Pelosi’s bitter words on energy are catching up with her
Sure, San Fran Nan’s floundering around begging President Bush to release oil from the strategic oil reserve–anything but drilling any new wells, anywhere, I guess–but back in April 2006 she was blaming that darn Republican congress for these high prices:
With skyrocketing gas prices, it is clear that the American people can no longer afford the Republican Rubber Stamp Congress and its failure to stand up to Republican big oil and gas company cronies. Americans this week are paying $2.91 a gallon on average for regular gasoline – 33 cents higher than last month, and double the price than when President Bush first came to office.
“With record gas prices, record CEO pay packages, and record oil company profits, Speaker Hastert and the Majority Congress continue to give the American people empty rhetoric rather than join Democrats who are working to lower gas prices now.
So coming up on eighteen months of a Democratic majority in both houses, how are we doing? Let’s take a look at those gas prices, using a little chart-making tool at Gasbuddy:
Lookee there. Did she say Congress is responsible for the price of gas? Well, if Fancy Nancy’s going to ladle on the sauce for the goose, let’s spoon a little on the gander.
She’s had eighteen months of Democratic control in both houses to accomplish whatever magic she thought she could pull off. And after eighteen months, the Dems in Congress certainly haven’t made gas prices any better, though at least they have made gas prices have less volatile and more consistent.
Consistently higher.*
_______________
* I’m not even saying that the Democrats get all the blame for high gas prices, though certainly their pigheadedness and footdragging contributes to them. But if Nancy Pelosi’s gotten comfortable over the past two years demagoguing the price of petrol and blaming it on Republicans, well, two can play at that game, can’t we?
___________
{Post by See-Dubya. Big hat tip to Mike Hendrix at Cold Fury, who has much more.}
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Trackbacks
- Right Voices » Blog Archive » UPDATED WITH THE REALITY OF A DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS…..Pelosi Demands POTUS Dip Into Strategic Petroleum Reserve In Order To Save Her Ass
- Congratulations to Pelosi-Reid Congress on your historic accomplishment | Pundit Review
- Moonage Political Webdream » » Nancy Pelosi thinks the SPR will fix the price of gas
- The Dan Lee Report » Blog Archive » Democrats block energy bills, & try to force Bush to tamper with strategic oil reserves.
- Reverse_Vampyr » Pelosi's gas prices
- Cold Fury
- Clown Congress | Cold Fury
- Pelosi: Congress is responsible for high gas prices…only if GOP controls Congress « Crush Liberalism
- Bear Creek Ledger » Pelosi Congress full of noxious gas
- Dear Nancy… about that oil business… | BitsBlog
- Pelosi Betrays Democrats Lies on Gas « American Elephants
- Pelosi: Drilling Is A ‘Hoax’ : BigMouthFrog
- Gas Prices « The Moratorium Site
- GayPatriot » Democrats Force Gas Prices Up;Bush Sends Oil Prices Down
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Categories: Enviro-nitwits, Nancy Pelosi, Uncategorized
Riehl World View
» Pali-mania Strikes The Right Blogosphere!Confederate Yankee
» "The Obama Administration is the Most Fiscally Irresponsible in the History of the U.S."Weekly Standard
» Heavy MedalWeekly Standard
» Poll: Americans Becoming More Conservative by 2-to-1 MarginPundit & Pundette
» No nukes for Obama, then and now
The blame can be placed on the members of Congress, that continue to put their heads in the sand (or up the a** of special interest groups)and believe that we can continue on the same course we have pursued for the last 30 years. Opening the strategic reserves is nothing but a political move, and will not have a significant impact on the price per gallon. What would significantly improve the cost per gallon is the relaxing of the rules that require the refineries to produce 21+ different environmental blends of unleaded and low sulfur diesel. That is why the price of unleaded across the border in Mexico is half the price of a gallon in the US. We need some rules, but 21+ blends? Ask anyone who is working a cracking tower, how much it costs to reset the tower’s catalyst for the next ‘blend’. Further, we need to move away from corn-based ethanol to sugar-based ethanol. Many have pointed to the fact that Brazil’s cars run almost entirely on ethanol, but neglect that it is a sugar-beet/sugarcane based ethanol that does not consume more crude to produce than it saves, does not produce a 10-20% drop in fuel economy, and does not significantly impact food/feed crops. Until we replace the Congress that votes the status quo, we have no one to blame but ourselves.
I love the cognitive dissonance…
Increasing supply (by opening reserves) will lower gas prices
Increasing supply (by opening drilling) will not lower gas prices
Considering that our reserves would last us a paltry 58 days if outside sources were shut off, how do these people have the stupidity to claim that drilling is not worth doing because it is only a “temporary fix, and not a solution” ?
I don’t give a rat’s @ss which party controls congress. Throw them all out! Join the movement; NO INCUMBANTS I don’t care how good they appear to be. I don’t care how much pork they bring home. If they run unaposed,write in your own name. NO INCUMBANTS!
um, you don’t care how good someone appears to be? Then what’s the point of voting at all? Change for change’s sake… that slogan sounds familiar. I “Hope” no one takes that idea seriously.
I have to wonder - the core investigative philosophy of any detective is ‘Follow The Money’ - how much money is being made by the ‘Global Warming’ enthusiasts? Certainly there are questions on both sides of the theory, enough to raise ‘reasonable doubt’ in my mind as to the legitimacy of their argument. This ‘rush’ to join the global warming pack tends to remind me of Lemmings running head long into the sea. Let’s make some intelligent decisions before we run headlong off the cliff.
Michelle, going back a few months is not the problem, let’s go back to the 40 years congress was controlled by the Dimocraps and they did nothing for example 1973 and 1979 and now we sit in 2008 with another energy crunch and lo and behold who is in control and doing nothing the Dimocraps. The party of a$$e$ have kept us from drilling for new oil, building new refineries and the list goes on, so Nanny can blame whom ever she wants but ultimatley Dimocraps can only look in the mirror and blame themselves for this debacle.
When T. Boone Pickens talkspeople listen!
Again Pelosi demonstrates her limited understanding of the economy, energy demand and comes off as eliteist, ignorant and unworthy of her public office.
With Our Socialist Majority Congress currently enjoying a single digit approval rating under her “leadership” she provides a strong argument for term limits.
Oh heck! I’m just like McCain I guess. I can never get these links right. It’s on the Wall Street Journal online opinion page. http://online.wsj.com/public/page/opinion.html
Vince, hit the link button copy and past url in box hit OK type what ever in the end of it and hit Close Tags and the link should work. It to me a few times of frustration to get it right so your not alone.
THROW THE BUMS OUT !!!!
You want to send a message ? Send it with somebody new. NO INCUMBANTS
that should be took me a few times, it’s early need coffee.
The only thing these people in congress are interested in, is their re-election campaigns. This starts as soon as they sit down at their new office. They cater to special interests for their money, and they jump aboard and vote the party bandwagon, to get what they want (pork) passed. It’s always “me first, party second, country third”, that is important to them. Single digit approval ratings means nothing to them, knowing that people critisize the congress as a whole, but support their own congressman.
Thanks Blind_Mule. What’s “copy and paste”?
Hahahahaha!
You’re a fellow Missourian, right?
Political science used to be a branch of social science that dealt with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems. Now it seems it’s just how best to respond to lobbyists and craft a sound-bite. Every politician looks on the Strategic Oil Reserves and drools, all that oil just sitting there. The Strategic Reserves have a purpose, thus their name ‘Strategic’ – to ensure reserves are available, in the case of national emergency, to fuel our armed forces and our infrastructure. Not for some politicians ’sound bite’.
We are entering the annual hurricane season, and the Houston area has been spared the effects of a major hurricane, in fact, statistically, one is long overdue. For those who are not aware, as a conservative estimate, about 50+% of the nations refining and petrochemical industry resides in the Pasadena/Deer Park/Texas City area southeast of the Houston metroplex. If a Category 4 or 5 hurricane impacted around Matagorda Island, the corresponding storm surge would place approximately 15 feet of salt water over the refineries. Pipelines will be shut down to prevent contamination. Estimates vary, but given the history of Valero in Pt. Arthur during Rita, it would be months before production would be fully restored. You will not have to worry about the cost of a gallon of gas, since it won’t be available – the remaining national refining capacity will be directed towards keeping fossil fuel power plants on line, ensuring the armed forces have sufficient fuel, refining diesel for freight trains, and any gasoline will be directed towards emergency services. That is one scenario of what the reserves are for.
“Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in it’s best state is but a necessary evil; in it’s worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.” Thomas Paine - Common Sense
First they stopped filling the reserves which were about 97% full at the time and it didn’t help prices.
Draw down from the reserves only helps to get by when things like Katrina disrupt supplies till the refineries get back on line during a short term issue.
Ethanol only supplements oil based gas.
All the other green stuff like wind and solar only generate electricity which supplements coal and gas and a few oil/diesel plants. Nuclear helps that even more.
Even if we switched to plug in hybrids you don’t have the electric infrastructure to support it now and it would require more coal/gas to generate it.
Solar is not efficient enough and would take longer than opening ANWR to impact on any scale. Same for wind power.
We dug ourselves into a long term hole and now we need to long term dig out.
Right now the best things that could turn the whole world issue around are
1) stop the rebels in Nigeria from disruption of production there
2) upgrade the fields in Iraq to push their production back from the current 2.2 million bpd back to their old capability of 6 million bpd of years ago.
3) Mexico needs to allow joint ventures to upgrade their stuff to address their field depletion issues.
4) reverse the clean coal lockup Bill Clinton did out in the west by declaring it a wilderness area
5) build nuclear power plants
6) do the one green power everyone keeps forgetting about and start using ocean wave power. The process to do it is out there and test installations are showing it works. It feeds into the shore areas without needing major distribution grid upgrades.
1/2 our population lives withing 50 miles of the ocean. Generate the green electricity from the ocean waves right off our shoreline.
Pelosi, like all these other prattling blow hards, has devolved into rhetorical farce. Inane and complex at the same time, they talk themselves and the people into circles, preserving their lofty, cozy positions while providing useful entertainment for the dullard press.
Feinstein (left)
Pelosi (center)
Boxer (right)
Residence, funny farm.
Reid was absent for group pic.
You too? I mean: you three?
The cheapest gas prices I see are in the Springfield area–consistently $0.10/gal. below St. Louis.
$4.49 here
Mr. Die, (I assume you don’t want to be called hippie)
I live just outside of St. Louis(doesn’t everybody). Jefferson City and Ste. Genevieve are usually 20 cents cheaper!
aj, $3.899 here.
No drilling, no new refineries, no nuclear power plants, no future for America. The Democrats view of America’s future. And for what, So government can PRETEND to control the weather.
It’s the Democrat party that is sick, not the Earth.
Food prices through the roof, fuel costs through the roof, and we are supposed to bend over and feel good about it.
There are two new energy technologies who’s time is now, coal-to-liquids and Pebble Bed Modular Reactors(PBMR). Both being put into production by China. Meanwhile in the USA, the Democrats sit around with their thumb up America’s … Burning food has got to top the list of dumb Democrat ideas of this century. Well maybe I should wait.
Meanwhile, anybody with a brain knows the sun is in charge of climate and the sun has decided to go on cold rinse. If we had any sense we would be preparing for cold by fortifying our energy and food supplies to resist and maybe even survive the next ice age.
I do agree with Nancy that it is congress’ fault. Has been for years and continues to be. We have reached a point in our nation where we do not need congress passing new laws. We need them to spend their time repealing confiscatory, constitutional right infringing, economic choking laws, or they can just average it out and repeal 9 out of every 10 laws they have saddled us with.
Each congressperson swears to uphold and defend the United States Constitution. The preamble of the constitution state that part of the purpose of government is to provide for the common good. Congress has clearly not provided for the common good since FDR wsa elected. Congress now clearly is working directly against the common good of the people and only towards the common good of themselves and limited special interest. Simple solution - we need to impeach the entire congress.
I’m with you on this. bigtime.
too bad it isnt soo “simple”
Vote them out.
Not for nothing is Congress’ approval rating at 9%.
Vote them out. There are a handful of GOP senators who could stay, but that’s it.
The only way we’re going to send these losers a wake-up call is by putting them all on the unemployment line.
I wonder what implications this will have on the presidential election. I wonder if people will realized Democratic Congress + Democratic President = 4 more years of this crap. Or is that too much to ask?
I was just curious:
If the refinieries are operating at roughly 100%…
and we open the Strategic Petroleum Reserve…
Where exactly are we supposed to get the extra refining capacity to refine the 58 days worth of oil? Is there an extra Strategic Refinery Reserve that I don’t know about?
#3….I love what your cookin!
THROW DA BUMS OUT !!!!
We all know the fix:
Drill here, drill now,
build new refineries,
build new nuclear power plants
Explore every inch of the US for fossil fuel
Oil shale/sand
What we don’t have is the will. The enviromentalists are happy as can be. They are getting just what they want. The Dems are ruled by these same enviromentalists, and other America-haters that like to see the US suffer. I don’t see any solution from the Dems. If the messiah wins in November, and the Dems keep the House and Senate, it is going to be a very bad time in this country.
America’s Chickens are Coming Home to Roost
The problem is not the refineries, it’s the crude that goes through the refineries. 90% of the crude oil refined comes from foreign sources. If the oil companies did not have to buyt crude and have it shipped to refineries to convert to gas and diesel, the cost would much lower.
I have a post up at The Talon about this,(Yes, a shameless self-promotion, but I’m not the only one who blogs there); and a post up on my vox site with statements from oil company execs about refining capacity.
Quote from Exxon/Mobile Senior Vice President Stephen Simon:
Of the 2 million barrels per day Exxon Mobil refined in 2007 here in the United States, 90 percent were purchased from others.
So all along it was the…lawyers…who knew how to lower the price of gas!
Prithee, Democratics. Tell us how. Did the lawyers remove a restraining order on the invisible hand.
I recall a statement from Obama less than a month ago that struck me as authored by Lewis Carrol of Alice in Wonderland vintage:
“We can’t drill our way out of this problem”
What? One extracts oil from the ground by drilling. We have well documented domestic reserves that remain untapped. The energy alternatives to oil are not yet at a stage where they are viable substitutes for oil. Those alternatives are years away from widespread viability.
Can’t drill our way out? YES WE CAN!
If you won’t say it, see_dubya, I will. Where’s the magic she was going to work with the Dem control of Congress? We’re waiting Nan.
One of the MOST telling graphs to date.
Important note: If it was Bush’s plan to open the reserves, Pilloosee and her ilk would be fighting it tooth and nail.
In a way, they will sell this as truth. Their mantra will be:
“If we were not in controll, you would be shocked at what the actual price would be.”
RE #16
Ethanol only supplements
oil based gascorn farmers.There fixed that for ya’
The current state of gas prices is just phase I of the price we all have to pay for sending the same career politicians back to Washington time-after-time. The likes of Pelosi and Reid, who get their re-election money from special interests and looney leftists, couldn’t care less about this country or its people. Their power is all they care about. Afterall, Reid thinks that oil and coal makes us sick.
Since all goods and services are tied to the price of energy, prices are rising across the board. Maybe after we suffer the consequences of socialism for awhile, people will get their heads out of their arses and start electing people to Congress who actually care about America.
Sometimes, a little suffering is a good thing.
One argument against drilling for oil on now forbidden territory is the oil companies are not drilling on land already leased to them.
I assume it is more complicated than that. Is it because most of the proven reserves are in the restricted areas?
Remember the movie in which Katherine Hepburn told John Wayne, “you are shooting your food”, I laughed my butt off at that line then.
Not laughing now.
Dick The Turban Durbin actually said it first, back in May, and it has become the dhimmicrat mantra.
The propensity for the extreme left to dictate economic policy that puts mainstream Amercians in a budget busting situation by increasing the price of everything we use is well documented. Looking back, you’d think they’d planned it that way.
The way I understand it, is that environmentalists block the companies from building the structures they need to drill.
Oil began its terrible climb AFTER Reid and Pelosi reaffirmed the Left’s policy of no more drilling, power plants or refineries after the Democrats took Congress in 2006. As energy supplies would be stagnant at best prices had to rise. Neither Reid nor Pelosi were surprised.
The mantra “we can’t drill ourselves out of this” is insane. They won’t let us develope hydrogen either although they lie about it. We can’t extract hydrogen without new power plants to do so. Getting hydrogen by stripping it from natural gas would cost more than oil on a large scale. Where are we going to get the natural gas, drill for it?
re #43
Oil companies pay for mineral rights before they get to explore, so they have paid out huge sums for land with no oil to drill for. Also many times there are deposits that are too small to produce profitably so they don’t waste money on them. In the future many of those deposits may be usable as technology improves, so they would like to keep them.
when they buy your mineral rights they pay a royalty for all they produce. All offshore drilling is leased from the government and they collect the royalties. too bad the environmentalists are keeping the government from the revenues in Alaska and the OCS.
oil millionaires
Funny,
how I get severely chastised and roundly criticised, whenever I tell someone I blindly pull the lever on a straight Republican ticket,
isn’t it.
Well, well. Numbers don’t lie, do they!
The chart above will make a great piece to put into a campaign commercial and into campaign literature.
Welcome the the Pelosi-Reid Economy!
Congress has a SINGLE digit approval rating, and yet Democrats are leading by 11 points in congressional races. WHY? Do people think electing MORE Democrats will help things??
It honestly doesn’t matter what congress or the president does, oil prices will keep going up do to massive global inflation. $140/barrel is the new price, not some bubble created through demand issues and evil speculators. With M3 most likely at 20% there is no reason to think oil will subside anytime soon. Point is there’s really only one institution that can reign in the price of oil: the Federal Reserve. They wont though, as they have their shareholders to think about.
But, don’t you people understand?
“La Raza” is the real issue.
Maine Yankee is right, throw all of them out. This time it’s oil and they do nothing until the country gets up in arms about it. Last time is was immigration amnesty. It would have gone through if the people didn’t get up in arms that time too. Do these elected officials have to be taken to the brink on every important issue? I agree NO INCUMBENTS
I thought that we should have gotten off the oil after the Carter fiasco, but nooooo…Two years ago I replaced my rav4 with a car which uses the half the amount of fuel as the rav. I cut my gas bill in half only to have prices double. I have cut back on all unnecessary driving. The only way I could save more is to not drive anywhere for anything. When I do drive, I have noticed fewer cars on the road, which has resulted in less time spent parked at lights and parked in traffic jams, so my gas mileage has improved. The landscape trucks have almost dissappeared from the roads. I’m seeing for rent signs in places where illegals usually live. While I hate paying more for gas, I am enjoying fewer cars on the road. As for the members of congress, they have no solutions for this mess, only excuses for doing nothing.
Just Remember that all the oil is in Alaska, Texas, and California. The DIPSTICKS are in DC!!!
Put that on a bumper sticker!
What’s ironic is that if left to its own devices, the free market here would solve the “oil crisis” on its own. When prices get high enough:
1. It becomes practical to exploit oil deposits previously considered unprofitable;
2. Energy producers develop alternative energy sources to replace petroleum (e.g., clean coal technology or nuclear energy); and
3. Automobile manufacturers meet consumer demand for better gas mileage by producing more fuel-efficient and hybrid technology vehicles.
The only problem is, the donkeys have no interest in free market solutions. They’re statists, only interested in how the situation can be used to increase state power.
Consider that the objective of identity politics is to turn government into a nursing sow, and to turn the people into assorted group-based piglets elbowing each other to get at one of not enough teats. For a donkey, this is an ideal outcome because the artificially-created shortages mean that they can play interest groups against one another, further enhancing government power.
Do not look to the donkeys for solutions to produce more energy. They’ll never admit it, but an all-around energy shortage (and eventually rationing of not only fuel but also electricity) is what they’re secretly hoping for.
When we get to a situation where the 55 mph limit is back again, gasoline shortages and lines at service stations are the norm, and nationwide rolling brownouts are required so everyone can get their “fair share” of electricity, donkeys will be gloating because they’ll have finally managed to mete out to the American people the punishment they so richly deserve — for their past “disproportionate, gluttonous and greedy” standard of living.
The only long-term “solution” to the energy shortage is to keep the donkeys away from the levers of state.
vince, Blind Mule & DHD…I’m in MO too; there was a recent article explaining why MO has the lowest gasoline prices.
But we all know it’s because Missouri is special!
Is Obama going to state that Pelosi is trying to hand us the ol’ okey doke?
Actually, I can’t remember the exact phrase he used to state his opposition to a summer gasoline tax break.
I saw an ad recently for 40 acres in Wyoming. Sure it’s probably some scammer dumping land, but hey, I bet there’s oil. Hmm, AlohaGuy should be WildCatGuy…
No, I’ll let you in on a little secret, there is another large city in Missouri it’s called Kansas City.
Keep gas prices high, re-elect a democrat.
The statement above and chart would make a GREAT campaign commercial for Republicans. Anyone at home at the RNC?