The Hill brings us news of one of the greatest feats of statesmanship in American history -- the story of how House Republicans lowered gas prices . . . WITH THEIR MINDS:
House Republicans on Tuesday said their protest of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) decision not to allow a vote on expanded offshore oil drilling has helped lower gas prices.
Heading into a third day of speeches in the near-empty chamber, Republicans acknowledged that the average price of gas and oil has declined in recent weeks. But they claimed credit for part of that reduction.
"I think the market is responding to the fact that we are here talking," said Rep. John Shadegg* (R-Ariz.) at a joint press conference with other GOP lawmakers. "I think the market realizes this kind of pressure from Congress may, in fact, lead to a change in policy."
The Republican members did not answer questions about whether they would take the blame if gas prices go up again.**
Yes, indeed. From the Keyboard Kommandos who won the Iraq war by blogging hard, to the House Republicans who lowered gas prices by bloviating about them in a closed, dark room, today's Republican Party is solving America's problems through a bold new plan: hoping and wishing and holding their breath until reality conforms to their wishes. One can only pray that the McCain campaign is embracing this innovative approach, and is abandoning traditional, effective campaign tactics in favor of visualization exercises.
In all seriousness, this is pretty pathetic. It wasn't that long ago that when you disagreed with Republicans, you found yourself holding grudging admiration for their hardball approach to politics and legislation. But with this, the Republican Party has finally taken its final step away from anything resembling Burkean conservatism -- and even away from effective, if evil, Atwater/Rove ratfucking -- and into pure, ideology-free, sweaty ineffectual huckster venality. They've become the party of The Secret. Which, all things considered, makes sense.
*If you want to retire John Shadegg's magical thinking, help out his Democratic challenger, Bob Lord, at Orange to Blue.
**Jared Allen of The Hill needs to take a bow for getting that last graf past his editor. Kudos, sir.