I subjected myself to about 10 minutes of John King, Dan Balz and Dana Bash on CNN about an hour ago, and I have a question.
How come, when John W. McBush talks about offshore oil drilling (often in front of a rig these days; how original), what he proposes wouldn't yield anything for years and probably wreak untold environmental havoc in the process, but he's considered to be "ahead of the curve" on the issue, whereas Barack Obama talks about a $1,000 rebate to every American for energy costs paid for by a windfall oil profits tax (opposed by Repugs for years), yet he's considered to be "playing catch-up" and "engaging in populist politics" when he does so, even though we'll see that money a lot sooner than we'll ever see any crude under what McBush proposes?
Just wondering...
Update 8/4/08: Yep, I guess this would be a good reason for McBush to be "ahead of the curve" (h/t Atrios).
2 comments:
I feel your pain. I can only answer with more questions.
1-Why when the repugs had majority power under bush they did not lift the ban on offshore drilling?
Their argument that if we began a decade ago we would be getting the oil now should be countered with this: Well, if we began 8 years ago when voters made them the majority we would be 2 years away from getting the oil now.
2-Why doesn't the media (ugh) make it known that opposition came from the coastal states including Florida that had a bush as governor. They feared, and rightfully so, the destruction of their pristine coast.
3-Why doesn't the media (ugh, gasp) remind the public that daddy bush via executive order placed a ban on offshore drilling. And sonny bush upheld that until last month when the new governor of Florida ended his opposition.
4-What could be more "populist politics" then sending every taxpayer and those who don't pay taxes an incentive bonus?
The framing of this issue is so idiotic to me that it’s hard for me to comprehend at times. As a nation, we were shortsighted and lazy about our energy planning and didn’t properly fund and develop mass transit alternatives, and I can recall a time when employers offered flex scheduling and work-at-home options to help, but no so much any more (many still do, but not nearly enough).
We kept listening to (primarily) Repugs promising a free lunch on this and everything else. Now the bill is due, and all we can do is “shoot the messenger” who bears the bad news. Pitiful.
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