So Republicans made the pipeline a political issue in response to Obama making it a political issue in an election year?

Sounds like both sides got dirty on that one.

make me some tea: So Republicans made the pipeline a political issue in response to Obama making it a political issue in an election year?

Sounds like both sides got dirty on that one.

Huh? When did Obama make it a political issue in an election year? It was the Republicans who wanted him to make a stand on the issue in 2012.

Anyway, Nancy Pelosi continues to be direct and honest. Good.

Nebraska is opposed to the Keystone pipeline running through a portion of the Ogallala Aquifer.
Just one article link for now: Link (new window)

They (Nebraska) have not provided any alternatives yet. (Fall of this year is when it is expected)

Even IF Obama had given the approval for the construction, what do some of you think would have happened? The Federal Government just going to give away the rights of the state of Nebraska to force them to route the pipeline through areas they are opposed?

/btw... guess which brothers stand to make the most money from this project? C'mon, guess!
//if you said Randolph and Mortimer Duke, you'd be close

cameroncrazy1984: Huh? When did Obama make it a political issue in an election year?

By saying he wouldn't decide on it until after the election? That's political.

make me some tea: cameroncrazy1984: Huh? When did Obama make it a political issue in an election year?

By saying he wouldn't decide on it until after the election? That's political.

Hush, the DNC spin is here.

Now, assuming the WH is telling the truth, they were planning to approve of it later this year and before the election, and the RNC made it political. But I don't think anyone is dumb enough to believe that.

I'll just be glad it's dead for now. It's an unnecessary pipeline that will do next to nothing for us and possibly poison the Ogallala Aquifer. I mean, there's no chance at all the pipeline could rupture, just look at the oil industry's stunning safety record!

make me some tea: Obama making it a political issue in an election year

make me some tea: By saying he wouldn't decide on it until after the election? That's political.

Interesting reasoning. By not deciding on it until after the election, he makes is a political issue in an election year.
By that reasoning, since he's decided on it before the election, it's no longer a political issue in an election year?

Or perhaps it's clearly a political issue in an election year because the Republicans forced his hand to make a decision (and, realistically, which decision) before the election.

It's a political issue no matter what.

As noted, Nebraska objected to the proposed pipeline going through a rather important aquifer. So the TransCanada agreed to reroute, they just haven't said where. They had expected to have something proposed by the fall. However, Republicans, by way of the payroll tax break extension, forced a deadline for approval now. So if the president approved it, it would be without knowing how exactly it's getting through Nebraska, opening it up to all sorts of litigation, etc.

So as argued in TFA, the Republicans were really creating a circumstance where the President would deny the project, force TransCanada (and other bidders) to re-apply (at some cost), so they could use it to paint him as anti-jobs and against getting away from foreign oil. The pipeline would create jobs, both construction and long-term (though not as many as stated), and it's really got nothing to do with where we get our oil, as the Canadian oil will be shipped overseas pipeline or no.

Long story short, both sides are bad, so vote Republican.

tallguywithglasseson: Long story short, both sides are bad, so vote Republican.

I would say it's disingenuous to even try to claim that the whole thing shouldn't have been political. By default it's a political matter. I'm in agreement with the course Obama is taking with it, btw.

make me some tea: I would say it's disingenuous to even try to claim that the whole thing shouldn't have been political

Yeah, I agree, that's what I mean by saying tallguywithglasseson: It's a political issue no matter what.

But I'm just thinking, as far as making it an election-year issue, I really don't think Obama was trying to do that by postponing the decision - mainly because he has two groups of supporters (labor and environmentalists) who are on opposite sides of it. Certainly was a political component to doing so, but I don't think he was trying to make it an election-year issue. Seems like he'd have preferred it not be an election-year issue (and, my presumption is, would have approved it quietly after the election, pleasing labor and pissing off environmentalists). The Republicans (as argued in TFA) clearly think forcing him (more or less) to deny the approval prior to the election is a winning issue for them.

guess which brothers stand to make the most money from this project? C'mon, guess!

Blues
Doobie
Grimm
From another mothers

HellRaisingHoosier: Infernalist: Lemme see if I understand this correctly...

This issue tried to get pushed through in the last Congressional tug of war...Obama compromised and said that he'd consider accepting or rejecting it by...mid summer, I think it was...

The GOP, sensing weakness, lunged for the throat and got cold-cocked by a strong right hand when Obama outright rejected it after the GOP tried to force a confrontation that they believed they could win..

Now, the GOP is whining.

Does the term 'rope a dope' sound familiar?



Yup. That just about perfectly sums it up.

I always laugh when President Obama is painted as a liberal. I feel any real liberal would have said, "Where is the pipeline running?! fark that shiat. Denied." Where President Obama says, "We'll work on that issue later" (aka ... shelve it till no one is paying attention)


I know several liberals that aren't reflexive idiots about pipelines and oil like you.

SO why are we supposed to support a pipeline that makes it easier for Canada to sell their oil to other countries through our gulf and thereby raise the price we as America pay for oil in general ?

This is a net loss in the end for the US and a Net gain for private companies and Canada.

By forcing the issue, Republicans have made the eventual construction of the pipeline less likely. But they have their issue.

so the GOP hates Obama so much that they're willing to hurt their own corporate backers JUST to make Obama look bad this year?

What can men do against such reckless hate?

birchman: BBBBUT NOW THEY WILL SELL IT DIRECTLY TO CHINA!! CHINA!!!!*

*just as soon as they build their own massive cross-country pipeline that nobody wants built up there either

I heard some Tea Partier bleating that China line this morning. I wanted to reach through the radio & smack him while screaming, "F*cking commodities, how do they work??"

BunkyBrewman:
/btw... guess which brothers stand to make the most money from this project? C'mon, guess!
//if you said Randolph and Mortimer Duke, you'd be close

The McCrary twins?

The pipeline already goes to Oklahoma and Illinois, so the oil already is getting piped into the United States for domestic use. The only reason you would want to pipe it to the Gulf of Mexico is so you could easily pump it onto ships and transport it over seas. That would decrease the amount availabe to U.S. markets and increasing the supply to foreign markets. So by not extending the pipeline we are keeping more oil available to the United States.