The “anywhere but there” dodge

This morning, as John noted, President Bush rescinded the executive order that has prohibited drilling on the outer continental shelf (OCS) since 1990. Congress, and specifically congressional Democrats, are now the only obvious force standing between American consumers and access to vast quantities of petroleum.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer responded with the Democratic mantra: “Drilling in the OCS will do nothing to lower gas prices.” Yet, as the House Republican leadership was quick to point out, Hoyer had taken the opposite postion just last week when he said: “Bringing new resources to market might have, hopefully will have, and we want them to have, a reduction in prices.” For the record, it’s called the law of supply and demand.

Hoyer also stated:

The Republican Party is trying to score political points by pretending that there [aren’t] places to drill. There are. We’re for that. We want companies to proceed. We want to bring prices down and make sure domestic supplies are available to our consumers.

The Democrats’ position on drilling is beginning to sound like their position on the use of military force — they are for it, just not at the time and place under current discussion. But the “anywhere but there” posture will be far more difficult to sustain in the context of soaring energy prices than in the context of the shedding of American blood.

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