D&C Double Talk on Oil

This morning's editorial in the Democrat & Chronicle really rubbed me the wrong way. It was typical of the D&C's editorial board (and was clearly a Tom Tobin piece) in that it included both a cheap shot at George Bush and hypocrisy on oil prices.

The editorial ostensibly commenting on the President's decision to lift the executive ban on off-shore oil drilling, quickly launched into the obligatory criticism of George Bush. In this case, his order is "too little, too late". For the D&C, there is nothing George Bush can do that gets praise. If there is a story or editorial comment which mentions the President, it contains some criticism. If Bush discovered a cure for cancer, the D&C would find a way to diminish the discovery. I don't know what Tom Tobin will write about once Bush is out.

Equally annoying was the part of the editorial which contains the standard liberal hypocrisy on gasoline prices and energy policy. Tobin's editorial contains these paragraphs:

"And the history, to be complete, would have to detail how the American consumer time and again took the gas-guzzling path even in the face of global warming and an unhealthy dependency on imports.

There are consequences to inaction of this kind, and America is seeing them now. Presidents don't pump their own gas every morning or shop for products whose prices have spiked in part because of fuel costs. Ordinary Americans do. As always, the pain of poor policy is visited on those who had the least to do with devising it."

This is vintage Tobin and vintage "progressive". Tobin claims to decry high gas prices and the "pain" they cause consumers. Yet, he also criticises those consumers for using too much gasoline. Moreover, he, like most liberals in thrall to the environment lobby, actually supported high gasoline prices as a way of forcing consumers to change their ways.

This is the "big lie" for liberals. For years they supported higher gasoline taxes to raise the price of gasoline to encourage development of alternatives. They apparently did not care about "the pain" those higher prices would cause consumers. Now that consumers (read "voters") are angry about the price of gas, liberals cry crocodile tears about those prices and try to blame others.

Finally, regarding the Democrats argument that drilling now won't help with oil prices now, recent events may already be proving that wrong. The mere discussion about drilling has had an effect on the oil futures market, part of the cause for the downtrend in the price of crude oil.

The editorial is correct about the need for a comprehensive energy policy. But that policy needs to include drilling for and producing oil in the US.