As the greatest domestic environmental disaster of this generation, and perhaps in the end of all generations, unfolds in the Gulf of Mexico, with literally no end in sight, the Grand Old Party has taken the extraordinary step of deciding that now is the perfect time to remind people we need to do MORE offshore oil drilling.
Drill Baby Drill as it Spills Baby Spills.
You see these tin-eared morons of deafness claim, if we don't drill here, we're going to have to drill over there and you see we'd rather drill here.
After all, now there's news BP is going to try to drop a concrete box over this thing. 50 miles off shore, it's the concrete needle in an ocean haystack. If you've ever tried to drop an anchor in 50 feet of water in a current, you know how hard this is. But Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to:
THE REPUBLICAN ENERGY RAPID RESPONSE TEAM -- members of the Republican House Caucus who think that as the Gulf Of Mexico slowly dies, the team to beat the offshore drill drum is while the corpse is still breathing.
I am including as links the Facebook pages of these mental midgets.
Meet Representative John Shimkus from Illinois. Illinois is not a state that has ever been impacted by an oil spill nor is it a state that relies heavily on beach tourists, fishing or the ocean to survive. John must feel the destruction of the Gulf is a small price to pay.
Meet Shelley Moore Capito from West Virginia, a state that was in the news recently with another disaster based upon dirty energy I think. A state also bordered by, well, land. And again, not much of a fishing industry. Shelly wants to Mine Baby Mine and Drill Baby Drill. One might say that Shelley goes both ways when it comes to dirty energy, coal? Check. Oil? Check. Clean Energy? No checks for that.
Next up, Joe Barton from Texas. Ah Joe, see that blue patch South of Texas, that's the Gulf of Mexico, that's the body of water currently being turned into an oil slick at the rate of 200,000 gallons a day. Joe evidently is happy the currents are taking the oil towards the Florida Keys because Joe has heard there are boys who like boys down there in that Key West place and if the oil will keep those types off the beaches, Joe's all for that.
Mike Conaway is also from Texas or as he puts it on his Facebook page, "God Bless Texas." Evidently, that doesn't include the Gulf Coast nor does it include considering what God might think of destroying nature. But Mike's claim to fame is
"settled in Midland where I later worked with George W. Bush as the Chief Financial Officer for Bush Exploration. I developed a lasting friendship with former President Bush as together we learned what it takes to run a business."
I know George W Bush and I know a lot about W's business sense. He might be the worst businessman in the world. Worse than me. And I suck.
Rob Bishop is also a member of Team Energy. Rob is from Utah. Utah has a lot of beautiful beaches on the Pacific that could be impacted by an oil spill. Oh wait. No it doesn't.
Last and well, least, or worst of the worst, is Rep Marsha Blackburn from TN. This is interesting as I wonder how Marsh would react with the devastation from flooding in Nashville if I started a Nashville Rain Dance Team right now and we prayed for more rain - don't think old Marsha would like that too much do you?
Having survived two Presidential campaigns, I am not sure that I could be shocked by the hyper-partisan nature of Washington politics but I am shocked, and frankly disgusted.
Entire fisheries are being destroyed, tourism is being brought to standstill, hell, the damm oil is till pouring out of broken well, and yet four Republicans want to take the opportunity, with the full support of the Republican National Committee and remind the country, it's the perfect time to keep going forward on offshore drilling.
It boggles the mind.
I guess the Republicans can. Or at least this group of ingrates can. A group of men and women from states like Tennessee and Utah, far away from the disaster of the Gulf. A group of men and women who have opposed clean energy solutions in the House and now are defending the disaster.
A group of men and women who should be ashamed, embarrassed and thrown out of Washington; which is saying something. In a town of daily new lows and idiocy, the Republican Energy Response Team takes the prize.
Disgusting.