Based on the things I’ve seen recently, I believe that Republicans have finally decided that they weren’t going to campaign from the fetal position anymore. I’ve said before that this really started when John Hoffmeister got in Maxine Waters’ and Patrick Leahy’s face about expanding drilling. Since that day, Republicans understood that fighting back was a productive thing.

Since that time, they’ve taken many more giant steps, which has led their base to get excited for the first time since 2004. I believe that we saw the start of the next Republican Revolution start last Friday when the Young Turks convinced the House GOP leadership that fighting back on drilling wasn’t just the politically smart thing to do but that it was the morally imperative thing to do.

Rep. John Shadegg is one of the people who are fighting the good fight. Check out this quote in the Arizona Capitol Times:

“She’s used every procedural move in the book to keep Republicans from being able to offer even an amendment or a motion to recommit to put us on the path down the road to more American-made energy,” he said, adding that an Aug.1 move to offer a second motion to adjourn the House was “something I’ve never seen done.”

Democrats have blocked every Republican attempt to offer amendments to energy bills. They’ve done so because they know that there are enough votes to deal Speaker Pelosi an embarrassing defeat on the signature issue of this campaign.

While appearing on Your World With Neil Cavuto this afternoon, Bill Pascrell, (D-NJ), whined about how Republicans defeated 4 bills that Pelosi’s Democrats offered. When Mr. Cavuto said that Republicans were the minority party and essentially powerless to stop legislation, Pascrell let the cat out of the bag. Rep. Pascrell said that they needed 288 votes because these bills were brought up while the rules were suspended.

As I noted here, the reason why these bills were brought up with a closed rule was to prevent Republicans from offering amendments permitting drilling in ANWR and the OCS.

Mike Pence is another of the leaders in this movement. Listen to Rep. Pence’s confidence in this quote:

What heartens me as I hear the speeches of the men and women gathered around me is that I know in my heart we are speaking and giving voice to the will of the overwhelming majority of the American people who want this Congress to return to Washington, D.C., and give the American people more access to American oil,” said Rep. Mike Pence, an Indiana Republican.

“I’m absolutely confident that, if this Congress were brought back to Washington, D.C., and given an opportunity to vote on giving more access to the American people of American oil, that there is a bipartisan majority in the Congress that would pass that measure.”

I totally agree that Congress would open ANWR and the OCS if the American Energy Act were allowed an up or down vote. That thing would pass with 300-350 votes. That’s why Speaker Pelosi is refusing that bill to come to a vote.

More troubling, though, is the fact that Blue Dog Democrats refuse to sign the discharge petition that would demand that up or down vote. If the Blue Dog Democrats are truly centrists, they should side with the American people on this. Instead, they’ve supported Speaker Pelosi and the environmental extremists.

Thanks to Rep. Pence, Rep. Shadegg and the House GOP leadership team, there isn’t room for fencesitters in this debate. You’re either all in or you’re busted. Had this group chosen not to fight, Blue Dog Democrats would’ve been able to play both sides. That isn’t a viable option.

What’s worse for Democrats is that this shutdown has been given a not-so-flattering nickname:

The lights have been dimmed and Congress has gone home, but a couple dozen House Republicans continued their floor protest today of what they’re calling the “Pelosi shutdown”, the decision by Democrats last week to adjourn for the previously scheduled August recess without voting on opening new areas to drilling.

By the time Congress reconvenes, Pelosi’s national approval rating will make her wish for the days when it rivaled Richard Nixon’s during Watergate. In addition to attempting to shut down the House last Friday, Ms. Pelosi also mandated the closed rules on the Democrats’ non-energy energy bills so she wouldn’t be embarrassed.

Let’s be blunt with this. Speaker Pelosi and the rest of her leadership team are on the wrong side of too many issues to be effective. The signature issue of the 110th Congress thus far is passing a minimum wage bill, which was only achieved by attaching it to an Iraq supplemental bill and by including small business tax cuts. That’s hardly a shining moment, an achievement worth bragging about.

The main reason, though, why I think this is the start of another Republican Revolution is because John McCain will embrace the Young Turks’ anti-earmark agenda. If and when they get serious about fighting the John Murtha/Paul Kanjorski/Jim Oberstar porkers administration, taxpayers will notice. Those taxpayers won’t just notice the difference. They’ll appreciate the difference, too.

This article by Jackie Kucinich and Jared Allen tells about how the American people are jumping on the Republican bandwagon in significant numbers:

“When we began this on Friday at 11:20 a.m., we didn’t know where it was going to lead,” said Rep. Tom Price (Ga.), who has been directing the group of some 30 Republican members who have stayed or returned to D.C. to protest the House’s adjournment.

“But we have been buoyed and heartened by the American people. And what they have said is ‘Thank you for leading’,” Price said.

It’s exciting to see the American people rallying to the Republicans’ common sense solution to energy independence. It’s even more exciting to see Republicans leading on this important issue. While Democrats call this revolution a political stunt, the American people see a group of politicians proposing a viable solution to a distressing problem. Don’t think that they won’t remember that this November.

Think of this dynamic, too: When people know that they were right in trusting Republicans to solve the biggest issue this election season, they’ll trust them on other issues too. The minute that happens, Speaker Pelosi had better prepare for being called Ms. Minority Leader again.

Yesterday, I talked about how to spot Democratic spin on this issue. Here’s today’s dose of Democratic spin:

“For six years, Republicans controlled every branch of government and did nothing while America became more dependent on foreign sources of oil,” Hoyer said in a release Monday. “House Republicans now want to dust off old proposals, rejected by Congress on a bipartisan basis as bad ideas, and claim they have put forward ‘solutions’.”

People like Rep. Pence, Rep. Price and others are telling everyon that’s listening that it isn’t the policies that failed. It’s that the Senate Democrats filibustered bills that included drilling in ANWR. Furthermore, people don’t care about the past. They care that 85 percent of the known reserves in the United States is currently offlimits. People have told pollster after pollster that they simply want drilling in ANWR and the OCS to start ASAP. They don’t care whether it’s a longterm fix. They want relief ASAP.

What’s happening is that Republicans are responding to the American people’s needs while the Democrats twiddle their thumbs. That’s how revolutions get started. I suspect that that’s what’s happening right now.

Technorati Tags: Mike Pence, John Shadegg, John Boehner, Republican Revolution, Drilling, John Hoffmeister, Nancy Pelosi, Bill Pascrell, Steny Hoyer, OCS, ANWR, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

1. Don’t get your hopes up too far, Gary. The majority of California voters (especially in the Bay area) are just like California strawberries: dry and tasteless, no brains and no heart. Why else would they keep sending Boxers, DiFis and Pelosis and their ilk to tell the non-star, non-california rest of us knuckledraggers how to live our totally meaningless lives? It’ll only work if the rest of us finally decide that the only thing California exports in lifestyle is garbage, and if they want real leaders look to candidates that aren’t California wannabees and sycophants.

   Comment by Carlos — August 4, 2008 @ 11:23 pm

2. MORE FLIP-FLOPPING BAMA!

   The Question Is: WHO IS BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA?

   The Answer Is: NOBODY KNOWS!

   The fact is that we don’t know — WHO OR WHAT — Obama is.

   We know that — four years ago he was a virtual unknown — who came from no where — with no experience on the national level.

   HE COULD BE ANYTHING: fascist, socialist, or Nazi! You name it! His positions are constantly changing. Who knows what he will be by November or next January?

   This is the underlying reason that so many people, including me, are so frightened by the thought of an Obama Presidency.

   Now he is strutting about the world like a little boy, “playing” at being President and flaunting a desecrated Presidential seal as his trademark. The Team of Barack Hussein Obama stated in a speech that he comes before them as a “CITIZEN OF THE WORLD”. But why run for president of the USA? Why Not run for leader of the UN? This ,of course, is why Barack Obama did not wear his Flag Pin because Team Obama are National Socialists.

   His perception of reality seems far removed from the objective reality the rest of us recognize.

   HE IS “NOT” PRESIDENT — and with a little luck he never will be. He doesn’t seem to understand that.

   For him “all the world’s a stage” but he is but a “poor player” who will lose the role because America is recognizing the real Obama, the racist with a history of drug and alcohol abuse and without enough respect for our country’s military men and women to abandon his pursuit of glory long enough to visit them.

   McCain 08

   Comment by EAST COAST — August 4, 2008 @ 11:46 pm

3. Carlos: I’m pretty sure strawberries outside of California don’t have brains or hearts either.

   Comment by Liem — August 5, 2008 @ 2:03 pm

4. Yeah, Liem, but I’d be willing to bet there’s a better chance they’ve got taste, unlike most anything that comes out of California.

   Comment by Carlos — August 5, 2008 @ 11:36 pm