Should just look right at the republicant and with a completely serious demeanor ask,

"How about asking Santa Claus for more oil, do you feel the administration should ask, or should they just hope he knows? Furthermore do you feel this administrations naughty behavior has jeopardized our ability to receive presents"

Then proceed to belittle them if they fail to answer, by calling them uninformed about our current economic plight.

Too bad only Glen Beck's immediate family and the studio crew saw it. What does that show do, an 0.000001 rating?

Don't we owe the Chinese for all of those torture methods we stole from them? Would seem to me an "oil-for-how to kick an unarmed suspect in the nuts" tradeoff is well in line with President's agenda.

I have not watched the film yet - I will say over/under for 9/11 references is 3.5. And I will take the "over".

Keep repeating a lie so often that people finally start to believe it. Isn't that standard Republican operating procedure? When they start to do this kind of thing it's absolutely vital that somebody outshout them with the truth. What's happening with regard to this particular story? Are efforts being made to make sure this lie is shown up for what it is?

Great post, it is always great to point out when conservatives use misinformation to alter public opinion. But it should also be pointed out that conservatives use misinformation routinely to do so.

In fact, when aren't conservatives publically dstorting facts and outright lying? I'd like to see some examples.

I live in Canada. I live about 10 miles from Washington state, well within the 300 mile limit that Giuliani mentions, same as Cuba. So do I need to worry about the US government stopping me from going to the beach?

How did this man ever become a lawyer?!

the Chinese aren't exactly stewards of the land. Would we really want to be taking our cues from the Chinese when it comes to the environment? Moreover, if there was an oil spill off the coast of Florida, would the Chinese even care?

Even the GOP's lies are stupid.

you can tell when a republikan is lying; his lips are moving. The Chinese aren't taking our oil, but they have our money. We give it to them. They hold the IOU's to our children's future. Screw Dick and his minions.

Ok, no Chinese drilling off the coast and we caught the GOP telling a boldface lie. This apparently gives the nay sayers enough to decide to do what, more nothing than what they already are. Let's review some more bold face lies by politicians regarding our oil problem.

We can not drill our way to lower prices. Repeated by nearly every democrat politician, despite the stupidity of the statement and total lack of reason. I am sure I missed the Salon.com article on this.

So we have deemed the Chinese comment to be bogus, a claim used in connection with needing to drill for our own oil, used among many other reasons unable to be disputed. So the GOP is charged with using a false comparison to push for drilling, so what is the democrats excuse? What is their excuse for inaction? Or is their reason because of the false Chinese claim, now any drilling ideas are null and void? Or are we still clinging to the idea that if we just continue to sit around and complain about BIG OIL and their huge profits than something magical will happen.

Perhaps if I take my own bag to the grocery store next week and refuse plastic, maybe things will get better. Maybe if we throw a huge tax on BIG OIL then they will not only drop prices, but the government will then give us, the people, the money back.

Let's add this to the list of reasons why we shouldn't resume offshore drilling...Anyone for nuclear power plants? Coal to oil production? Shale oil deposit drilling? No?........ Hmmmmm, How about 'Hope and Change"? Does that still sound like a good plan?? How much is a gallon of that going to cost me?

The main problem with offshore drilling in the US is that it chases the tail of the problem rather than addressing the main cause.

It takes 8-10 years for oil companies to develop oil leases before the first drop of oil actually flows.

Offshore drilling will not produce a large percentage of domestic oil production, let alone significantly address the problem of the US getting most of its oil from foreign suppliers.

Oil companies already have access and leases to large offshore areas in the US that they still haven't developed. For example, of the 90 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico that oil companies have leases to, they have only developed 20 million acres. 70 million acres in the Gulf have not been developed and are not producing any oil, even though they could.

The problem is not one of not enough access to offshore areas; the problem is the lack of resources and strategic thinking to keep up with spiraling demand for oil.

Because of the lead time required to develop and produce oil in new areas, where do you think the oil demand will be in 10 years? When new wells come online in 10 years, the demand will make their contributions insignificant.

This is why a more strategic, systemic approach to the problem is warranted. Because of the lead times involved, and the large shift required in how we think about energy, the free market will not be able to solve this problem on its own unless the government puts incentives in place to encourage alternate forms of competing energy, enacts higher mileage requirements for autos, encourages energy conservation as a way of life, etc.

The current political exploitation of this lack of a strategic energy policy is the equivalent of selling a shot glass of water for $100 to a man dying of thirst. It really doesn't solve the bigger problem; indeed its main purpose is to distract people from the larger issue.

Oil, as a primary energy source, will go away one day. The question is: will we go away with it?