Mark Udall and Nancy Pelosi "Shed Crocodile Tears" Over High Gas Prices

Kudos to Boulder liberal Mark Udall for recognizing the federal gas tax holiday is a misguided approach. But, as el presidente pointed out, not only has Udall offered no real viable solution in its place, he also is engaged in his own kind of pandering:

While no doubt worthy of discussion for meeting our long-term energy needs, Udall's plan avoids dealing with the present--playing the "short-sighted Washington game" that caters to environmental special interests that prevent the United States from becoming more energy self-sufficient by drilling for oil here rather than relying on the Middle East and other corrupt regimes.

As the gas prices soar this summer, ask yourself whether or not your elected representatives, including Rep. Mark Udall, are doing everything to alleviate the pain at the pump and not just engaging in more political grandstanding and issuing platitudes about "diverse energy portfolios" while sticking to the "game" he is so quick to criticize. Temporarily ceasing to add to the strategic petroleum reserve or even tapping it briefly provides only limited, ephemeral, calculated relief.

So Mark Udall hasn't brought forward any serious proposals to address rising gasoline prices. But National Review's David Freddoso takes the argument one step further:

...[T]he real problem — and the reason [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi really does deserve blame — is that Democrats’ political goal of reducing carbon emissions continues to trump their populist rhetoric on gasoline prices. The two stances are impossible to reconcile. Try as they might to blame oil companies for the pain Americans feel at the pump, the Democrats want higher prices for gasoline — and for all forms of energy that emit carbon.

Despite all their rhetoric to the contrary, Pelosi Democrats - such as Mark Udall - indeed are glad to see gasoline prices rise. As Freddoso reminds us, Nancy Pelosi and Mark Udall have lied about their concern for the economic health of the nation and individual Coloradans:

High gas prices are bad for the economy, but the point here is not to make moral judgments about the trade-off between high gasoline prices and reduced carbon emissions. The point is that Democrats have taken a dishonest public stance with false promises of lower gasoline prices that they never intended to honor. Democrats are shedding crocodile tears for the end consumer of petroleum. If they say they hate to see you eaten alive by Big Oil, it is only because they would prefer to devour you themselves.

Of course, Nancy Pelosi thinks gasoline costs about $2.56 a gallon right now. Has anyone asked Mark Udall how much it cost him the last time he filled up at the pump?