Posted by
BLOGASSAULT on Monday, July 28, 2008 7:31:59 PM
Over at Grist, they are trying to keep the pressure on by criticizing the democrats for not staying on message and bowing to the republicans 'drill and burn message'. But here is what caught my attention:
But it's all based on a bluff. It's BS. Dems are getting duped. It's true that the public is concerned about gas prices, and it's true they will support virtually anything that looks like bold action, but it's simply not true that they are attached to drilling specifically. If they are polled in a way that sets drilling against other alternatives, other alternatives win.
You can poll it however you like. We as Americans will put up with higher fuel prices...to a point. But now that the public is awake to the fact that we don't drill here anymore and that we are dependant on a bunch middle eastern thug countries for our energy, well, they think that maybe drilling for some oil here is a good idea. This poll from the
Pew Research Center shows what citizens are thinking as the price goes up.
The poll clearly shows that the country thinks both are necessary.
The fact is we can do both. We must do both. Unless you suggest we keep sending all our money to the Saudi's and pay exhorbanent amounts of money for energy based on technology (wind, solar, etc.) that is neither as cheap or as effecient as oil and coal is currently, we will never get past this.
We must have long term and short term goals in terms of energy stabililty. Long term, we can build solar and wind plants and hopefully improve the technology and drive down the price. But in the short term we need affordable energy today...and that is oil and coal.