Sink 'stunned' by Crist's shift on drilling

Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink Wednesday came out forcefully against Gov. Charlie Crist's support for studying drilling off the Florida coast. The only Democrat on the Cabinet, who has worked cooperatively with Crist, described becoming "angrier and angrier" as she listened to radio newscasts (which featured Crist's support for studying the need for offshore drilling to bring down gas prices, after years of firmly opposing any drilling).

"Floridians have to realize that this is not the answer, and I am stunned by this turn of opinion from people who have been very strong advocates against oil drilling off our coast," Sink said.  She cited the bi-partisan deal in Congress in 2005 that stipulated no drilling within 125 miles of the Florida coast in exchange for opening up 8-million acres of dormant drilling leases. "We've already compromised," Sink said.

"This proposal would do nothing to reduce the pain we're feeling today," said Sink, who estimated it would take 10 years for the first drop of oil to appear off Florida. The answer, she said, is conservation, not more oil.

Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer rose to Crist's defense, insisting that he did not endorse drilling, only "a re-evaluation of public policy." Crist endorsed John McCain's view that the Congressional moratorium on oil drilling off Florida should be lifted, and that states should decide on a case-by-case basis how to proceed.

"I'd rather have a leader who is seeking out solutions and getting information than one who does not have an open mind to solving the economic problems that citizens face," Greer said. "Governor Crist is focused on results."

Comments

if we had ok'd it 15 years ago cost of oil would be $2.50 per gal today.

Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer rose to Crist's defense, insisting that he did not endorse drilling, only "a re-evaluation of public policy."

Ladies and Geltlemen; start you spingines!... given the thread below this one, I'm guessing Kottkamp will be blamed for this whole shaffu.

make that "snaffu"

We would be more screwed up here in Florida than we already are, thanks to the incompetent and absent Chuck… were it not for Alex Sink.

Thanks, Alex… for looking out for “The People” that Chuck forgot!

Muslims barred from picture at Obama event
By: Ben Smith
June 18, 2008 03:07 PM EST

Two Muslim women at Barack Obama’s rally in Detroit on Monday were barred from sitting behind the podium by campaign volunteers seeking to prevent the women’s headscarves from appearing in photographs or on television with the candidate.

The campaign has apologized to the women, both Obama supporters who said they felt betrayed by their treatment at the rally.

WHAT DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?? THE PEOPLE OF FLORIDA ARE FOR DRILLING IF IT IS SAFE AND IF WE CAN GET MONEY FOR FLORIDA!! HELLO---------WE WANT GAS PRICES TO GO DOWN== EVEN IF IT WILL BE 5 YEARS BEFORE WE SEE THE OIL. BRING IT HOME!! DON'T PAY THE TERRIORISTS FOR OIL SO THEY CAN DESTROY US!!!
ANNOUNCE DRILLING, RELEASE RESERVES AND THE PRICE OF OIL WILL DROP AND FAST.

Alex Sink for Governor!

Didn't think Sink would begin her campaign for governor of Florida this early.

[Omega83]

Drilling off Florida might lower prices in the short-run.

But, eventually the resource will still run out.

Were only postponing the inevitable.

Much like social security, we continue to offload our debts on future generations.

Hopefully we can revel in watching the Chinese enslave our grandchildren from our high rise condos in Hell.

I'm for thinking about drilling but it will not make a dent in the price of gas.

The oil company that finds and refines it is going to sell it at market rate, not some "I HEART FLORIDA" price. Market price will continue to be determined by supply and demand and this minor increase in supply will be unnoticable the consumer's price.

I'm curious if McCain isn't trying to curry corporate favor while appearing to the uninformed voters/consumers to be bringing solutions.

Our governor has hurt his VP chances instead of enhancing them.

Chuck is done!

Thank you, Alex!!!!!

Sink...uber-Liberal....against consumers...against tax cuts...against the people of Florida....yes...Sink for Governor....of her home state of North Carolina...but please not Florida!

[VOR]

Sink, is right. There is only one way to reduce the price of fuel, and that is to stop using it at the rate we have become used to. The consumer is his own worst enemy. If we have any hope of surviving as a species we must learn to curb our voracious appetites of all the natural resources our beautiful world provides us with on a daily basis. We are a nation of energy and resource gluttons and or addicts. As with any substance abuse addict there are always going to be pushers willing to supply the "product" of our desires, but as all addicts know the longer you use the higher the price gets. The only ? now is who is going to be the first to give up their addictions and learn to live with less than we want. Obviously our gov would rather play the role of "pusher" rather than restorer.

I hope Sink runs for Governor. I'm not happy with Charlie, but it would be rewarding to see two members of the same family get their butt's kicked by the GOP machine.

George Bush's resignation speech:

Normally, I start these things out by saying 'My Fellow Americans.' Not doing it this time. If the polls are any indication, I don't know who more than half of you are anymore. I do know something terrible has happened, and that you're really not fellow Americans any longer.

I'll cut right to the chase here: I quit. Now before anyone gets all in a lather about me quitting to avoid impeachment, or to avoid prosecution or something, let me assure you: There's been no breaking of laws or impeachable offenses in this office.
The reason I'm quitting is simple. I'm fed up with you people. I'm fed up because you have no understanding of what's really going on in the world. Or of what's going on in this once-great nation of ours. And the majority of you are too damned lazy to do your homework and figure it out.

Let's start local. You've been sold a bill of goods by politicians and the news media. Polls show that the majority of you think the economy is in the tank. And that's despite record numbers of homeowners, including record numbers of MINORITY homeowners. And while we're mentioning minorities, I'll point out that minority business ownership is at an all-time high. Our unemployment rate is as low as it ever was during the Clinton administration. I've mentioned all those things before, but it doesn't seem to have sunk in.
Despite the shock to our economy of 9/11, the stock market has rebounded to record levels and more Americans than ever are participating in these markets. Meanwhile, all you can do is whine about gas prices, and most of you are too damn stupid to realize that gas prices are high because there's increased demand in other parts of the world, and because a small handful of noisy idiots are more worried about polar bears a nd beachfront property than your economic security.

We face real threats in the world. Don't give me this 'blood for oil' thing. If I were trading blood for oil I would've already seized Iraq's oil fields and let the rest of the country go to hell. And don't give me this 'Bush Lied; People Died' crap either. If I were the liar you morons take me for, I could've easily had chemical weapons planted in Iraq so they could be 'discovered.' Instead, I owned up to the fact that the intelligence was faulty.

Let me remind you that the rest of the world thought Saddam had the goods, same as me. Let me also remind you that regime change in Iraq was official US policy before I came into office. Some guy named 'Clinton' established that policy. Bet you didn't know that, did you? Now some of you morons are considering another and more evil Clinton for president !!!! Go figure that one!! She wants to take your kids away and let the 'Whole Village' raise them! i.e. governmental indoctrination .. Look this one up you dumb asses!

The rest of you morons want to be led by a junior senator with no understanding of foreign policy or economics, and this nitwit says we should attack Pakistan, a nucular ally. And then he wants to go to Iran and make peace with a terrorist who says he's going to destroy us. While he's doing that, he wants to give Iraq to al Qaeda, Afghanistan to the Taliban, Israel to the Palestinians, and your money to the IRS so the government can give welfare to illegal aliens, who he will make into citizens, so they can vote to reelect him. He also thinks it's okay for Iran to have nucular weapons, and we should stop our foreign aid to Israel. Did you sleep through high school?

You idiots need to understand that we face a unique enemy. Back during the cold war, there were two major competing political and economic models squaring off. We won that war, but we did so because fundamentally, the Communists wanted to survive, just as we do. We were simply able to out spend and out-tech them.

That's not the case this time. The soldiers of our new enemy don't care if they survive. In fact, they want to die. That'd be fine, as long as they weren't also committed to taking as many of you with them as they can. But they are. They want to kill you, and the bastards are all over the globe.

You should be grateful that they haven't gotten any more of us here in the United States since September 11. But you're not. That's because you've got no idea how hard a small number of intelligence, military, law enforcement, and homeland security people have worked to make sure of that. When this whole mess started, I warned you that this would be a long and difficult fight. I'm disappointed how many of you people think a long and difficult fight amounts to a single season of 'Survivor.'
Instead, you've grown impatient. You're incapable of seeing things through the long lens of history, the way our enemies do. You think that wars should last a few months, a few years, tops.

Making matters worse, you actively support those who help the enemy. Every time you buy the New York Times, every time you send a donation to a cut-and-run Democrat's political campaign, well, dang it, you might just as well FedEx a grenade launcher to a Jihadist. It amounts to the same thing.

In this day and age, it's easy enough to find the truth. It's all over the Internet. It just isn't on the pages of the New York Times, USA Today, or on NBC News. But even if it were, I doubt you'd be any smarter. Most of you would rather watch American Idol or Dancing with Stars.

I could say more about your expectations that the government will always be there to bail you out, even if you're too stupid to leave a city that's below sea level and has a hurricane approaching.

I could say more about your insane belief that government, not your own wallet, is where the money comes from. But I've come to the conclusion that were I to do so, it would sail right over your heads.

So I quit. I'm going back to Crawford. I've got an energy-efficient house down there (Al Gore could only dream) and the capability to be fully self-sufficient for years. No one ever heard of Crawford before I got elected, and as soon as I'm done here pretty much no one will ever hear of it again. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to die of old age before the last pillars of America fall.

Oh, and by the way, Cheney's quitting too. That means Pelosi is your new President. You asked for it. Watch what she does carefully, because I still have a glimmer of hope that there are just enough of you remaining who are smart enough to turn this thing around in 2008.

So that's it. God bless what's left of America.

Some of you know what I mean. The rest of you, kiss off.

Posted by: | June 18, 2008 at 01:53 PM

George Bush's resignation speech:

Normally, I start these things out by saying 'My Fellow Americans.' Not doing it this time. If the polls are any indication, I don't know who more than half of you are anymore. I do know something terrible has happened, and that you're really not fellow Americans any longer.

I'll cut right to the chase here: I quit. Now before anyone gets all in a lather about me quitting to avoid impeachment, or to avoid prosecution or something, let me assure you: There's been no breaking of laws or impeachable offenses in this office.
The reason I'm quitting is simple. I'm fed up with you people. I'm fed up because you have no understanding of what's really going on in the world. Or of what's going on in this once-great nation of ours. And the majority of you are too damned lazy to do your homework and figure it out.

Let's start local. You've been sold a bill of goods by politicians and the news media. Polls show that the majority of you think the economy is in the tank. And that's despite record numbers of homeowners, including record numbers of MINORITY homeowners. And while we're mentioning minorities, I'll point out that minority business ownership is at an all-time high. Our unemployment rate is as low as it ever was during the Clinton administration. I've mentioned all those things before, but it doesn't seem to have sunk in.
Despite the shock to our economy of 9/11, the stock market has rebounded to record levels and more Americans than ever are participating in these markets. Meanwhile, all you can do is whine about gas prices, and most of you are too damn stupid to realize that gas prices are high because there's increased demand in other parts of the world, and because a small handful of noisy idiots are more worried about polar bears a nd beachfront property than your economic security.

We face real threats in the world. Don't give me this 'blood for oil' thing. If I were trading blood for oil I would've already seized Iraq's oil fields and let the rest of the country go to hell. And don't give me this 'Bush Lied; People Died' crap either. If I were the liar you morons take me for, I could've easily had chemical weapons planted in Iraq so they could be 'discovered.' Instead, I owned up to the fact that the intelligence was faulty.

Let me remind you that the rest of the world thought Saddam had the goods, same as me. Let me also remind you that regime change in Iraq was official US policy before I came into office. Some guy named 'Clinton' established that policy. Bet you didn't know that, did you? Now some of you morons are considering another and more evil Clinton for president !!!! Go figure that one!! She wants to take your kids away and let the 'Whole Village' raise them! i.e. governmental indoctrination .. Look this one up you dumb asses!

The rest of you morons want to be led by a junior senator with no understanding of foreign policy or economics, and this nitwit says we should attack Pakistan, a nucular ally. And then he wants to go to Iran and make peace with a terrorist who says he's going to destroy us. While he's doing that, he wants to give Iraq to al Qaeda, Afghanistan to the Taliban, Israel to the Palestinians, and your money to the IRS so the government can give welfare to illegal aliens, who he will make into citizens, so they can vote to reelect him. He also thinks it's okay for Iran to have nucular weapons, and we should stop our foreign aid to Israel. Did you sleep through high school?

You idiots need to understand that we face a unique enemy. Back during the cold war, there were two major competing political and economic models squaring off. We won that war, but we did so because fundamentally, the Communists wanted to survive, just as we do. We were simply able to out spend and out-tech them.

That's not the case this time. The soldiers of our new enemy don't care if they survive. In fact, they want to die. That'd be fine, as long as they weren't also committed to taking as many of you with them as they can. But they are. They want to kill you, and the bastards are all over the globe.

You should be grateful that they haven't gotten any more of us here in the United States since September 11. But you're not. That's because you've got no idea how hard a small number of intelligence, military, law enforcement, and homeland security people have worked to make sure of that. When this whole mess started, I warned you that this would be a long and difficult fight. I'm disappointed how many of you people think a long and difficult fight amounts to a single season of 'Survivor.'
Instead, you've grown impatient. You're incapable of seeing things through the long lens of history, the way our enemies do. You think that wars should last a few months, a few years, tops.

Making matters worse, you actively support those who help the enemy. Every time you buy the New York Times, every time you send a donation to a cut-and-run Democrat's political campaign, well, dang it, you might just as well FedEx a grenade launcher to a Jihadist. It amounts to the same thing.

In this day and age, it's easy enough to find the truth. It's all over the Internet. It just isn't on the pages of the New York Times, USA Today, or on NBC News. But even if it were, I doubt you'd be any smarter. Most of you would rather watch American Idol or Dancing with Stars.

I could say more about your expectations that the government will always be there to bail you out, even if you're too stupid to leave a city that's below sea level and has a hurricane approaching.

I could say more about your insane belief that government, not your own wallet, is where the money comes from. But I've come to the conclusion that were I to do so, it would sail right over your heads.

So I quit. I'm going back to Crawford. I've got an energy-efficient house down there (Al Gore could only dream) and the capability to be fully self-sufficient for years. No one ever heard of Crawford before I got elected, and as soon as I'm done here pretty much no one will ever hear of it again. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to die of old age before the last pillars of America fall.

Oh, and by the way, Cheney's quitting too. That means Pelosi is your new President. You asked for it. Watch what she does carefully, because I still have a glimmer of hope that there are just enough of you remaining who are smart enough to turn this thing around in 2008.

So that's it. God bless what's left of America.

Some of you know what I mean. The rest of you, kiss off.

Posted by: | June 18, 2008 at 01:53 PM

This is NOT flip-flop.
Gov Crist adapted because Americans are getting hammered by $4-$5 gas.

This is being a good leader, a person that can adapt as situation changes.

We would have 1 million more barrels of oil a day if Bill Clinton had not veto'd a bill in 1995. The democrats are responsible for $4-$5 gas, not oil companies. Oil is priced in the world market. Oil companies have no control on prices.

A report in Investor Business Daily says that if the U.S. drill for oil off Florida's coast, California's coast, the Gulf of Mexico, in Alaska, Wyoming, Utah, & Colorado, we would have enough oil reserve that we would not need a single drop from the Middle-East oil.

We have plenty of oil reserves here, but we have never explored for it because of the liberals.

We can & should have our own supply. Then we can tell OPEC to kiss our @ss.

When Cristi says that he is against drilling one week and then promotes an avenue that could lead to drilling the next, that is by definition a flip-flop.

No amount of spin by Greer or Cristi will change this reality.

Gov Crist will earn praise from Americans. Latest poll shows Floridians want more drilling.

While you are correct that the oil companies will not drop their prices due to more domestic drilling, you have the supply-and-demand issue wrong. The current cost of oil is due to uncontrolled speculation thanks to the 'Enron loophole' fostered through the Legislature by Phil Graham (who is now guiding McCain in his policies) when he served in Congress. The way to drop the price of oil is to reenact the regulations that were stripped through this bad legislation. I would suggest that you contact your Senators and Representatives and urge them to overturn any veto of the current farm bill that may be forthcoming from the President. This legislation contains the closure of the 'Enron Loophole' and thus is facing the Presidents veto pen. Most economists feel that the true supply-and-demand price of oil is closer to $55 to $60 a barrel and the rest of the cost is based on pure speculation.

These democrats are what is causing us to have $5.00 gal. gas.

We have plenty of oil in America but these idiots led by Nancy Pelosi in Congress won't allow us to get the oil.

No wonder the democratic led Congress have a much lower approval ratings than Pres. Bush

5:34, you have no idea how the oil market works. No one cares what the U.S. does. It's traded in the world market.

To get prices down, add more supply or cut demand.

It's economics 101

Why is the latest poll shows huge support for drilling even among Floridians?

Gov Crist is always on the people's side. Bravo Charlie! Bravo John McCain.!

5:34 - You're gonna have to hikes interest rates significantly or kill millions of chinese before you ever get to $60/barrel again. Speculation is the culprit only in the mind of the novice.

OPEC sells oil for $136.00 a barrel.
OPEC nations buy U.S. grain at $7.00 a bushel.
Solution: Sell grain for $136.00 a bushel.
Can't buy it? Tough! Eat your oil!
Ought to go well with a nice thick grilled filet of camel butt !!!
Its time to DRILL HERE DRILL NOW, off the coast of Florida. And as far as Governor Crist and Chairman Greer of the RPOF get rid of them both.

[Jason Straight]

We are not goona drill and endanger our pristine beaches ..it wont makka difference of 10 years..One spill like the Santa mONICA SPILL WILL DESTROY OUR BEACHES.The GOP policies have hurt the working people of Florda//Dont let them destroy our ability to earn a living..Like Haiti they cut the trees for firewood and destroyed the environment..Good work Alex our next US Senator!

Jason,

So you and Alex Sink are going to tell the rest of us where we will or will not drill. I think not!! Put it to a vote and you and the lib female will be on the losing end.

SINK IS 'STUNNED'!

WOW! I'M STUNNED THAT SHE'S STUNNED.

DOES SHE STILL WORK FOR THE STATE OF FLORIDA?

Of course Sink is "stunned" $4.00+ per gallon for gas doesn't bother her - she and her husband are millionaires.

Sheesh!

Remember THAT in November!!

[Jason Straight]

Just reread what I wrote and realized I was on CRACK. I gotta get off this stuff, I'm starting to hallucinate and see Obama as President and Sink as his running mate!

[Trunk]

Alex doesn't understand; Charlie is running for VP, she's not.

OK, that's funny. LOL

Speculation is not to blame?

Demand is down bc of the high prices, and yet the price keeps going up. Experts say true supply/demand would make gas $2.50.

Saudi Arabia announces they'll raise production by 500,000 barrels a day, and the price still does not go down. Obviously normal supply/demand is not at work here.

Oil companies refuse to drill in millions of acres in the Gulf approved already. They don't need more wells.

Crist is a joke.

Clearwater Beach = Blackwater Beach

Honeymoon Island = Darkside of the moon Island

Reddington Shores = Riggington Shores

Is this Ms Sink also known as Mrs McBride?

Well, anyways she and her $5 gallon gas plan is not swaying me in the least. Radical environmentalist like her and the other socialist in her party just want to see the average working folks sentanced to a life of dependance on government. I am not buying into it anymore. The socialists are no longer a friend of the working man.

Put the drill bit in the ground!

Bush's speech about drilling was the most moronic piece of propaganda to issue from the mouth of a Republican since he lied to us about the war in Iraq. How stupid does he think Americans are, and more to the point, how stupid does he look to all of us and the rest of the world now?

Oh yes we are all stupid! With 70% favoring drilling. The stupids are the liberal Democrats who oppose it. This will be the straw that breaks the Messiah's back. Of course he will have to sit tight because of all the tree huggers and wealthy supporters who care less about the price of a gallon of gas.

70% supported amendment 1 too. Now we're laying off Cops and Firefighters.

That's life in tough economic times. There is fat in all the government budgets---including those precious fire and police budgets!!!

Not the point 11:14. Try and keep up. The point is that most voters didn't understand the true impact of amendment one. Likewise, most folks supporting offshore drilling don't understand that worldwide demand will more than offset any increased oil production from drilling off the Florida coast. It' simple pandering, just like Mccain's silly gas tax holiday. Neither will change the demand side dynamics that produce $4 per gallon gas.

Can we stop pretending that drilling in the Gulf will make a difference?

Why do the wingnuts always appeal to another wingnut authority instead of reading the research?

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/otheranalysis/ongr.html

"The projections in the OCS access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030."

"Because oil prices are determined on the international market, however, any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant."

The information is available folks...read it.

11:20pm - go check out the spot market and the prices for delivery at options expiration and get back to me.

11:23 AM

Not the point. Try and keep up. The average American is tired of the B... S... the liberals are throwing out about drilling. The bits are coming!!!

12:53 - It's exactly the point. 11:20pm blamed speculators for high prices. They sound nearly as uneducated as you.

Anyone condemning the "liberals" and assuming that drilling in the gulf will solve our problems is a sheep in the process of being sheared. There is no empirical data to support drilling in the gulf as a remedy to high gas prices....even at peak production. Reality always trumps wingnut fantasy. You better get used to it.

No liberal nut. You get used to it.

BIG BROWN IS GOING DOWN!

No drilling--no Presidency!

Not a liberal. Methinks you're not even sure what that word means....I can see your Hannity, you racist pig. I should have known you weren't worth my time.

Forget drilling in the gulf we need to fully exploit the Bakken Formation in the Dakotas and Montana while we dig deep in the Rockies and tap the worlds largest oil reserve!!!

Keep your eye on the prize. There is more oil in those two places than in the entire middle east.

The so called environmentalist don't want this oil drilled for because their real agenda is to bring down the USA a notch or two in order to conform to their global socialist notions. If they were really concerned about the environment all you would hear about from the liberal media is how the illegal aliens are trashing the Senoran Desert for the next 100 years and increased immigration illegal or not will deplete our natural resources too much to remain substainable.

DRILL HERE AND DRILL NOW or else get use to the liberal fascists jacking up your price to obtain energy and thus furthering the stranglehold government will have on your life and liberty.

yeah alex! call him out for the POS he really is!