Oil May Become GOP's 2008 Issue

[tannybogus]

Cost of Gas Touches a Chord With Voters
Four-dollar-a-gallon gas has done something that few Republicans thought possible just a few months ago: given them hope.

United behind a renewed push for offshore oil drilling, Republican members of Congress and the party's presumptive presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, think they have found their best political issue of the 2008 campaign.

McCain strategists and GOP leaders on Capitol Hill say the issue, which polls suggest Americans favor by healthy margins, lets Republicans demonstrate their plans to address the anger over high gas prices as well as the broader economic distress that many voters feel.

Because most Democrats, including Sen. Barack Obama, are opposed to increased drilling, McCain and the GOP have already begun casting their rivals as unconcerned about gas prices and unwilling to wean the country from foreign oil.

"The failure of Senator Obama to understand the need to increase domestic production is just stunning, and that's going to be a real hurdle for him to overcome, because everybody gets it," said Nancy Pfotenhauer, a senior McCain adviser.

The risks for Republicans became clear this week, however, when a McCain visit to an offshore oil rig was quickly scuttled in the face of Hurricane Dolly and a massive fuel oil spill in the Mississippi River near New Orleans.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/26/AR2008072601895_pf.html :crazy:

[justgamma]

1. Since the US oil exports are up

33% and 7 times more than it was last year, will the pukes put into law that the oil companies cannot sell our oil overseas? You know they won't limit the oil companies in any way. The Dems should be yelling this from the rooftops.

http://www.forbes.com/reuters/feeds/reuters/2008/07/03/2008-07-03T190447Z_01_N03256409_RTRIDST_0_USA-OIL-EXPORTS-ANALYSIS.html

[glowing]

2. And this is a lie of an editorial.. Yeah people are pissed about high

gas prices.. and are now more than ever supporting the move off of oil and into new renewable sources of energy... AND still more than 50% of Americans do not want to off shore drill or open up the Refuge in Alaska... So, this isn't their issue.. especially, when they voted to deregulate the industry so that it may speculate and drive up the price of the barrel of oil..

[dkf]

3. If Obama can't make the case for renewables or some other energy solution

he will be very vulnerable to the drill drill drill crowd.

I'm still waiting to hear a cohesive plan that makes me feel confident in our energy future. I really don't think drill drill drill will work anyway. We simply don't have the reserves.

[ixion]

4. so the crisis that they created is going to be their campaign issue?

well, gee, that sounds like a great strategy. :eyes:

[tannybogus]

5. I'm not saying that it is their issue necessarily.

However, people look for short, understandable answers. If they get it into their heads

that drilling will bring gas immediately to the pumps and bring the price down, it will

be hard to disabuse them of that notion. Republicans:Drill=refine=gas=months (false but easy to understand)

Democrats: Drill=explore=build=pump=refine=build refineries=gas=years(true but hard to explain)

:shrug:

[Demobrat]

6. This is how they sold the war in Iraq

and it's how they'll try to sell a McCain presidency. With the promise of cheap gas. Why not, it worked before.

[flamingdem]

7. Agreed. They have created a surefire target using drilling for Low-Info voters

The low info voters eat it up and they tie that into making Obama as snob who won't get his hands (or pristine nature) dirty. They know that the Dems cannot flop on this one so they will flog it heavily, imo.

[Octafish]

8. Jimmy CARTER tried to do something about foreign oil.

Pruneface Reagan undid it all.

[yurbud]

9. CORRECT RESPONSE: Oil-based foreign & domestic policy is killing our country

The Carter Doctrine, established 28 years ago, put the US military in service of assuring the nation’s regular supplies of imported oil. This has near-bankrupted the US and corrupted the military, yet left the US insecure in energy sources and globally loathed. The time has come to demote petroleum and stand down the troops.

http://professorsmartass.blogspot.com/2008/07/will-obama-say-bluntly-big-oil-enslaved.html">FULL TEXT

Democrats have not yet been blunt enough in saying that oil companies dictate our costly, anti-democratic, and near-genocidal policies in the Middle East.

If they had the balls to say this bluntly enough, and phrase it as a conflict, it could be a winning issue.

[yurbud]

10. Giving more drilling rights is like giving more money to kidnappers who keep

demanding more and more and never release any hostages.

[applegrove]

11. I just saw a McSame ad where they asked "who is responsible for the cost of gas" and then

a picture of Obama is put up with crowds yelling "Obama! Obama! Obama!". Makes you think they want to ruin the sounds of a crowd yelling Obama's name. At least build a meme into it...an action that will take place when Obama goes to stadiums and large venues. Even small ones. People will always yell Obama! Obama! Obama! and the GOP know that.

[AdHocSolver]

12. It is Pavlov getting the dogs to salivate by ringing a bell.

The Republicans are attempting to tie Obama's name to the phrase "who is responsible for the cost of gas?".

Unfortunately, a large number of Americans are easily "trained" by such techniques.

What Democrats have to do to overcome this problem, and improve their chances of winning elections beyond just the presidential election, is to connect the Republican party with the various problems this country faces.

One policy promoted by Republicans is the so-called privatization of Social Security. I would recommend that progressive groups run ads that explain that "Republicans want to take away your Social Security".

Other ads should point out the "Republicans are responsible for the biggest government deficits in history".

The "Republicans have overseen the biggest job losses to foreign countries ever".


It is unfortunate that Democrats seem unwilling to take on the Republicans in a "fist fight", and this is precisely why the Republicans are able to win elections even though Republican candidates are openly liars or obviously dim-witted.

Just calling McCain Bush-lite is not enough. We have to promote the theme that he is bad because he is a Republican.

[applegrove]

13. I agree I would like to see Obama fight bag but he seems to do better

when he responds with soft punches. He stays above the fray while ducking outtta the way of an attack. It is weird but he is good at it.