Last night on the Rachel Maddow Show, in her Talk me Down segment, Rachel spoke with NY Democratic Representative Louise Slaughter. If you missed it, you can watch it here.
It was BRILLIANT!
Let's go back a few years when the Republicans controlled the Congress and the conversation. A time when the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act was being voted upon and a war in Iraq was looming. In both cases, the Republicans put the Democrats in a horrible position:
- Vote for it, or
- Vote against it and be painted as anti-patriotic
(jump the fold, please)
Well, today the Democrats are taking advantage of the upper-hand, finally. The Republicans have been riling up their base with "Drill, Baby, Drill", giving the sheeple a mantra, not a solution, they believe will win votes, as if the Republicans have the solution to our energy crisis.
Even when you give Republicans a reference, like the US Dept of Energy's export statistics and ask, "If we're having such an energy shortage that our own drilling will solve, then why do we EXPORT more of OUR OIL when the price-per-barrel goes up?", they still want to drill, baby, drill.
So, now they're going to get what they've asked for. The rights to drill that the oil companies really don't want and really don't have the resources to act upon. Those oil companies already have thousands of leases on which they haven't acted/explored - but you don't hear the Republicans trying to educate the sheeple on that fact, do ya?
And, the legislation will be presented to the Republicans who must vote:
- Vote for it, or
- Vote against it and be painted as anti-McCain/Palin.
Once it passes, the mantra cannot be directed at the Democrats. Now the people who wanted to
drill, baby, drill will have to focus their mantra to the oil companies - the very corporations who fund McCain/Palin.
Ha! I'm lovin' every minute of it!