Friday, April 30, 2010

There's a reason you ignore them

It's certainly true that in the last week and a half, the Obama Administration has found itself in a Bush-like situation of having a bad policy decision become a precursor to an actual disaster.

The GOP plays the "long-game" when it comes to disastrous policy positions, something a Democrat should always keep in mind. From pretending there isn't global warming to pissing off the nation's fastest growing ethnic groups you have to add this characteristic to your political calculus.



So how fitting that Republicans at their last convention sent out noted expert on everything Rudy Giuliani to discuss 9-11 offshore drilling. How fitting they adopt noted expert on everything Sarah Palin's slogans. How fitting that they continue to send out noted expert on everything Newt Gingrich to demand it while a certain off-shore oil platform breaks Joseph Hazelwood's record for oil spills.

There are reasons, Mr. President, we shouldn't listen to most Republican talking points.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

3 comments:

Major Woody said...

I'm going to help the GOP's efforts at "messaging" with a simple slogan that sums up the party's view on global warming, health care, oil exploration, race relations, hell, on any issue:

Destroy Everything!

pansypoo said...

oil is gonna kill us all. humans finally found the way to do it.

Montag said...

Ah, well, the whole point of the offshore drilling issue has been, hey, if you need a 5000-foot umbilical cord between the wellhead and you, just to look at the top of the well, maybe you ought to be thinking about a better way to make a buck, or heating homes.

We give these guys incredible tax breaks and subsidies to do precisely this sort of thing (if you said to someone, "gee, I think I'll get into a very expensive business where my only source of raw materials will be gone in thirty years," would they think you ought to get a tax break for doing so, or would they recommend you to intervention therapy?).

And yet, we spend almost nothing on new renewable energy (for contrast, the annual budget of the only dedicated renewable energy national lab in the country is equal to about forty hours of war in Afghanistan).

But, we might eventually get a pipeline out all that money spent on Afghanistan, so, it's worth it, right?

Too bad the taxpayers can't figure out that all that money spent on the military and war is actually an indirect subsidy for the oil companies....