I have nothing positive to say about Bush's energy policy, but offshore drilling could help our energy needs in a decade or so. I think it could be done in an environmentally friendly way. So let's do it, along with developing renewable sources.

My friends, how dare the liberal press print letters making such assertions against Bush. Lincoln had poor ratings. Too many people look only at Bush’s failures. They can’t imagine him as a great leader. You must fail to succeed, my friends. With all of Bush’s failures, he as unlimited opportunities, to succeed at something.

Don’t let liberals use the fact that dollars are worth half to explain away why gas prices have doubled. Liberals don’t comprehend fuzzy math like our decider does. Bank failures and a plunging economy: democrats have held a marginal lead that republican have exploited hoping to cast blame on democrats. My friends, most of you out there are too stupid to realize it takes sixty votes to stop a republican filibuster and sixty-six votes to over ride a veto. If it weren’t for a democratic lead we conservatives wouldn’t have anyone but ourselves to hold accountable.

If we open ANWAR and all our off shore to unlimited drilling, is there any guarantee that the results of this will stay in the United States?

Currently most of the Alaska Oil goes to Asia. Am I wrong?

If I understand the argunment correctly the resulting oil is an international commonity sold on the open market to the highest bidder by the international oil companies.

If Asia decides to bid more for this Alaskan oil or off shore oil then it goes to them.

Who is the winner? It certainly is not the American Tax payer who thru their elected officials give numerous tax breaks to the oil companies.

Stop blaming Bush for the policies of envirmentelist and librils who have made us dependent on foreign oil, because they have closed us off from our own supplies. And the retoric that it won't help now but in the future. It is all political manuvering. We need to develope our own resorces, even if we won't see the effect of it tell 10 years down the road. Everyone just see's now, not the future. Contrary to the beliefs of enviromentlist we can drill responcibly, and put requierments on oil companies to clean up after themselfs. But I also believe we also need to look at alternitives and stop letting speacial intrest groups make our government policies.

Hey Cory, your letter is laughable and only goes to show that people will hate no matter what this good man does.

President Bush was completely right. Too bad we didn't start drilling in '95 when buddy Bill vetoed it or just a couple of years ago when Bush pushed for it, congress denied it and Bush predicted exactly what is happening today!

Yep, your letter was funny... in a sick sort of way!

But the point is that this is pandering. Bush is reactionary rather than thoughtful. And the letter writer is correct: Bush can't simply say, "Okay, Congress, now it's up to you!" That is the way of a man who lacks any leadership capabilities. It is a man washing his hands of a situation that will not go away. It is the way of a man that lacks foresight.

Bush has had how many years to do something about this? When oil prices were low he stood up in front of the nation and said we were addicted to oil, and it needed to end. Now prices are high and he has flip-flopped, and brought McCain along with him. He's like that guy in high school who wished he was popular, and tried so hard to please everyone. And yet, he's so unpopular. Why doesn't it work? Because the American people aren't stupid, and we can see right through his shortsightedness.

Bush's "solution" is no solution at all. See it for what it is. It's a gift to his oil buddies.

His tactics are working to lower the price of gas. Isn't that his job? People that are ill informed post so many comments with so little facts.

I am not a fan of Pres. Bush because he has increased the scope and size of gov. Our national debt is a primary cause of the dolars weakness. We need to pay down our debt and exercise fiscal responsibility.

If you think that every move by every politician is a political deception, what does that say about you?

We were having this same discussion 10 years ago, and back then the Dems and Enviros were saying that it would take at least 7 to 10 years to see any benefit, so why do it. Well, here we are 10 years later and we are hearing the same thing. Dems (and yes, many Republicans, actually most) only want to do what is politically expedient to gain short term points - The Institution of Congress is set up to force members to only look for short term solutions. Let's drill today to ensure an adequate supply for tomorrow. Stop putting it off!

The liberal congress has not allowed any real new energy development in the fossil fuels and nuclear energy arenas yet they cry when prices rise due to the law of supply and demand taking effect when usage soars. Isn't that just what the liberals want? Higher prices to stifle demand. Why are the liberals complaining when their policies are doing just what they were designed to do? Talk about hypocrisy....

Wow BDS is real! No matter what the guy does it is sinister. Conversely no matter what Barack Obama does he is the messiah, the most brilliant man who has ever lived. No wonder you cannot understand the complexities of economics. I would debate the issue of energy production but I must respectfully defer to the following rule.
Never teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and it annoys the pig.

I would like to see the evidence that "most" of the oil from Alaska is currently being sold to Asian countries on the "open" market. I have heard different then what is alleged in those comments listed above.

As for the accusation that Bush is responding to this situation with pandering, and acting like he is trying to win a high school popularity contest- try again. In his 7+ years he has done very little to pander to you and the "mall minded minions" of this country who do little more then whine about about him or his beliefs. Unlike our previous president, Bush's decisions are not based each day on polls and seeking attention and popularity. I have never witnessed a bigger phoney in public life then Mr. Clinton.

If we continue to be subject to the policies of the left, we will not have oil at "true" market prices. Lefties will continue to push thier half baked environmental theories on us, and not allow us the freedom to access this country's oil. Right now it is the only answer to this situation. Viable alternative energy solution are unkown and are as distant as oil coming from Anwar.

If we were talking about food, would the cry from the liberals be, "Learn to stop eating" or would they finally admit that we need new sources of food?

America is being abused by liberals who mock everything that is good about America. Mr. Gore lives in a palace and has the gall to tell us peasants that we need to conserve as he races around the globe in his private jet and consumes enough electricity in his campus-sized house to light the lamps in most small towns.

Listening to a liberal whine about the damage that would be done by drilling is like listening to a fat man complain that if everyone ate like he did, he wouldn't get his "fair" share at the table.

Bush has already resigned. He was never in the job mentally, and now that Rove is gone he's lost what brain he had. His energy suggestions are naive to the point of absurdity. "Drill for oil" as if sucking the last drops of a vanishing commodity will make any difference to an oil economy that is about to collapse unless we develop some radical alternatives -- and soon!

How can you tell George Bush is lying? His lips are moving.

There are hundreds of UNDRILLED Oil Leases on land currently. Why aren't those being touted as the end-all-be-all instead of offshore or ANWR?

What liberal media are you talking about? Let's see...Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck... Hours and Hours and Hours per day drilling their "liberal" agenda into their listeners.... the list goes on and on.

The enviros and Dems spout the 10 years to see and results mantra, however the folks that actually do the drilling say oil could start flowing as soon as 1 year. Who are you going to believe?

This opinion was nothing more than another partisan political rhetoric filled rant.

If you seriously think this whole situation just started developing and came to a head in the past 7 years and you can blame it all on the Bush administration... You have major Bush derangement syndrome symptoms.

I'm not saying his administration handled it especially well, or that the plan to open more areas for drilling is a good decision, but this constant effort to make everything look as if it were just President Bush's bugs me.

At least he's trying to do SOMETHING. That's more than our last few Presidents did.

This situation has been a long time comming. Those who don't realise that need to do some serious research and not only reiterate the political rhetoric you hear from your buddies and political sources.

To Call Me a Liberal 8:17, you said "There are hundreds of UNDRILLED Oil Leases on land currently. Why aren't those being touted as the end-all-be-all instead of offshore or ANWR?" FYI those hundreds of UNDRILLED Oil Leases are vacant because they are DRY!!!! Got that? Can get oil out of a dry well.... I guess that is true to in talking with a Liberal.... Can't get oil out of a dry well!!!

Among the responsibilities Mr. Stahle suggests we have, understanding economics is apparently not present. All other things being equal, increasing the anticipated future supply of oil will bring down the present cost. This has nothing to do with supporting President Bush or being a "neocon." It's just economics and it works.

If, for environmental reasons, you oppose drilling and are willing to tolerate higher oil prices, that is a different conversation.

If they're dry, then why are the oil companies still paying to lease them? Do they enjoy throwing good money after bad?

Lifting the mindless, special interest-pandering executive ban on offshore drilling is one of the few smart things Pres. Bush has done in recent years. Congress should follow suit.

Offshore drilling in America hasn't created a significant oil spill in decades. Drilling in ANWR won't harm the wildlife, just as drilling in Prudhoe Bay has coincided with a tremendous increase in wildlife there. The facts support drilling.

The ban that Bush 43 lifted was put in place as an Executive Order by Daddy Bush 41. Guess he was one of them 'librel environmentalists too.

Yeah, lets make the oil companies drill on land that their seismic surveys say are unpromising. That will really help our oil supply.

Bush has tried for seven years to get congress to permit drilling in the Alaska National Mosquito Refuge, but the libs and eastern republicans have always defeated it. So who do we blame? And do you libs remember that Clinton vetoed it? Get off your Bush paranoia.

Neocons always get America into a jam.
Liberals always bail America out.
It's been this way forever.

Oil companies lease sites for drilling on speculation and they lease them for a number of years without knowing if or when oil will be found. If the well is dry they move on, still paying for the lease over the time they signed the contract. If the well is dry, too bad, they still have the lease that they are responsible for.

10 years ago nailed it on the head....we could be reaping the benefits of foresight but instead we are reaping the failures of the Democratically controlled Congress for the better part of the last 40 years.

But it's great to see the Bush Derangement Syndrome alive and well....

@ 10:09

Amazing that neocons "always get America into a jam" and that "it's been this way forever."

The concept of neoconservatism didn't exist until the late 1960's and had no substantial intellectual following until much later.

Adherents to this philosophy retroactively caused all American ills. This is miraculous. Anonymous 10:09 must be very religious.

I'd be fine with drilling if I thought the oil would be nationalized. "Our" oil comanies will never sell it to us for less than the Saudis will. That's the reason we buy from them in the first place.

Besides, I can't stand Bush and his stinking oil buddies and I don't want to make them richer after destroying America.

9 Trillion dollars in debt, thousands of human lives lost, torture and a "stay the course" philosophy makes this administration and those who blindly support it the most evil in America's history.

500,000 US dead (not even counting the rest of the world) during WWII, including the horrendous debt that accompanied the war attributed to FDR, approx 620,000 dead during the Civil War attributed to Lincoln and the monetary cost.... Not to mention 58,000 in Viet Nam attributed to JFK and LBJ, and then we also have WWI.....

Get off the Bush bashing and realize that the leadership in congress is just as at fault for many of our ills yet you must bash Bush to make yourself feel better.

Hye, 10:59. Bush's deficits and crimes don't even approach those of past presidents. He's bankrupted us for generations, tortured people in concentration camps, robbed us of our civil liberties, bombed cities full of innocent people, destroyed the value of the dollar so that prices can spiral literally out of control. Among presidents Bush is a true outlier. Let us bash Bush. At least it'll make us feel better till November.

Did Bush bomb Tokyo and Dresden with incendiary bombs which killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people like was done in WWII? Did he unleash the gases as was unleashed during WWI? Do us all a favor and try bashing Pelosi and Reid for their obstructionist attitudes towards anything...

Bravo! To To 11:51
Bravo!

Now if only the existing (and severly dwindling) neocons might join forces with those that yearn for the Old America - instead of playing games - we can be united once again. But I have a huge, comfortable feeling that this great country doesn't need the conservatives and this will be evident come November.

Divided we fail.

"To To most evil ever"

"Bombed cities full of innocent people" -- I think the good residents of Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki would take issue with that one.

And as far as "robbing us of our civil liberties," Bush has done nothing close to FDR (the internment of the Japanese, the sedition trials, trying to pack the Supreme Court, etc.); the Kennedy brothers and Nixon (using the FBI and CIA to spy on political enemies -- one of the reason the FISA court got established in the first place), McKinley and Roosevelt (torture of Filipino captives during the Phillipine Insurrection; to be fair, the Filipino guerillas did a lot worse); Woodrow Wilson (literally made criticizing the President illegal, and actually threw people in jail for doing so). And so on, and so on.

As far as "destroyed the value of the dollar," Bush doesn't even come close to the hyperinflation of the seventies under Nixon, Ford, and Carter.

Being "progressive" means never having to study history. Because what could a bunch of old fuddy-duddies have known about anything anyway.

I think it was FDR who bankrupted us for generations with The New Deal. How are our grandchildren going to enjoy digging out of the Social Security and Medicaid quagmire?

I know you like to fixate on Bush, but think about it...

Is Bush the President who imprissoned thousands of Americans just for being of "Japanese descent"? That sounds like torture to me. And you think this is the first US-Administration that's had to use extreme methods to hide/get the information needed to protect us?

You need to think beyond your partisan political talking points. Their getting worn out.

I could give numerous other examples that contradict your assertion that Bush is the only President to
-bomb cities full of innocent people,
-resort to torture to get needed information,
-cause large defficits, etc.
But I think if you tried you could think of them yourself.

I'm not saying the current administration is "Clean"... I'm just saying, it isn't anything new under the sun (except the terrorist attacks that killed thousands of Americans on American soil that added a new element and sort of changed the equation modern Presidents will have to face from now on).

I know my comment won't make a difference, because Bush-bashing just makes some people feel so good about themselvs. But you need to face the truth someday. I know, spewing rhetoric feels sooo good.

Blessed are the peacemakers. -Jesus Christ

And judging by the warmongering comments on this blog - there are a lot of people who are not (or ever will be) blessed.

All these "BUSH IS THE ENEMY" people make me concerned for our future.

I just hope there are enough people left in America who know who the REAL ENEMY is. Otherwise the terrorists job is already done. Now all they need to do is sit back and watch this politically divided nation destroy itself.

We need to get OFF the politically motivated rhetoric and pull togehter.

Today Bush is the President of the United States, WE need to quit doing the terrorist's job and quit attacking him. Next year Obama will probably be the President, and I will be saying the same thing... but the political hacks from the other side will be on this page attacking anything HE does and trying everything they can do to make HIM look bad.

Why are we this way now? Are terrorists really the threat now? Aren't WE (and our partisan bickering) our own worst enemy?

I view it differently | 3:46 a.m.:

"Who is the winner? It certainly is not the American Tax payer who thru their elected officials give numerous tax breaks to the oil companies."

The winners are: (1) Anyone who buys oil, and (2) the US company who drills and pumps in ANWR. It'd be a multi-billion dollar business. Who, in their right mind would reject a multi-billion dollar business opportunity?

PS: What are you doing up at 3:46 a.m.?

Anybody who supports illegal, immoral shock-and-aweing of women and children (based on total lies),
torture, wiretapping and running America into the ground while an elite few get filthy rich - is evil incarnate.
Same for those who support the self-serving agendas.

There is a study (JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 104, NO. C9, PAGES 20,703–20,711,1999) published by a group with the Department of Geological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, that petroleum deposits beneath the continental shelf naturally "leak" considerable amounts of oil and methane gas into the environment.

This marine hydrocarbon seepage, has been reported to generate up to 25 barrels of oil per day on one Santa Barbara off-shore tract alone. 90% of the seepage (approximately 100,000 cubic meters per day) has been determined to be methane gas. The affects of this gas as it affects atmospheric chemistry remains unclear.

This adds to the complexity of the off-shore drilling controversy since there are reports that drilling can reduce the pressure of these petroleum deposits to cause seepage. However, the "natural" release of petroleum does not come near to the level of an oil spill, searching for a means of relieving the pressure will help to reduce this contamination.

An article in the July 14, 2008, Power Line Forum discusses this problem, but only looks at off-shore drilling as a solution to it. There is much to add to the discussion, but little to resolve the issue.

paranoid? | 6:46 a.m.:

"His tactics are working to lower the price of gas. Isn't that his job?"

You got that right. His announcement to free up drilling in ANWR and coastal waters lowered the price of oil in a couple of days by $15. If Congress would get off its duff and do the same thing prices would drop another $30 or more bucks. Then rein in the speculators ans suddenly we have oil under $100. Maybe even as low as $60.

"I am not a fan of Pres. Bush because he has increased the scope and size of gov."

Increasing the "scope and size of government" would likely have avoided the current sub-prime debacle Which has cost this country multiple billions. Not to mention the Savings and Loan crisis of the seventies. More billions. And possibly Lou Dobbs' salmonella scare. If you don't know how, let me know and I'll explain.

Call me a Liberal | 8:14 a.m.:

"There are hundreds of UNDRILLED Oil Leases on land currently. Why aren't those being touted as the end-all-be-all instead of offshore or ANWR?"

Because they've been tested and are mostly dry.

What am I doing up at 3:46 am?
Trying to make some sense to you loonie neocons.
It's a passion of mine.
Divided we fail.

Call me whatever you want (ie., Bush-hater, traitor, troop-hater, commie, etc., etc., ...)
But The President has failed miserably in a war (based on lies), the economy, and uniting the country when it needs it most.

I guess this is the truth as it is seen in fantasy Obama-land, Pelousy-land, and Reid-land. What a joke! The thing that is standing between the American people and greater energy independence and lower gas prices is the Democrat-controlled Congress.

Sorry, slight typo:
That's 2,000,000,000,000 barrels of oil, compared with proved US reserves of 20,972,000,000 million barrels of conventional oil.

Should read 2,000,000,000 barrels of oil in shale, compared with proved US reserves of 20,972,000,000 of convention oil.

And all of the Utah resource is within Congressman Jim's district and I still can't figure out what he is doing about it.

Sorry for the mistake.

I don't think President Bush failed in uniting this country. WE failed to be united.

We WERE as united as I've seen in my 49 years after 9/11, but it didn't take long before the nattering took hold again and we were turned against each other again (for political gain). I know both sides do it, but that doesn't make it right.

YOU are one of the WORST at what I'm talking about, and I wish you would stop (but I know making those political points against your despised Neocons is more important than ANYTHING to you) so don't expect anything to change in your rhetoric.

Bush as failed at everything his tried. Parroting the words of Rush isn't going to stop a democratic landslide.

It's your right to defend failure and to buy into lies grasping for any straw proving that you weren't just being used.

Why hasn't anyone brother up Clinton?

We were in debt after the Civil War. The result was the depression of 1890? The government nearly went bankrupt. What a interesting comparison for Bush's war and conservative's failure to sacrifice a dime they could use in speculation to pay for the war the troops they claim to support are fight.

Bush and Co. most certainly DID fail in uniting this country.
It all started with the standard neocon catch phrase, "so and so is too liberal," and "liberals are bad"
The hard core Limbaughites continue the division today.
But it looks as though all of this is meaningless.
Obama by a record-breaking landslide.
The America I remember and love is roaring back!

Tell ya what Too anony 1:24 -
When the demonization of the word liberal stops - so will the demonization of the word conservative.