Politics

Republicans Blast the 'Pelosi Premium'

May 2008

By Andrew Peterson
For CoverUps.com

It's become increasingly clear that Democrat party promises to bring down gas prices were just so much hot air. If only that hot air could be used to heat our homes and cities – there are huge untapped reserves of it in Washington D.C.

CNS News senior editor Susan Jones reports that Republicans may at last be stirring from their long political slumber with a sharply-focused video that places responsibility for high energy costs squarely at the feet of Democrats, which is where it belongs:

"The video highlights the non-stop march upward gas prices have been making ever since the Democratic Majority took control of Congress in January 2007 -- and repeats the warnings of analysts, who are now predicting that gas prices will rise to $4.00 per gallon by the time the summertime driving season begins," the news release said.

It is truly amazing to see how tone-deaf the Democrats are on this issue – hardly surprising, since the only people they listen to are the Environmentalists, who are even more tone deaf than the Democrats.

Republicans warn that Democrats may end up making the situation even worse -- if they continue pressing for a 55-cent-a-gallon increase in the federal gas tax. "Is that the "commonsense plan" Speaker Pelosi promised to the American people?" the Republicans asked.

Our Take

Maybe the only thing less likely than the Democrats showing any concern for the high price of gas would be for them to join up with the Republicans to solve the problem.

We are living in hyper-partisan times. From the beginning of her tenure, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi has shown herself to be almost religiously-devoted to opposing Republican policy proposals at every turn. Do Republicans actually expect this routine to change?

The only silver lining to this cloud is the so-called "Blue Dog", or conservative Democrats Pelosi recruited into her party to help it win control of Congress two years ago. The Blue Dogs are keenly attuned to their voters, and new enough to Washington not to be corrupted by it yet. They are also aware of the crucial role they played in helping bring Pelosi to power. Will they use this fact to push the Democrat party in a more conservative (or just less liberal) direction on energy?

It's hard to say. But gas prices are an explosive issue with the general public, and if the cost gets high enough, the demand to fix the problem using something that will actually work – like more oil drilling – could be enough to overwhelm the political alliance between Democrats and the environmental lobby, at least for a short time. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Read the article online.