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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Bennett Hedges on Offshore Drilling

Just two weeks ago, LV Congressional candidate Sam Bennett told me she opposes offshore drilling. "I feel that that would be a misguided, short-term benefit effort. To be honest with you, if we drilled in those places, if we started tomorrow, we would not see a drop of oil from those places for years." She added, "I think it's a short-term mistake."

That was then.

In yesterday's interview, she had changed course.

Morning Call (Darryl Isherwood): Are you in favor now of this new proposal to allow offshore drilling more than 50 miles off shore?

Bennett: "What I would say, Darryl, is clearly, in order to move legislation forward, which is what we need to do, we need to start acting, if we are going to compromise on both sides of the aisle. And I felt that this bill was an effective compromise. We need to roll up our sleeves and get something done. We need to move this argument off the political tables. We have a job that Congress has to get done here. So if there's a compromise to make, we will make them. But I would have voted Yes to this particular bill."

LVRamblings (Bernie O'Hare): Charlie Dent called the legislation passed yesterday a cynical effort by Speaker Pelosi to appear as though Congress supports offshore drilling, but making it impossible for it to ever occur. For example, it denies revenue sharing among the states, 88% of the most promising areas will never be explored, the legislation also says no to clean coal, it says no to nuclear, and Dent says he's from Pennsylvania, so why would he support legislation that vetoes the use of all types of energy sources to solve our energy crisis? He pointed to another piece of legislation that has 135 cosponsors that does permit these things, and suggested that Congress should adopt that. Also, I've been told this legislation is DOA in the Senate. So what's your take on Charlie Dent's position?

Bennett: "My take on his position, and this is a pattern I've seen in his voting record, he consistently will vote against strong pieces of legislation and pick some sort of minor issue. The issue here isn't drilling. The issue here is moving our nation to a new way of getting our energy . . . "

O'Hare: Well, I think that's his point. His point is that it denies diversification. It says no to clean coal, no to nuclear, there's no diversification. it actually makes it impossible for offshore drilling the way it's written.

Bennett: "I would have to beg to differ with you. It's not against diversification at all. We're talking about solar, we're talking about wind, we're talking about geothermal. Quite frankly, Bernie, we're talking about a methodology for generating energy that may not have been invented yet, and that's why we need to heavily invest in R&D.

"I think strongly that what Charlie Dent is doing again is distracting from the true issue at hand because we need to move forward. We need to move forward with strong bipartisan legislation. I am in support of this particular piece of legislation and stop the equivocating. That's what Charlie Dent is doing . He's doing it in the same way that he says he won't debate, right?"

O'Hare: You have five debates with him, correct?

Bennett: "We have four that are on the docket. most of those are candidates' forums. And there are three traditional major ones we traditionally do that he doesn't want to do. And you know why? Because he does not want to be attached to this vote."

(Blogger's Note: I will post more of this interview tomorrow.)

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

She says right off that her about-face is a compromise to get the legislation off the table. Sounds OK to me.

Anonymous said...

"To be honest with you, if we drilled in those places, if we started tomorrow, we would not see a drop of oil from those places for years."

Perhaps if those of Bennett's ilk, ten years ago, had made the right choices, we wouldn't be paying for them today. She's a predictable, managed parrot.

Anonymous said...

I only wish Sam and her friends and would begin to understand that you can not create energy. You can only convert potential energy into useful work. It just seems to me that once one understands energy, the rhetoric would change dramatically. Basic physics tells us that energy can not be created.
Bob

Bernie O'Hare said...

She says right off that her about-face is a compromise to get the legislation off the table. Sounds OK to me.

Two weeks ago, it was a misguided and short-term mistake, but when Speaker Pelosi cracks the whip, she jumps on board. We will be replacing an independent voice like Dent, who really will strray from his own party, with a Pelosi foot soldier.

Anonymous said...

Charles W. Dent is against fixing up neighborhoods as he rants against Sam Bennett who is doing something about our neighborhoods. Check Charles W's negative ad against painting and fixing up your neighborhood.
EXPRESS TIMES article
Freeman bill advances out of Senate committee
Thursday, September 18, 2008
from staff reports
HARRISBURG | A state Senate committee approved a bill by state Rep. Bob Freeman to help revitalize older neighborhoods, sending the bill to the full Senate for consideration, according to a news release.

According to the release:

Freeman, D-Northampton, advanced the bill to continue the state's Elm Street program beyond a 2011 deadline.

The program, created in 2004, provides up to five years of financial assistance for municipalities to hire an Elm Street manager to work with officials and community groups to establish a plan for revitalizing targeted neighborhoods.

Freeman said more than two dozen neighborhoods have been designated as Elm Street communities, and more than 100 municipalities have been eligible for similar improvements in their neighborhoods through Elm Street residential reinvestment grants.

The bill was moved Wednesday out of the Senate Community, Economic and Recreational Development Committee. The bill passed March 31 in the House of Representatives.

Blah Society said...

From Sam Bennett, "We're talking about solar, we're talking about wind, we're talking about geothermal."


My question... aren't these difficult to obtain and use in Pennsylvania?

This is a simple question... no need to attack me on siding with anyone. I just want to know. Bennett supporters, stand down, lol!

Anonymous said...

AJ, good question - also, in regard to solar and wind, you need backup generation capacity anyway because the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow.

I agree w/ Bennett in that we need to invest in R&D to develop all alternate sources, including those that are not yet discovered. But in the meantime we need energy. Therefore, I believe we need to do both - drill now and develop alternate sources for the future.


The Banker

Anonymous said...

Bennett admits her position - which is the position of most eco-liberal extremists.

We won't allow use of existing energy source because: "We're talking about solar, we're talking about wind, we're talking about geothermal. Quite frankly, Bernie, we're talking about a methodology for generating energy that may not have been invented yet, and that's why we need to heavily invest in R&D."

So use the most uneconomical forms of energy and hope for some miracle form of energy at some point in the future. Liberalism is irrational.

Safe, clean, low impact of drilling the oil we have. Clean coal technology for burning coal. Nuclear energy.

Proven, safe, economical solutions.

Nope, liberals and eco-extremists say "NO".

I like the environment also. I also like less expensive, plentiful energy. It is not an either/or choice. How irrational...

Anonymous said...

Bernie,

A suggestion. Could you eliminate off topic posts?

I don't mind if we are talking energy and someone wants to post Dent's record on energy.

Though this is playing the legislation game. So and So hates puppy dogs because they voted against free puppy dogs for everyone. However, in the Bill was a $100,000 tax on every individual to pay for free puppy dogs!

But to post off topic lists is counter-productive to the discussion.

Or can I start posting dialogues from t.v. shows and recipes?

Anonymous said...

Here's the stupidity of Bennett and the Democrats' offshore drilling approach --

Anything within 50 miles offshore is prohibited. So you place a rig 50 miles and 100 yards off shore and it leaks -- what that's not going to cause problems because of the extra 100 yards?

Posers.

Anonymous said...

i'd like to drill sam bennett's head for oil about as much as i'd like to drill those millions of acres dems love to cite are already 'active' for oil exploration. i'd find as much between her ears as i'd find in those wells.

Anonymous said...

Annon 7:18

The fact that you seriously typed that statment is incredible. Please put doen the remote and seek treatment.

Dr. Pill

Bernie O'Hare said...

Anon 8:38,

Your opinion is appreciated, and I know you mean no harm, but someone reading your comment could get the wrong idea about your intentions.

Anonymous said...

Dear Dr. Pill --

Don't be such a placebo. Why don't you tell everyone why the post was wrong.

If you use Sammy Pelosi Bennett's reasoning that all drilling is stupid, who gives a shit if a rig is a mile offshore or 100 miles offshore.

The limitation is arbitrary and meaningless -- like your post.

Dr. Pepper

Anonymous said...

Let me get this straight...

Bennett opposes expanding offshore drilling because, 'we would not see a drop of oil from these places in years'.

Instead, she believes our country can run on energy sources that 'may not have been invented yet'.

Wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-what?

I have a feeling my car is going to be running on gasoline and not wishful thinking in a few years.

Then she goes on to claim Charlie Dent is using 'minor issues' from the bill to justify his opposition?

Aren't these the same 'minor issues' a Senator from HER OWN PARTY referenced when saying the bill was 'dead on arrival' in the Senate?

Sam Bennett is drowning in her own verbal diarrhea.

Anonymous said...

It's called 'compromise.'

BOH's blind loyalty to Dent is sad.

Bernie O'Hare said...

That's one way of looking at it. Another is that Bennett flip-flopped on what she herself called a short-term mistake just two weeks before because the House Speaker cracked the whip and she has no real convictions.

Anonymous said...

Bah, Barack Obama has offered a similar compromise. but I understand that partisan half-truths win elections.