The president can veto the renewal of the OCS drilling ban. He should do this. Shut down the government over this. The unDemocrats appeared squeemish over this issue but I did not realize this was part of the dynamic.
President Bush should veto for the following reasons:
- vast majority of voters want it
- will not take away campaign issue for McCain – People will see we need DIVIDED government ! ( presidency governed by party opposite congress
- Best of all ? — we get to drill for oil !! The democrats WILL lose this show down.
- Futures market will show immediate improvement ( decrease ) in oil futures and speculation
- Barrack Obama ( B.O. ) has already signaled comprimise on this issue. If enacted his global warming lunatic adherents will consider him a traitor and be less likely to turn out to vote. These people are truly nuts with the fervor of religious zealots. Its easy to make the depressed as they "the depressed"
Below is exerpted from here.
On September 30 — two months from [yesterday] — the ban on fossil-fuel drilling off America’s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and in the oil-shale fields of the West will expire. Democrats, who control both houses of Congress, must pass an appropriations bill extending the bans," David Freddoso writes at National Review Online (www.nationalreview.com).
"The onus, in other words, is on them. Democrats will likely propose a continuing resolution to extend funding for the government through the end of the calendar year without making major changes. This bill will certainly include a continuation of the drilling ban • Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), a zealous opponent of offshore drilling since the 1980s, has resisted all attempts to change it," Mr. Freddoso said.
"Democrats are sufficiently committed to maintaining the ban that they could even be willing to force a government shutdown in September, or dare the Republicans to force one. But if Republicans are equally committed to increasing the domestic-energy supply, and President Bush is willing to use his veto pen, they have a golden opportunity.
"This is the message of Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.), who is urging the president and his congressional colleagues to take a risk and fight for drilling here at home. ‘If President Bush wants a domestic legacy, it has to be on this issue,’ DeMint told National Review Online Tuesday. ‘This is the final few seconds of the game as far as his administration goes, and we’re down seven points. We can’t just keep running up the middle. It’s time to throw the Hail Mary.’"