As if I need anything else to complain about what goes on in Washington, especially when it comes to the establishment and the Democratic party. As you all know, I am not a man who minces his words but this time around I need to be especially blunt and honest analyzing these antics. In the last 48 hours there have been two acts of cowardliness by Democratic leaders. The first happened Friday when speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi shut down the House of Representatives, shutting off microphones, CSPAN cameras and turning off the lights. This was a preemptive strike of not wanting to hold a vote on a energy bill that would allow new drilling to curb our dependence of foreign oil. She is under a lot of pressure from Republicans and even a few members of her own party to bring this bill to a vote on the floor. She knows that if it was presented, it would pass because there would be enough sane Democrats out there that would vote with Republicans . New drilling is supported by a two to one margin by Americans, according to numerous polls. Nancy Pelosi couldn't have this happen. In her eyes, its a no win situation for the Democratic party. A no vote on the record would jeopardize the electability of Democratic congressmen based on the hottest election topic in 2008 A yes vote would enable the bill to pass and be signed by President Bush, giving Bush and the Republicans a much needed victory in the eyes of Americans. A yes vote would also clash with their supporters; Big Environment. Democratic candidates wouldn't ever go against this core Democratic group (they bow to the green shrine everyday, just ask Al Gore). Hey, Big Environment has deep pockets and a loud voice and would make sure than any Democrat that votes against their wishes, pay in November. This would make congress a little more equally divided in a election year that all pundits expected a increase by the Democratic party. So instead of doing the work of the American people that they are supposed to represent, they pull a cowardly prank like this. Why don't you Nancy, grow a pair and actually do something important that would cross party lines. This is just another reason why congress has even a smaller approval rating than President Bush.

The second cowardly act by a leading Democrat isn't as bad as what Nancy Pelosi did, but it shows what kind of candidate and man Barack Obama is and what kind of president he will be. Just today I heard a news story that Barack Obama will only participate in the three scheduled presidential debates with John McCain instead of participating in several town hall meetings alongside McCain across the country. This would have been the modern day version of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. I like town hall meetings better than the standard debates because the questions come unscripted from Americans instead of the same old questions that pundits ask. (There might be one town hall style debate in the three scheduled, but I wouldn't necessarily depend on the questions being unscripted or scanned prior to the event. ) I find it cowardly that a man who speaks about change, not being a Washington insider and like to change the way Washington works, would back out out of these town hall meetings, an idea he initially interested in doing with McCain. What is he afraid of? It has become more evident week by week, we see incidents where Obama has a problem speaking off the cuff. He is just fine if he has a teleprompter in front of him, but when it comes to improvising, he needs a lot of practice. In a town hall format, he wouldn't be able just to give the same old answer, most of the time has nothing to do with the question asked, like he would be able to do with a panel of political pundits. He's afraid that this would make him look bad and give McCain an advantage. Its all about playing defense with politics not offensive, it not winning a campaign but not losing one. While most of McCain campaign stops have been town hall meetings as of late, we still see few mistakes from McCain and in my opinion still looks a little bit too stiff talking in this environment. This isn't the first time Obama has done things that went against what he has said in the past. Public financing comes to mind. Early in his campaign he said he would accept public financing of his campaign like John McCain but that was before he got his hands on a windfall of fund raising that has crushed every Democratic records and easily beats McCain's effort. Instead of limiting his spending which would be a Washington outsider thing to do, he has bypassed public financing which gives him a limitless amount of money to spend. He is the first presidential candidate to do this. What ever happened to McCain-Feingold, that was embraced by the left to keep money out of politics. Hmmmm. Barack.

I just can't believe what Democrats can get away with and I know that the media won't hold their feet to the fire, so its up to talk radio, Fox news and the blogosphere to spread this news to the masses. I hope that America wakes up to the fact that the Democratic party doesn't speak for the common man trying to fill his pickup truck with $4.00 a gallon gas but to special interests that they rail against every election cycle. Its the same old Washington politics and I am getting sick of it.

With energy and food prices on the rise and showing no signs of going down (at least to a point where we are used to), where are all the advocates of the poor and minorities who are being hit by this the hardest. On a grand scale they are silent, no Michael Moore (who would just blame big oil), Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton or any prominent Democrats, who would rather pander to their environmental wacko supporters than a huge majority of the electorate They would rather talk about technology that doesn't exist today, or very short sighted solutions like taking oil from the strategic reserves or having a gas tax holiday. Its always about the demand for oil not the supply. Hey, oil prices went down $10 a barrel on just the announcement of President Bush lifting the Federal ban on offshore drilling which still doesn't even get us a step closer to drilling. What would happen to oil prices if we ever laid out a plan with a timetable on increasing our domestic production of oil while finding ways to conserve our energy. Hey, I am all for hybrid cars and finding alternate sources of energy ,but they are not practical on a grand scale at this time. We should be opening up HUNDREDS of nuclear and coal fired plants, shut down all natural gas powered plants (natural gas should only be used for home heating), while creating more fuel efficient practical cars, trucks and SUVs. Just the mere announcement of a plan (which would only take a year if congress ever gets their head out of their a**) would bring down oil prices under $100. While we may never see gas prices of .99 or even 1.99 we would knock it down to $2.25 or so.

So, it seems like the Democratic led congress has abandoned one of their constituencies and sided with the environmentalists, risking their political future. As I said before, there are certain groups Democrats will never cross; the elderly, environmentalists, trial lawyers and teachers. I hate to say it, the poor and minorities don't go out in droves to vote, still falling for the same rhetoric year after year from the Democratic party. They claim that they are the only ones looking out for them while the Republicans only look out for the rich, which couldn't be further from the truth. It is safe to assume that the Democrats in congress are safe and probably will pick up seats in both houses this election year because of the unpopularity of President Bush, but in 2010 and beyond, it will be a crap shoot. If energy prices continue to rise or even stays the same, the election of 2010 could be a very interesting election especially if Obama wins the Presidency. If this happens the Democrats would have no one else to blame, but themselves. Democrats have made this bed and will have to live in it if they continue to side with a small minority of hard core environmentalists who fight every new power plant in this country, than the people who don't have a voice in Washington. We could see a mass exodus from the Democratic party comparable to the likes of southerners becoming Reagan Democrats when the Democratic party became too far left on social causes for their taste.

How are the Democrats will handle this situation? Again they will try to curb Demand and will probably will try to raise the minimum wage a few dollars an hour (which surprises me that no one has written a bill on this). Anyone who has an ounce on economic knowledge (not one Democratic congressman on capital hill that I know of) knows that business will just raise prices when faced with higher labor costs. All of this will raise the price of goods and services for all of us to help a few that are making the minimum wage. Employees that make more than the minimum wage won't get a wage increase, so their buying power decreases. This would hurt the economy no help it.

Again, this issue might not be a major problem for the Democrats this election but in two years I am going to pull up a chair, crack open a beer and see all of this unfold in front of my eyes. Man this is great.