Debate thoughts and oil questions

Okay, just a couple of quick thoughts here this afternoon. First of all, who won the debate? Well if you are a Republican then John McCain won decisively. If you are a Democrat, Obama probably had the edge. It's funny how this answer depends on who you ask. The conservative pollsters have McCain as the winner but CBS, CNN, and other polls have Obama ahead in this one. I really don't care who won or lost, I care about the facts.

McCain appeared to be very dismissive of his opponent, while Obama seemed relaxed and conversational. McCain's body language was very angry; he demonstrated crankiness which seems to be a continuous trait with him. After some morning research, it appears that many conservatives loved this, and thought that his grumpiness and refusal to even look at his opponent made him look "tough" and quite Presidential.

McCain railed on spending. He angrily spoke of some in Congress who spent three million dollars to study Bear DNA in Montana. He made it clear that this is an outrage. Very good, but he failed to mention that his running mate, Sarah Palin, requested 3.2 million dollars as part of a package to study the genetic makeup of harbor seals in Alaska. A conservative Republican would probably try to deny or explain away this truth, but it is fact and it is hypocrisy. Make no mistake - Obama and the Democrats are not the only ones guilty of wasteful spending. Anyone who truly believes that the Republican party does not waste significant amounts of money is delusional. Perhaps I will take some time later to detail some of the George W. Bush waste.

McCain, his supporters and most conservative Republicans believe that if we begin drilling for offshore oil in this country, we will have an immediate and significant reduction in the cost of gasoline and that this drilling is a key component to helping us reduce our dependence on foreign oil. What I would like is for someone to explain to me how this is so. I want the people who honestly believe that Obama wants to hurt people even more financially by refusing to drill offshore explain to me how this process will work. I want to know how much they expect to save at the pump, and how long it will take to see these savings. Do we get to keep 100% of the oil we find? How much of it would we keep and how much goes on the world market? I want the "drill baby, drill" crowd to answer "how much oil will we pump and where is it located, exactly?" How many new oil rigs and refineries will we have and what is the plan to overcome NIMBY (Not In My Backyard)? What will the ratio be between this new found oil and our middle eastern imported oil? T. Boone Pickens says that currently, 70 percent of our oil is imported. After we drill, what will that percentage be? I have heard a lot of screaming from conservative Republicans about drilling and how Obama's refusal to drill is proof that he hates the United States and wants people to suffer at the gas pumps. They scream about this offshore drilling, but I have yet to hear any of these people explain the details of the program or show any proof whatsoever that this idea will so dramatically improve the current situation.