Why do Republicans get so much mileage out of ANWAR? Because... [View All]

[AP]

... of the message it sends: in times of trouble, Republicans will do everything in their powers to encourage commerce and create wealth.

I think the Democrats are running a risk by casting themselves as the party who will put the environment before creating wealth and encouraging industry.

In Alaska, I understand that there was a proposal to build a pipeline to an existing oil field which would have been cheaper than drilling in ANWAR and would have increased the amount of oil that could come out of the existing field by much more than ANWAR would ever produce. The Democrats tried to push this as an alternative to drilling in ANWAR, but didn't get much traction (I suspect the media wasn't interested in helping Democrats tell people about this alternative).

Guess what? Bush opposed federal funding for that pipeline. Why? Because the Republicans are, in fact, not all about creating as much productive industry as possible and they're not about increasing the amount of oil coming out of Alaska; it is because they can get way more mileage out of the ANWAR debate -- by forcing the Democrats into looking like they put the environment before the economic health of the country and making the Republicans look like they're willing to make a few sacrifices in order to ensure that people can work and make money.

I know the issue is way way more complicated, but this is what it comes down to, I suspect.