Whiplash III

Senator Barack Obama is not the only one who is changing their positions at the drop of a hat. Rep. Michelle Bachmann has a post up at Townhall that is sure to send the left's environmental buddies over the edge.

Yesterday, CongressNow reported that House Democrats will soon schedule a bill that calls for expanded oil and gas production in Alaska. Strange, because for months we've heard that increasing supply won't drive gas costs down and that actually procuring our own oil resources would be damaging the environment. What gives?

"Turning the tables on daily calls by the Bush administration and Congressional Republicans to expand domestic oil and gas production, House Democrats today said they will soon schedule a vote on an energy bill that aims to expedite drilling on millions of acres of public land in Alaska. 'Democrats support increasing the domestic production of petroleum and other energy resources,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said this morning in announcing the bill, which Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said may be brought up under suspension of the rules as early as next week. An aide later said the debate could slip to a later date but would be 'soon.'"

It looks like the pressure for the Democrat Leadership to actually do something has become too much to handle. While I'm hopeful that the Democrats will push legislation like this forward, I'm not holding my breath and I'll be most interested in seeing their text. Stay tuned...

Congresswoman Bachmann is correct - this is a complete 180 from previous Democratic leadership actions in the past. As I noted in previous posts, the rallying cry of Democrats up and down the ticket has been "No we can't!" As recently as yesterday morning, House Speaker Pelosi was calling domestic drilling "a hoax" (HT LFR)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday shut the door on expanding oil and gas drilling beyond areas that have already been approved for energy exploration, drawing a clear distinction from her counterparts in charge of the Senate.

“This call for drilling in areas that are protected is a hoax, it’s an absolute hoax on the part of the Republicans and this administration” Pelosi said at her weekly press conference. “It’s a decoy to punt your attention away from the fact that their policies have produced $4-a-gallon gasoline.”

Then later yesterday, Pelosi's right hand man Rep. Steny Hoyer said

Following weeks of bashing by Republicans who criticize Democrats for opposing an expansion of offshore oil drilling and opening part of an Alaskan wildlife reserve to production, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer tried to put Democrats squarely on the side of more domestic oil production.

Speaking to reporters, Hoyer said, "Let's be clear: Democrats support increasing the domestic production of petroleum and other energy resources."

That rhetoric does not match the voting record, where the Majority Leader has voted consistently against more drilling and refinery expansion! All of which leads on to wonder - what has happened in the last 24 hours to change the Democrats mind on expanding drilling? I'm sure it has nothing at all to do with a 9% approval rating with the election less than 5 months away...could it? Because I know that there are not any petitions out there demanding that Congress open up areas for domestic drilling and I know that there are no polls out there that show the American people OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORT increased drilling....I mean the Democratic leadership couldn't be that calculating and conniving...can they?????