On Wednesday night, there were basically two messages coming from Republicans in St. Paul: 1. CEOs and mayors make great presidents; 2. Increasing domestic oil drilling will immediately lower gas prices and somehow be the magical cure to both our national security interests and our economic stagnation.
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“So, do you want to put your country first?,” asked former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. “Then let’s reduce our dependency on foreign sources of oil and promote oil and gas production at home. In other words: Drill, baby, drill! And drill now!,” he said. Steele is one of the Republican Party’s few prominent African-American politicians in a year where a very low 1.5% of Republican Party delegates are African American.
Mitt Romney chimed in on the the major themes of the night, as well. In a little call-and-response game he asked delegates, “Is a Congress liberal or conservative that stops nuclear power plants and off-shore drilling, making us more and more dependent on Middle East tyrants? — It’s liberal!” He then went on to add a final curiously formulated jab at former Vice-President Al Gore “one more recommendation for energy conservation — let’s keep Al Gore’s private jet on the ground!”
Former New York City major Rudy Guliani picked up on Steele’s hook from earlier in the night. Talking about John McCain, the former Republican candidate for president said, “He will lead us toward an America that will be independent of foreign oil by an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach, including nuclear power and off-shore drilling,” said Giuliani.
Egged-on by delegates on the floor of the Xcel Center Giuliani said, “Drill, baby, drill,” a little tentatively at first, which was then followed by a more robust “Drill, baby, drill.”
Photo: VictoryNH via flickr under a Creative Commons License
About Timothy B. Hurst
Of course they said "drill, baby, drill." Sarah Palin is George Bush in a skirt. She cares nothing for the environment, the economy, low and middle income families, and honey, she plans to put womens' rights back 87 years. We'll keep the right to vote but that's all we'll keep. Don't think for a minute she agrees with equal pay for equal work or raising the minimum wage to a livable wage, because if you do, it's time to wake up and smell the coffee! She's a liar and like most republicans will do ANYTHING to get her way. She shatter a glass ceiling she was appointed to. One has to actually work to break a glass ceiling and she insulted Hillary and everyone who supported her with her caviler remarks. I thought it was historic to have a woman on the republican ticket, it is, historically awful for woman everywhere.
Sarah Palin is the worst thing for this country since George W. Bush, and here are my reasons for that opinion:
She is in favor of drilling in ANWAR as well as the rest of Alaska. In fact, she is in favor of drilling EVERYWHERE.
She has no foreign policy experience at all.
Her husband has been a registered member of the radical Alaska Independence Party, which advocates secession from the United States. That right there tells me she should not be allowed anywhere near Washington, D.C.!
Oh, yes, and she also doesn't think global warming is harmful to humans. Duh…
The Republicans were actually shouting, "Drill, baby, drill!" at the RNC in front of millions of people both in the United States and around the world. If we had any shreds of respect within the international community, it is gone now.
Sincerely,
Rosana Ladik
The phrase 'Drill, baby drill' shows the ignorance and utter stupidity of the Republican party!!!
they just want the extra cash to go to the rich here. The only thing that will save us is more trees, less co2 emissions, and looks, statements, votes, computers, nice clothes, money won't help. Big cars, jets put on ebay, drilling for oil, won't help. Maybe we need some of those damn trees in our way to be harvested, and new houses for the rich could be built there. Who needs to keep breathing? The rich probably think their money will bail them out.
Chanting "Drill, baby, drill!" is not putting one's "country first," but one's stock portfolio first. It is a slap in the face to the Americans who work hard to buy Exxon-Mobil by the gallon, much less by the share. We need a better energy solution than more of the same.
Cheers,
Ryan
John McSame and Republicans are idiots!
Actually, it’s the party of “no”. Without Republicans working for compromise instead of playing slimy obstructions games on behalf of their corporate masters we would have an energy bill, a decent health bill, an immigration bill and a restored economy by now.
You elitists right wingers still think you know better than everybody else even after all the years of failure you elected into office. I appreciate different opinions as much as the next guy, but I sure wish you would let the grownups take charge just for once.