I don't think she needs to be impeached; if the voters of her district want her in Congress, that's their problem. She just needs to be kept far away from any position with the word "leadership" implied in its title.

~Russ

A huge chunk of what drove the price of oil over $150 was simple speculation. Speculation is a psychological game as much or more than it is a rational one. When President BlunderBush removed the executive order banning offshore drilling, it had an immediate dampening effect on the speculators. Prices have dropped and are still dropping even in the face of the Georgia-Russia crisis.

The call that has to be made now is if the Congress follows suit and removes its blanket ban, will there be an echo effect, driving oil prices lower still? Or, contrarywise, has oil dropped as about as far as real market conditions will permit? If oil prices have "bottomed out" or nearly so, then Congress would be wiser to hold onto this psychological card until speculators reenter the market full strength. It's all similar to the mental game we've played in the past where we released some of our "strategic" reserve of oil, only this time without drawing down actual supplies. I'm not even close to being an expert on this particular commodity, so I honestly don't know what Pelosi ought to do.

I do know a few things that are bound to get lost in the rhetoric of an election year:

1. Removing the blanket ban on offshore drilling (or even ANWR) is not the same thing as granting a permit. Until and unless there's a willingness to issue a permit to drill, it's all symbolic.

2. Psychology works on voters as well as speculators. If Congress removes the blanket ban on offshore drilling, it takes away a potential wedge issue from the Republican arsenal among those who are more concerned with gas prices than the environment.

3. Working that in reverse, removing the blanket ban could have a chilling effect on voters who value the environment over the price of gas. I highly doubt this one since the folks who fall into this category have more than enough motivation on other issues to vote against the GOP no matter what the Dems do on this one.

4. Depending on how this resolution is worded, it might also open the door to exploring the extraction of the vast marine-methane deposits in the Gulf. That's a whole other argument since methane is also a greenhouse gas.

5. If this resolution could be paired with material support for expanding the use of clean fuels, they could enjoy a real gain at the expense of a symbolic concession.

6. Removing the blanket ban on offshore drilling while simultaneously drawing down the strategic petroleum reserve would be playing two psychological cards at once... probably not a good idea. Whatever amount of oil we could draw down from our reserve is going to be fairly small in comparison to either real supply or real demand. It's also going to be very short term. It's a psychological card, not one that materially inflences supply vs. demand on the global market. So why play both of them at the same time?

When President BlunderBush removed the executive order banning offshore drilling, it had an immediate dampening effect on the speculators.

I wouldn't be so quick to draw a conclusion about cause and effect on that one. The recent drop in oil prices also corresponds to reports of demand being lower than the same period last year. I don't think you can conclude that Bush's action caused the price of oil to drop.

Rescinding the ban on offshore drilling is a meaningless gimmick; it will have no meaningful effect on oil supplies, but it carries real and significant environmental risks. If Pelosi thinks that caving to vapid GOP talking points is more important than either a sound energy policy or environmental protection, then, yeah, she made the wrong decision.

~Russ

General drilling bans will be political losers as long as gas remains $3.50+/gallon. Democratic candidates are realizing this as the election nears.

Brian A.
I'd rather be cycling.

Nancy Pelosi is weak

Or........Nancy Pelosi is just a joke, Bizgrrl.

Then again, how is this any different from your presumed presidential candidate? He's now talking about possibly voting for offshore drilling. Why? Because McCain's killing him with this issue (thankfully). Here's a better one....."I'll filibuster the FISA bill to keep it from coming to a vote!" Not only did Obama not filibuster, he voted for it!!!

When your party's leaders are more interested in getting elected than standing by their principles (or morals, John Edwards), you should continue to observe this type of behavior.