Reply #3: I think it's a much more powerful symbol: Republicans put economy [View All]

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and jobs and wealth creation before protecting the environment, and I think that's going to win them many many votes.

I think that if the Democrats say they put the environment before the economic health of the country, even in very close calls (which I presume many Americans believe this is), they run the risk of losing votes.

Democrats can only win this debate in the eyes of people whose votes they don't already have by arguing that they want to increase oil production (and reduce oil dependency) and then by doing a cost benefit analysis of where the government is investing its resources and explaining how this one does nothing when there are other actions they could take which would do something. They have to talk about what they would do, and not about what they wouldn't do.

Saying, "we can't do this" without saying what they would do is worth zero in terms of giving voters an idea of what Democrats stand for.

If Democrats are only interesting in polarizing the voters by reassuring environmentalists their interests will always come first, I think Democrats are not going to win as much as they think they're going to win with this issue.