***updated***

I’m too tired to vent, but I think “Ugh” will suffice in response to this news item: House Drops Arctic Drilling From Bill

House leaders late Wednesday abandoned an attempt to push through a hotly contested plan to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling, fearing it would jeopardize approval of a sweeping budget bill Thursday.

They also dropped from the budget document plans to allow states to authorize oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts — regions currently under a drilling moratorium.

The actions were a stunning setback for those who have tried for years to open a coastal strip of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, to oil development, and a victory for environmentalists, who have lobbied hard against the drilling provisions. President Bush has made drilling in the Alaska refuge his top energy priority.

The House Rules Committee formalized the change late Wednesday by issuing the terms of the debate when the House takes up the budget package on Thursday.

The decision to drop the ANWR drilling language came after GOP moderates said they would oppose the budget if it was kept in the bill. The offshore drilling provision was also viewed as too contentious and a threat to the bill, especially in the Senate.

A group of “moderate” Republicans headed by Rep. Charles Bass of New Hampshire signed a letter pressuring the GOP to strike the Alaskan drilling provision from the broader $54 billion budget cut bill. More capitulation:

GOP leaders, led by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., also agreed to drop a plan to allow states to waive a 24-year ban on drilling along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and open a contested tract off the Florida Gulf coast to oil drilling. Several Florida Republicans opposed the plan.

“GOP leaders.” There’s a misnomer.

Ugh. Just ugh.

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Give House Speaker Hastert your two cents here.

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11/10 morning update. ABP:

What good is a GOP majority if they can’t pass tax cuts, can’t slightly reduce the rate of growth in spending, and panic because enviro-kooks object to drilling in a barren, snow-covered wasteland.

Exactly.

Reader Christopher T. forwarded me the letter he sent to Speaker Hastert this morning:

Speaker Hastert,

Lack of conviction + Compromise = Cowardice. I was distressed this morning to read:

“GOP leaders, led by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., also agreed to drop a plan to allow states to waive a 24-year ban on drilling along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and open a contested tract off the Florida Gulf coast to oil drilling. Several Florida Republicans opposed the plan.”

How will we ever lessen our growing dependency on foreign oil unless such options are available to us?

Leadership is not spelled C-A-P-I-T-U-L-A-T-I-O-N, Mr. Speaker.

The House Republicans earn one blogger’s Jackasses of the Day award.

Junkyard Blog asks: How do you spell U-S-E-L-E-S-S?

Lisa at Two Babes and a Brain: “What Are The Republicans Thinking…”

They’re not.

California Conservative posts an open letter to Hastert:

I’m a lifelong Republican and actively support the party. I’m just a working, middle-class, concerned father and dedicated husband, a patriotic man who follows politics but expects no special reward for my activism. All that I ask is that the Party stays true to it’s principles and ideology.

Recently, I’ve begun to worry.

In politics, being a “moderate” is just another word for a leader without conviction. I expect more from the GOP.

That’s our mistake.

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Update: Read more Letters to the GOP and info on the anti-drilling “moderate” faction.

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