There was a time when Democrats thought high gas prices were bad [Reader Post]

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Gulf Oil Crisis Pictures, Images and Photos

No, not this year. A democrat is President and he said he wanted high gas prices back in 2008.

Well, he got them for us.

Gas Prices Near $4 A Gallon At Some Chicago Stations

Some people were complaining of high gas prices back when a Republican was President. Like Nancy Pelosi

With skyrocketing gas prices, it is clear that the American people can no longer afford the Republican Rubber Stamp Congress and its failure to stand up to Republican big oil and gas company cronies. Americans this week are paying $2.91 a gallon on average for regular gasoline – 33 cents higher than last month, and double the price than when President Bush first came to office.

“With record gas prices, record CEO pay packages, and record oil company profits, Speaker Hastert and the Majority Congress continue to give the American people empty rhetoric rather than join Democrats who are working to lower gas prices now.

and…

“Democrats have a common-sense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices by cracking down on price gouging, rolling back the billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, tax breaks and royalty relief given to big oil and gas companies, and increasing production of alternative fuels.”

Anyone see that plan?

Pelosi wanted an investigation into high gas prices.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several House Democrats sent a letter to the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, William E. Kovacic asking him to investigate the current record high gas prices.

And she knew who to blame for those high prices:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday blamed the “two oil men in the White House,” President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, and their Republican allies in Congress for gas prices exceeding $4 a gallon.

Pelosi, a California Democrat, said multiple initiatives intended to lower high energy costs have passed the Democratically controlled House only to “run into a brick wall” in the Senate because they did not receive the 60 votes needed to overcome Republican filibusters.

“The price of oil is… is attributed to two oil men in the White House and their protectors in the United States Senate,” Pelosi said in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

High gas prices got a lot of attention when George Bush was President.

Poor Diddy had to travel (uck!) commercial!

Sean “Diddy” Combs complained about the “… too high” price of gas and pleaded for free oil from his “Saudi Arabia brothers and sisters” in a YouTube video posted Wednesday. The hip-hop mogul said he is now flying on commercial airlines instead of in private jets, which Combs said had previously cost him $200,000 and up for a roundtrip between New York and Los Angeles.

“I’m actually flying commercial,” Diddy said before walking onto an airplane, sitting in a first-class seat and flashing his boarding pass to the camera. “That’s how high gas prices are. I’m at the gate right now. This is really happening, proof gas prices are too high. Tell whoever the next president is we need to bring gas prices down.”

Chris Van Hollen from Maryland hired a Bush impersonator in a radio campaign because high prices were Bush’s fault:

Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the DCCC, told CNN that Democrats chose to use a Bush impersonator because the president’s “big oil energy policies delivered high gas prices to the American people, so who better to deliver our message than someone who sounds like him? Every time Americans fill up their tanks or buy groceries high gas prices grab their attention, so it’s important to give credit where credit is due.”

Steny Hoyer blathered about high prices too.

“This morning’s headline in the New York Times states the harsh reality: ‘Gas Prices Soar, Posing a Threat to Family Budget.’
“The fact is, the nationwide average for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.14 this week – an increase of 19 cents in just the last two weeks – and some energy experts fear gas prices could hit $4 a gallon this spring.
“Diesel prices are hitting new records daily, and oil hit a record high of $100.88 a barrel on Tuesday.

The three stooges added their three cents:

Hillary Clinton:

“Today’s record-high gas prices are the price that the American people are paying for the Bush Administration’s failed energy policies.”

Harry Reid:

“The news that our nation’s gas prices have hit an all-time high – especially as we approach the beginning of the summer travel season – underscores the urgent need for a better national energy policy that quickly brings clean and affordable renewable fuels and more energy-efficient vehicles to market. We have to make it a national priority to reduce our reliance on oil, especially foreign oil.”

Rahm Emanuel:

“For six years, Republicans did nothing to make our nation energy independent while handing out taxpayer funded giveaways to big oil. Now the American people are paying the price. This week, Democrats will consider legislation to help prevent gas price gouging and in the coming weeks, we will continue to develop the strategies we need to secure our energy future and protect our environment.”

Democrats had a chance to make us less dependent on foreign oil and instead they killed it.

[T]he Senate rejected, 56-42, a broader Republican energy plan that called for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and some offshore waters that are now off limits to oil development.

Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said more domestic oil production is needed to keep prices in check and to reduce U.S. dependence on oil imports. But opponents said the Alaska wildlife refuge and coastal waters that have been off limits to drilling for 25 years ought to remain out of bounds to oil companies.

“We can’t drill our way to lower prices,” said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.

Odd. Foreign oil producers can, simply by drilling more and increasing supply. Democrats are immune to the laws of supply and demand.

Democrats controlled the Congress from 2007-2011. They had a super-majority from 2009-2011. What did they accomplish? How much less dependent are we now on foreign oil? The truth is that we are more dependent on foreign oil than ever. Democrats failed utterly at energy, but they still are full of gas.

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Hilarious! Obama said he wanted high gas prices back? LOL

Hghi gas prices right now are the fault of the Libya problem, not the president.

Do you work for Fox Snooze? You should

I don’t know what rock you’ve been under lately, Shiva, but gas prices were going up for quite some time before Mad Mo’s troubles began.

According to this article, spiking gasoline prices are not a matter of supply and demand. The current run-up is being driven by speculators.

There is no such shortage of oil to warrant the increase in gas prices that are now skyrocketing across the country. The United States reserves are at a 20-year high, according to the website Global Research and the speculative market is driving the bus on this latest price increase that is expected to drive gas prices over the $4 a gallon mark before summer.

RT @FloppingAces: There was a time when Democrats thought high gas prices were bad http://bit.ly/eizCfi #tcot #teaparty #rightnetwork

@ DrJohn, The actual price before Taxes would be refreshing. As an Old Friend back Home says…

Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives should be a Convenience Store, BATFE, not a Gummint Agency.
Now if the Ethanol Subsidies would go away, Food prices would go down some. Corn is a Food item in many Countries, not Fuel. No Investor in his right mind would invest in Ethanol if the Government did not “Incentivise” it.

Look for $5.00 a gallon soon. Thing is we have all the oil we’ll ever need under US soil but the Commies in DC under the guise of environmentalism won’t allow any more drilling. Much of the govt land has oil and/or gas beneith it. Don’t need the Gulf if those finds could be tapped.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour accused the Obama administration of favoring a run-up in gas prices to prod consumers to buy more fuel-efficient cars.
“This administration’s policies have been designed to drive up the cost of energy in the name of reducing pollution, in the name of making very expensive alternative fuels more economically competitive,” Barbour said.

Barbour cited 2008 comments from Steven Chu, now President Barack Obama’s energy secretary, that a gradual increase in gasoline taxes could coax consumers into dumping their gas-guzzlers and finding homes closer to where they work.
“Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe,” Chu said in September 2008.

More here.

So, where’s the outrage in the media?
$4/gallon last week already in CA.
$4/gallon in Chicago as of today.

Remember that android in the original movie, Alien?
He was busy ”collating” the data as the ship’s crew was being killed off one-by-one on the Nostromo.

What is Obama doing as prices for gasoline and all things delivered go up and up and up?
As we become ever more dependent on the Saudis?

According to his own White House spokesman, he is concerned and monitoring the situation.

Oh, I feel better already, you?

@DrJohn, #6:

It could also be argued that high prices provide an incentive for increased exploration and production, and make the development of alternative sources like oil shale more attractive. Of course, it also makes it more attractive to exploit and deplete something like the ANWR reserves for 5 or 10 years of quick profits.

BTW, a new permit for deepwater drilling in the Gulf was recently issued.

@Greg:

Nope. Wrong.
This isn’t a permit for a new project.

The permit issued to Noble was for a bypass of an obstruction in a well they’d already drilled before the Deepwater Horizon accident. It only took 314 days to get that well back online with this administration.

No new project has been issued a permit by the Obama administration’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) yet.

Maybe the oil industry will be more interested in Mr. Bromwich’s signals when his department complies with Judge Martin Feldman’s order of a couple weeks ago directing him to issue or deny five permit applications by Ensco Offshore in the deepwater Gulf that have been sitting idle for more than four months.

When BOEMRE finally acts on those permits, then the industry will believe things are getting back to normal.

RT @FloppingAces: There was a time when Democrats thought high gas prices were bad http://bit.ly/eizCfi #tcot #teaparty #rightnetwork

@Shiva:

You are a moron and I bet you voted for the jug eared douchebag.

The progs, the libs, the Dems. the environnut, all for the little people, all for the common man, all for saving the planet for the children. Except they are the antithesis of all of that.

My wife and I both have cars that lean hard towards the performance side so we end up having to put the higher octane stuff in our cars…Tonight was 3.60 a gallon…I’m thinking once summer rolls around in wonderful Wisconsin I’ll be riding the Harley to work a lot more….

It is not surprising the silence from the LSM on the issue….They were ready to hang W on the White House lawn yet the big O appears to be incapable of doing any wrong in their eyes…We have the energy in this country but we just refuse to go after it. Political correctness will be the death of us all….

Does it come as a shock to anyone that the price has gone up given the instability in an oil rich area of the world…

@Greg: Holy crap, Greg! One whole freaking permit? Thing is, if you have a President who won’t let you search, you’re screwed. And I think that’s the point.

Let me know when they get close to drilling, ok?

@Nan G, #12:

It’s the first permit issued for deepwater drilling in the Gulf since the moratorium following last year’s oil spill disaster. I suppose we can play word games and say that it isn’t really “new” because the project began before BP trashed most of the Gulf and Gulf coast. Nevertheless, there was no deepwater drilling going on in the Gulf and now there will be. More permits are expected to be issued quickly as the ability to comply with new safety standards is demonstrated.

I still hold that it would have been totally irresponsible to continue all deepwater drilling activies in the Gulf with the BP spill still uncontrolled, and with no clear idea of what went wrong or how likely it might be to happen somewhere else.

Yea Greg, you realy showed them. They’re to stupid to understand that 5 bucks for a gallon of gas is for thier own good. I mean bring on the ethinol! Who cares that it will cost $ 100 for a corn tortillia in Salvador when we are using all the corn for fuel. Yea, keep up the GOOD fight there Greg I think you got’em right where you want them.

There was a time when Democrats thought high gas prices were bad [Reader Post] (via my6sense) http://tinyurl.com/5vc7o5w

Greg does not realize that Obama is under the gun when it comes to oil drilling permits.
Obama only has until March 16th to permit some NEW drilling in the Gulf.

Back in mid Feb., Judge Martin Feldman had given the Obama administration 30 days to decide whether or not to grant five deepwater drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico, calling delays in issuing permits since last year’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill as “increasingly inexcusable.”

Feldman earlier that month held the Interior Department in contempt, citing the agency for “dismissive conduct” by blocking offshore oil drilling during the Gulf spill.

There are only eight pending shallow-water drilling permits and six pending applications for new deepwater wells.

Three of those are for water injection wells that were not suspended under last year’s five-month federal deepwater drilling ban.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/static/PPM195_110217_feldman_ruling.html

Could someone please tell me why Obama is going to be so hard to beat in 2012… Even Obamas cult members must cringe at the $5 per gallon price. 2012 will only be as hard as the tea party candidate(Allen West) makes it.

If there was not a supply problem, why did the Saudis volunteer to increase production to keep the gas prices down? There has been extensive oil exploration. Soros and others have their money in the Brazilian oil fields. Any one who saw the ANWAR site on Sara Palin’s Alaska can never believe it is a real wild refuge. the few thousand acres that will be used for the drilling is less than 1% of the area. The ALCAN pipe line is just around the bend and can transport the oil cheaply. Recently, the pipeline that would bring oil from the Canadian oil sands was disapproved. Colorado has shut down drilling on most public lands by Salazar. Everyone but the US is busy drilling and pulling all the oil from the Gulf. China and Russia are prominant there.

Part of Al Gore’s stated strategy for forcing alternative energy is $5/ gallon gas.

@Nan G, #21: 

There are only eight pending shallow-water drilling permits and six pending applications for new deepwater wells.

BOEMRE’s Status of Well Permits & Plans Subject to Enhanced Safety and Environmental Requirements tables suggest otherwise:  http://www.gomr.boemre.gov/homepg/offshore/safety/well_permits.html

(It’ll be interesting to see how this post is formatted.  A different version of the FA Comment box just popped up.)

Could the lifting of the ban been for political reasons? Sure looks like it when you see the ban lifted early (right before the November elections), and then no permits issued since.

Feb 3rd, 2011
The Obama administration — not the oil industry — is the culprit for the slowdown of drilling activity in the Gulf. The Gulf of Mexico accounts for more than 25 percent of domestic oil production.

“These new findings prove that BOEMRE cannot claim it isn’t receiving job-creating plans from oil exploration and production companies,” said Gregory Rusovich, chairman of the Business Council of Greater New Orleans and the River Region. “The plans are there. Until BOEMRE reviews the 103 plans awaiting approval, our economy’s stability remains in jeopardy.”
http://gnoinc.org/press-releases/gpi-gulf-permit-index-as-of-february-1

Even shallow-water permits have taken a hit in the Gulf, despite not being subject to the administration’s moratorium last year. Only two new shallow-water permits were approved by BOEMRE in January. Permit issuance is down 30 percent from the historical average.

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Each day the Federal Government loses $3.7 million in lost revenues due to this.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2011/01/rob-bluey-shore-drilling-bans-delays-cost-government-revenue

@Greg:

Sometimes, it’s just too easy.

Greg says:

The current run-up is being driven by speculators.

Do you know what they speculate on? It’s the amount of oil in the supply chain, or rather, the amount they believe will be in the supply chain, and thus, when presented opportunity, they grab up whatever contracts for supply are out there when they believe supplies will be low. This results in a run on oil, which drives up prices. This wouldn’t happen to the extent it is, if the US, and it’s own oil companies, were drilling and bringing oil into the supply side from domestic sources.

Greg says:

It could also be argued that high prices provide an incentive for increased exploration and production, and make the development of alternative sources like oil shale more attractive.

That doesn’t mean squat when the government impedes exploration, production and development of alternative sources.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2011/02/15/interior-department-to-revisit-bush-era-oil-shale-plans/

Greg says:

Of course, it also makes it more attractive to exploit and deplete something like the ANWR reserves for 5 or 10 years of quick profits.

Hmmm. Either your math, or your source, is wrong on this:

USGS optimistically estimates 10.3 billion barrels (10,300 million barrels) of recoverable oil in ANWR, with projected ANWR peak production rates of approximately 1.3 million barrels per day (1.3 mmbpd). Assuming peak production from ANWR, this 10,300 mmb supply would last us about 22 years (10,300 mmb ANWR oil / 1.3 mmbpd = about 7,923 days = 22 years).

http://energyanalysis.org/tag/us-oil-demand/

BOSTON — The United States consumes more oil than any other country in the world: 18.7 million barrels of oil per day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) short-term energy outlook.
To satisfy that demand, the United States imports 9 to 12 million barrels of oil per day.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/100726/top-7-us-oil-importers

What this means is, with ANWR giving us 1.3 mmbbl/day, that the US would import 11-14% less oil, and with a total of 3 mmbbl/day from Canada and Mexico, that percent is even higher concerning ME countries and Venezuela.

So, your 5-10 year profit number is not only wrong, but misleading concerning the effect ANWR would have on our dependence on hostile foreign countries exporting oil to the US.

Nan G took care of the rest concerning the “new”, or rather, not new, deepwater drilling permit.

You can berate Obama as being an incompetent buffoon, but remember, he had the foresight to stop domestic drilling before the turmoil in the ME started boiling over; otherwise, oil producing countries that hate America would need to contend with America’s domestic production and be even more mad and frustrated. Where would we be without the clueless numb nut in the White House?

Was away all day, running errands and such, sat down to peruse FA and was going to school Greggie on his Obama obsession and his false statement regarding oil production, drilling, exploration, permits etc…; but I see that has already been done – and quite nicely, too.

BTW, I tried to watch the Obama youtube video, but it has been pulled. Wow, imagine that. Now we can add youtube to the list of the media that is in the tank for Obama.

@anticsrocks:

I believe Nan G right now coulda given Tyson in his prime a run for his money. She continues to knock Greg to the canvas, posting after posting, issue after issue. I’m just here for a little sparring, but she looks to be training for the big fight. 🙂

@anticsrocks:

Barack Obama: I think that… we have been slow to move in a better direction when it comes to energy usage. And the president, frankly, hasn’t had an energy policy.* And as a consequence we’ve been consuming energy as if it’s infinite. We now know that our demand is badly outstripping supply with China and India growing as rapidly as they are.

CNBC’s John Harwood: So could the (high) oil prices help us?

Barack Obama: I think that I would have preferred a gradual adjustment. The fact that this is such a shock to American pocketbooks is not a good thing. But if we take some steps right now to help people make the adjustment, first of all by putting more money in their pockets, but also by encouraging the market to adapt to these new circumstances more rapidly, particularly U.S. automakers…

http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/9477/obama-gas-prices-i-would-have-preferred-gradual-adjustment

@drjohn: Ah yes, I remember that interview now. Thanks Doc!

@DrJohn:

-Intelligence is a measure of how much one can learn, or be able to apply their knowledge.

-Knowledge is that amount of information that one has attained.

-Wisdom is knowing when to apply that knowledge, and knowing when you don’t have the intelligence to do so effectively.

Obama, as well as his followers and admirers, believe he is intelligent. The problem is that even if he is intelligent, he has a limited knowledge and virtually no wisdom.

Someone who acts like Obama does is dangerous, not only to themselves, but to others as well. Place that someone in a position of leadership and trust, like the Presidency, and you have the makings of a disaster on a magnificent scale. Unfortunately, the citizens of the US will be the ones who reap what he sows.

Evidence of the stupidity of Obama’s policy of trying to make energy expensive does not all originate here in the USA.

Look at the UK.

The UK managed to devastate its own economy by demanding “renewable energy” replace what works and is affordable.
For every one of David Cameron’s ‘green jobs’ created in the renewable energy sector (mainly solar and wind), another 3.7 jobs are being lost in the real economy, says the independent study by Verso Economics,” Delingpole writes in the UK Telegraph.

Remember Spain?
It was only 1 green job costing 2 real economy jobs there!