Christopher Horner from the Competitive Enterprise Institute e-mails:
My take on the political issue arising from yesterday/today is that yes, pressure will build for “an energy bill.” Pressure should instead build for an an energy bill doing what Pres. Bush proposed; that is, Bush should be able to demand a good bill from conference and quickly in Sept. Instead, already the assumption is that the opponents of building out our energy infrastructute will turn this incident on its head through their own guile and the admin.’s refusal to fight for principle over “checking the box for each campaign promise” (mindset of “get me ‘a bill’”). Ds with the help of liberal Rs will play into this and indeed demand “a bill!” asap, while illogically and cyncially holding firm to their anti-energy provisions (the windmill mandate of anywhere from 10-20%, global warming titles, etc.), claiming that R insistence on jettisoning this junk is holding back enactment. Guess who blinks. Clever, if typical.