We at Pundit Review have been warning so-called fiscally conservative Republicans to act like the majority party we elected them to be especially on immigration and spending. You would think that with lower Congressional approval numbers than our president at around 30% (is this even possible?) that the GOP may wake up sooner rather than later as November 2nd rapidly approaches with their razor thin majorities hanging by a thread in perilous ballance.
If Karl Rove is reading this, he may want to read this op-ed in the Wall St. Journal today (if you don’t have a subscription, it’s time to purchase one for $100 per year there is no better print media source of info around) so he can institute immediate changes with regards to Republican strategy for victory in the 06′ elections which should primarily recommend that Republicans act mmore like Reagan and less like Licoln Chaffee.
The probelem in a nutshell, is that our congressional leaders such as Denny Hastert and Bill Frist have no guts. They are part of the K-Street Republican incumbancy. If they think that Americans will have a higher opinion of them if they start acting more like liberal Democrats, the result will be Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid in November. No doubt in my mind. Conservatives would rather have the real deal in charge even if they are a bunch of tax and spend socialists rather than a bunch of spineless jellyfish afraid of their own shadows.
Oil prices hit $75 a barrel last week, while gas has reached a national average of about $2.85 a gallon. The Republican response has been to put on Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi fright wigs and shout about corporate greed and market manipulation. House Speaker Denny Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist fired off a letter to President Bush yesterday demanding the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department investigate “price fixing” and “gouging.” Senator Arlen Specter wants to go further and impose stricter “antitrust” laws for oil companies, as well as a “windfall profits” tax. Mr. Hastert also delighted the class warriors in the press corps by lambasting recently retired Exxon CEO Lee Raymond’s pay “unconscionable.”
Instead of trying to get to the left of the class warrior socialists like Pelosi and Shumer, Republicans should quit blaming private business for the latest run up in spot oil and gas prices and take a closer look at their own failed protectionist energy bill they passed last summer.
That self-serving legislation handed Congress’s friends in the ethanol lobby a mandate that forces drivers to use 7.5 billion gallons annually of that oxygenate by 2012.
At the same time, Congress refused to provide liability protection to the makers of MTBE, a rival oxygenate getting hit with lawsuits. So MTBE makers are leaving the market in a rush, while overstretched ethanol producers (despite their promises) are in no way equipped to compensate for the loss of MTBE in the fuel supply. Ethanol is also difficult to ship and store outside of the Midwest, which is causing supply headaches and spot gas shortages along the East Coast and Texas.
If Republicans want to start restoring public confidence and see their numbers go up this is what they need to do according to the WSJ editors:
1. End the 54 cent a gallon tariff on imported ethanol.
2. Reduce the number of “boutique fuels” from 17 to 6. The EPA could ease rules and regulations to facilitate this process.
3. Open more domestic oil and gas exploration(ANWR and the Outer Continetal Shelf) to reduce dependence
on foreign oil
I agree!
Fellas, trust the free market. It always works when you get out of the way.