'd take care of gas prices. Standing in front of a gas station with posted prices in the $3 range, she and the others implied it was as simple as that. They had a "common sense plan", remember? Now, with gas prices over the $4 mark, about all the Democrats seem capable of doing is attempting to blame Bush. And don't even talk about increasing domestic production: "You know full well if you could drill in the Arctic Refuge it would save two cents 20 years from now," says Speaker Pelosi.Ah, goal-post shifting (or just the usual hyperbole, you decide) - now it's "20 years" instead of 10. Of course, unsaid is the point that drilling elsewhere coupled with ANWR would yield much more than "two cents" on down the road, wouldn't it? As for Pelosi's "common sense plan", well, it appears to be a two pronged attack. The first part of her solution then is: "Mr. President, do not fill the strategic petroleum reserve with oil at record highs. Instead, take out the oil that we brought at a lower price to bring down the price of oil, to reduce the price at the pump," says Speaker Pelosi.Right. Instead of drilling, Ms. Pelosi would instead like to see us without a SPR in a time in which we import 60% of our oil and are subject to interruption or cut-off at any time. Brilliant. And what would pushing this oil onto the market do for the price of gas - not that much. Maybe a few cents per gallon. But I mentioned a two-pronged attack by the speaker, didn't I? Well here's the second: Building on last month's bipartisan legislation passed overwhelmingly by the House requiring the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to use its emergency powers to curb excessive speculation distorting the energy markets, the House Agriculture Committee this week will hold three days of hearings on oil market speculation. The goal is to present the House with strong legislation this month to bring transparency to the markets and to end speculators' ability to artificially inflate the price at the pump.The House Ag Committee is holding three days of hearings on oil speculation? Brilliant! I'm sure the folks at the London futures market (and other foreign venues) are shivering in their boots. And, of course, I'm sure the faux problem of "speculators" will somehow be laid at Bush's feet as well. So there you have Nancy Pelosi's solution to our gas price woes. Don't drill in ANWR (or anywhere else), deplete the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (a brilliant national security strategy) and go after speculators with Ag Committee hearings. Wooo Hooo - we'll be down to $2.50 a gallon in no time. If Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid aren't the greatest arguments against seniority as the primary qualification for a leadership position, I don't know who would be. |
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