This discourse from a CNN interview of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D - California) by Wolf Blitzer on July 17th, concerning offshore oil drilling legislation, appeared in the Notable & Quotable block on the WSJ Opinion page a couple of days ago:
Blitzer: John Boehner, who's the Republican leader in the House, he says you have to let this come up for a vote. He says that you're walking your blue dogs, who are moderate and conservative Democrats, and other vulnerable Democrats off a cliff by not allowing this to come up for a vote, the offshore oil drilling legislation.
Pelosi: Is that right? Well, you know, just because John Boehner, who is my friend and whom I respect, says it, doesn't make it so...
Blitzer: Are you afraid if this comes up for a vote in the House you will lose, given support for offshore oil drilling among these so-called blue dogs, or moderate Democrats, who will join with the Republicans?
Pelosi: Afraid is not a word that is in my vocabulary...
Blitzer: So let me get - will you allow this issue, offshore drilling, to come up for a vote on the floor of the House?
Pelosi: We're going to exhaust our other remedies in terms of increasing supply in America by...
Blitzer: So the answer is no?
Pelosi: I have no plans to do so.
Here we see that there is a single reason for no vote on offshore drilling to reduce our dependency on foreign oil and to force oil prices down. That reason is Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D - California). Sen. Harry Reid (D - Nevada) who is the Senate Leader need not risk his skin so long as she is willing to carry the water for the Sierra Club and other environmental groups paying the bills for many liberals in Congress. She is simply not going to permit the vote to occur. That's democracy from a liberal perspective, I guess. Play by my rules or I'll take my ball and go home.
We really need to remember these kinds of attitudes and the obstructionist moves when we go to vote in both September and November, but especially in November.
We really need to get in front of the Democrats in both the House and Senate and let them know in no uncertain terms that we want an up or down vote on offshore drilling. And we don't want some political gamesmanship that makes it seem as though there is such a vote; this must be a single item bill before both chambers that has no waffle language and no add-ons that can be blamed for a "no" vote by one of our elected Representatives or Senators.
They're either with us or they're against us! It really is that simple. This isn't a Democrat or a Republican issue; this is impacting everyone of us no matter our political persuasion. It is costing thousands of jobs. It is draining millions of bank accounts. It threatens our economy far more seriously than did the trumped up mortgage 'crisis'. That it would be blocked by the Democrats places the blame squarely on their shoulders, however!
