Democrats out of touch on offshore drilling bill

Politico:

House and Senate Democratic leaders Tuesday rolled out their big “spill bills” — the main legislative responses to the Gulf oil spill. The proposals are packed with aggressive offshore drilling reforms that Republicans have long fought and were immediately met with fierce pushback from the GOP and the oil industry.

That could make it tough to get the bills passed, especially in the Senate, where a handful of oil-state Democrats may cross the aisle to vote against the package. But strategists say the Republican “no” votes will also benefit Democrats politically — and some Republicans say that’s why the so-called poison pill provisions were included.

“If, after the worst oil spill in the history of the country, Republicans were to vote no against new offshore drilling protections — can you imagine the ads?” asked one senior Democratic aide.

Campaign strategists certainly can. “Republicans have found themselves on the defensive on that issue, and they are sitting on piles of big oil contributions,” said a Democratic strategist. “Absolutely, this is something we will be playing up before Election Day.”

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I can see the ads now--"Democrats undermine national security with attacks on offshore drilling so they can drive up the cost of gas."

A strong majority of voters still support offshore drilling. The oppose the President's moratorium and they also oppose the Democrats attempt to try to drive independent producers out of the Gulf. Democrats have been paying too much attention to their environmental wacko base instead of what the majority of voters want.