Friday, June 13, 2008

Adventures in persuasion techniques: your modern GOP

I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of why we should or should not allow oil to be drilled off the coast of Florida. But I've been around awhile, and I know a crock of shit when I see one.

Apparently Cheney and other high level Republicans, as well as their water-carriers in the punditocracy, have been going around recently peddling the following set of facts and conclusions drawn therefrom:

(1) China, under leases obtained from Cuba, is currently -- right now, as we speak -- drilling for oil off the coast of Florida;
(2) the U.S., by law, does not allow such drilling; and
(3) because (1) is true, we should change (2).

Get that? Because China is drilling for oil off the Florida coast, we should do the same. Which doesn't strike me as a particularly compelling argument, but I guess I can see how it would be persuasive to some.

On the other hand: China is most certainly not drilling for oil off the coast of Florida. So say geologists, petro-industry experts, Western diplomats stationed in Cuba, Florida congressmen, etc. Pretty much everyone who actually knows anything about the matter.

You should read the whole article (pretty funny, with a nice flat headline), but here's a snip: "Jorge Pinon, an energy fellow with the Center for Hemispheric Policy at the University of Miami and an expert in oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico" had this to say: "China is not drilling in Cuba's Gulf of Mexico waters, period."

1 comment:

Gleemonex said...

The reason they keep making shit up out of whole cloth is: We've let them do it unfettered for seven and a half goddamn years. The only thing that truly astonishes me about this one in particular is that they're still telling the giant whoppers this late in the game. Going for broke, I guess.