Jun 27 2008
Hagan Accuses Dole of Flip Flopping Over Offshore Drilling
Dole said in an interview Thursday that when she first supported the moratorium on drilling in 2002 that gas was $1.40 per gallon, and now it’s more than $4.
“People’s opinions have evolved based on their circumstances,” she said. “Folks are really hurting, there’s no question about it.”
The campaign of Dole’s election challenger, state Sen. Kay Hagan, D-Guilford, labeled Dole as a flip-flopper.
Yes, Dole has changed her position on this, though I don’t know that this really qualifies as a true “flip-flop.” I think the current circumstances of energy prices allow members of Congress to modify their position on this issue without being accused of pandering or flip-flopping. Undoubtedly, many Americans who may have opposed this at one point are changing their tune.
“The plan to drill off North Carolina’s coast is just another in a long line of bright ideas concocted and supported by the Bush-Dole team to pad the profits and the pockets of their oil-producing friends,” said Hagan’s spokeswoman, Colleen Flanagan.
I think this is a very foolish statement by Flanagan. People aren’t happy about paying $4.00 a gallon per gas. It may very well be $5 by November. They are going to want Congress to act and resisting the push to drill offshore is going to cost Hagan votes, not win her any.
Others are also reconsidering. Last week, Rep. Mike McIntyre, a Democrat from Lumberton who represents the southern end of the N.C. coast, said skyrocketing gas prices are driving folks like him to take a second look at oil exploration if there can be enough assurances that it won’t harm the environment.
Will Hagan now accuse McIntyre of flip-flopping? I wouldn’t bet on it.
The basic problem that has caused high oil prices is long years of obstructionism by enviromental special interest groups, and too often politicians like Dole have taken the easy way out by hopping on their bandwagon. At least she has seen the light to change on this one, but there are other related issues. We need to drill for the known oil in ANWR. We need to develop the oil shale in Colorado. A test plant in adjacent Utah has produced oil from the oil shale there at $25 a barrel. We need to stop the Boxer-Warner-Lieberman cap and trade bill, which Dole co-sponsored and still supports.