Just when you thought that Democrats had done a partial flip-flop by saying that they’d allow some increased drilling in Alaska, Ms. Pelosi says that increased drilling is a hoax perpetrated by the White House. If it’s such a hoax, why did Steny Hoyer call for more drilling?

“Once again, the oilman in the White House is echoing the demands of Big Oil,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. “The Bush plan is a hoax. It will neither reduce gas prices nor increase energy independence. It just gives millions more acres to the same companies that are sitting on nearly 68 million acres of public lands and coastal areas.”

Ms. Pelosi, How can you read this report and say that increasing energy supplies won’t drop prices? What thinking person can look at that report and say that the basic tenets of capitalism don’t apply to oil? Here’s what the DOI said about the oil and natural gas contained in federal lands that are currently offlimits:

Recent DOI estimates put the amount of energy in these off-limits areas at 19.1 billion barrels of oil and 83.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, approximately 30 years’ worth of imports from Saudi Arabia and enough natural gas to power America’s homes for 17 years. It should also be noted that these initial estimates tend to be low.

Ms. Pelosi, what economist could you find that would agree that adding approximately 30 years worth of Saudi imports wouldn’t have an effect on oil prices? It’s obvious that Ms. Pelosi doens’t have a clue about capitalism or market economies. If she had even a basic understanding of it, she wouldn’t be able to make these declarations with a straight face.

It isn’t just Ms. Pelosi that’s making such idiotic statements. Rahm Emanuel is parroting here:

“I’ve been in Washington long enough to know a political stunt when I see one,” said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. “The good news is the American people won’t be fooled. If the President wants to lower gas prices, he should stop hosting press conferences and start taking action.”

I’ve been watching Clintonistas long enough to know political spin when I see it. This is Clintonista spin at its pathetic dishonest worst. There’s more than a few telltale signs of Clintonista spin, starting with this:

“I’ve been in Washington long enough to know a political stunt when I see one.”

I agree because he’s participated in lots of political stunts. Mr. Emanuel is a slick politician and I don’t mean that in a positive way. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him if I had 2 broken arms and a bad back.

Here’s the other spin in his quote:

“He should stop hosting press conferences and start taking action.”

What clever spin. Does Mr. Emanuel suggest that President Bush just write out an executive order making these federal lands open for exploration? Would Mr. Emanuel suggest that President Bush ignore the legislative branch? That’s what his smart-assed statement implies. To his credit, President Bush was on the offensive:

“For years, my administration has been calling on Congress to expand domestic oil production,” Bush said during his Rose Garden announcement. “Unfortunately, Democrats on Capitol Hill have rejected virtually every proposal and now Americans are paying at the pump.”

I started calling the 110th Congress the No Solutions Congress for a reason. I suspect that it’s the same reason why their approval rating is at 9 percent. Thanks to the people at the Institute for Energy Research (via Powerline), we can see just how much of the OCS is kept offlimits by Pelosi’s and Emanuel’s actions:

It’s time we started asking people if they want Congress to take off the restrictions so we aren’t killed with high energy prices. It’s time we told the American people that the Democrats’ environmental extremist allies are using Pelosi’s and Reid’s obstruction to delay oil exploration, then using litigation to delay it even further.

America is being held hostage by the House and Senate Democrats and their extremist allies. Isn’t it time that we told the extremists and the obstructionists that they couldn’t inflict this amount of economic pain on us?

Democrats talk about being for the working people. What a joke that is. If they’re for working people, why do they do everything in their power to limit their prosperity with high gas prices? If they’re for working people, why do they let high gas and diesel prices drive up the cost of everything from farm products to groceries to heating schools?

If they really cared about working people, they’d stop the nonsense and let our economy prosper. It speaks volumes that Ms. Pelosi and her allies are perfectly content to let families suffer with high inflation that’s a product of their choices.

Real people are hurting out here and the supposed best Ms. Pelosi can do is say “There’s nothing we can do about it.” That isn’t what a leader does. Real leaders put a coherent plan together, then implement that plan. By comparison, Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Emanuel have figuratively folded their arms and announced that they’re going to stand on the sidelines.

That type of leadership is too expensive.

Technorati Tags: Gas Crisis, Nancy Pelosi, Rahm Emanuel, Clintonista, Spin, Obstructionism, Environmentalists, Extremists, Litigation, President Bush, OCS, Oil Exploration, Blue Collar Workers, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog