Bob Barr on the House of Representatives Energy Sit-In

David Weigel | August 8, 2008

Bob Barr held a conference call with bloggers this week; I asked what he made of his former Republican colleagues in the House protesting the congressional recess and making speeches to an empty room about the need for offshore drilling.

My reaction to that is the same as my reaction to President Bush's repeal of the 1991 executive order that his father signed, that made it even more difficult than pre-existing legislation to engage in offshore drilling. I commend the president. Where has he been for seven and a half years? I commend the House Republicans for finally standing up and doing something, but where have they been for the last seven and a half years? Are they serious about this or has this been an action taken to gain some headlines in advance of the Democratic and Republican conventions. The timing is, to be honest, a little suspect. But all of that being said, it's good that they're finally doing something. But to do something that will improve their standing in the polls before the election, I expect that will take more than standing on the House floor making speeches with the power turned off. It would take a lot more than that to create an agenda that will win them votes.

Barr was actually there for the first two years of the period he's talking about, of course, but I got his point. More Barriana here.

Comments

|8.8.08 @ 10:21AM|#

It's a good thing that we have a man lIke Bob Barr to provide us with this kind of insight into the Republicans' transparently opportunistic actions. A man of great integrity whose own campaign is a devotional crusade to personal principals that are almost six months old now. A man not acting in any way opportunistically to hobble his former parties own presidential campaign.

Barr is a consummate politician.

Lee Cruz|8.8.08 @ 10:21AM|#

*Pictures Bob Barr poking himself in the forehead with his right pointer finger*


"Where were you 7 and a half years ago buddy?"

Episiarch|8.8.08 @ 10:23AM|#

Who cares, Hugh? Even if he's just a robot who changed his appearance module to "libertarian", he's saying the right stuff and putting forth the right face in a reasonable, media-friendly way. I'm quite surprisingly pleased with how he's been doing and acting.

|8.8.08 @ 10:24AM|#

I commend the president. Where has he been for seven and a half years? I commend the House Republicans for finally standing up and doing something, but where have they been for the last seven and a half years?

Bob Barr is looking more worthy of my vote almost daily. The government pays money to produce ethanol form corn and refuses to collect money from oil producers to drill offshore.

Fucking stupid.

T|8.8.08 @ 10:30AM|#

Even if he's just a robot who changed his appearance module to "libertarian", he's saying the right stuff and putting forth the right face in a reasonable, media-friendly way.

Ding! Barr is putting forth the message and doing it without seeming like a complete crackpot. That's more than any LP candidate I've ever seen manage to do.

|8.8.08 @ 10:31AM|#

Barr is a consummate politician.

Finally we have somebody who can relate to people without looking like a total nut case.

|8.8.08 @ 10:36AM|#

Epi, T, Reinmoose,

Exactly. Barr's not going to win, so whatever is going on deep in his heart is irrelevant as long as he's talking the talk and strengthening the Libertarian "brand."

The Dude|8.8.08 @ 10:37AM|#

He may be doing it for personal gain, and yet he is still the best candidate the LP has had in many years. He's spreading the right message, and for that he gets my vote.

|8.8.08 @ 10:45AM|#

Kodos: We must move forward, not backward, upward not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!

Politicians do sure like to spin.

|8.8.08 @ 10:49AM|#

More Simspons' goodness (updated for freshness)

Kent Brockman: Senator [McCain], why should people vote for you instead of [Senator] [Obama]?
Kang: It makes no difference which one of us you vote for. Either way, your planet is doomed. DOOMED!
Kent Brockman: Well, a refreshingly frank response there from senator [John McCain].


Homer: Oh no! Aliens, bioduplication, nude conspiracies. Oh my God, [Cynthia McKinney] was right!

|8.8.08 @ 10:55AM|#

Somewhat OT: Looks like Russia is invading the renegade province in Georgia (South Ossetia). The oil pipeline from Azerbaijan runs through an area just south of there. Wonder what effect this will have on (russian) oil prices?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=amqPrh9oTJws&refer=home

|8.8.08 @ 10:59AM|#

well the PKK set the BP pipeline on fire already, so its currently already disrupted

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=aulMIRr6zzV8&refer=energy

Guy Montag|8.8.08 @ 11:00AM|#

I am beginning to appreciate this fellow from GA even more.

|8.8.08 @ 11:03AM|#

Whatever. You guys can have your polished media-savvy brand-grower. I won't vote Libertarian until they front a tinfoil-hatted dogcatcher in a cheap suit who answers every question with some reference to the Federal Reserve conspiracy.

|8.8.08 @ 11:06AM|#

Hugh,
Would it be enough if Barr promised to drink collodal silver until he resembled a Smurf?

|8.8.08 @ 11:09AM|#

Slightly OT: I guess Supply/Demand really did drive the price of oil to $145/bbl and it had nothing to do with speculation. Right TallDave? Right Matt Welch?

Episiarch|8.8.08 @ 11:10AM|#

Would that make him Opportunist Smurf?

|8.8.08 @ 11:13AM|#

well the PKK set the BP pipeline on fire already, so its currently already disrupted

Thanks for the info L-I-T. Looks like oil prices are down a little bit today.

|8.8.08 @ 11:21AM|#

Slightly OT: I guess Supply/Demand really did drive the price of oil to $145/bbl and it had nothing to do with speculation. Right TallDave? Right Matt Welch?

MP, guessing this is sarcasm (not sure?), I would note that Chinese demand for oil has plummeted in July with the ramp up to the Olympics. Beijing and the surrounding areas have massive manufacturing facilities that have essentailly been idled and more than 50% of automotive traffic in and around Beijing has been banned. Estimates of decline in Chinese refined product usage have been more than 10%, significant enough to drive the spot market for oil down. Couple that with the fact that Us demand has fallen 3% in a July 07/08 comparison and you have significantly easing demand. Look for oil prices to continue their march upward come October. With oil, go long and hold.

The Dude|8.8.08 @ 11:23AM|#

Hugh,
So, a Ron Paul/Starchild ticket? Works for me!

|8.8.08 @ 11:36AM|#

Look for oil prices to continue their march upward come October.

But gasoline demand in the US typically falls in the autumn, as people stop going on vacation and running around so much because school's back in session. Maybe this year there won't be as much of this standard decline, maybe there won't be any at all, but it would be pretty weird if there was an increase.

Bingo|8.8.08 @ 11:58AM|#

Yeah totally MP. I'm only paying $3.84 per gallon, what a deal! Welp, time to hop in my SUV and go on a road trip, gas is soooo cheap now that those damn speculators have gone away.

Guy Montag|8.8.08 @ 12:01PM|#

The Dude beat me to a similar thought.

Whatever. You guys can have your polished media-savvy brand-grower. I won't vote Libertarian until they front a tinfoil-hatted dogcatcher in a cheap suit who answers every question with some reference to the Federal Reserve conspiracy.

Didn't Dr. Paul already run a few years ago?

Guy Montag|8.8.08 @ 12:04PM|#

MP,

If you are seperating "speculation" from demand, then no.

If you are including speculation in the total demand to profit from a commodity, then you could rephrase and get a yes.

|8.8.08 @ 12:37PM|#

Guy,

Speculation is a demand component of oil futures, not oil itself. Unfortunately, since the futures market drives the spot price, that's where the worlds collide.

Bingo,

Why don't you tell me what you'd be paying if oil had held fast at $147 for three months? There's a huge lag between gas prices and oil prices.

All,

When oil was climbing to $147, most of the Reasonoids were saying "It's not speculation, it's demand!" Demand went up and down 25% in two months? Bull-ticky. What we're seeing now is a realignment of price with actual underlying demand. I wouldn't be surprised to see oil back to $100 by Labor Day.

|8.8.08 @ 12:39PM|#

I haven't really analyzed the futures markets in oil to see just when all these long contracts have to be honored, but my impression is that, in the commodities markets, speculative bubbles are very hard to maintain.

In the stock market, your stock never expires/must be delivered. In commodity futures, your contract will always expire/be delivered on a date certain.

If you think your stock price will be $100 in October, and buy/hold on that basis, it doesn't really matter if you were wrong and your stock is worth only $80 in October - the bubble can continue on. If you think the price of oil will be $100 in October, buy a futures contract on that basis, and oil is only $80 in October, you're fucked - any bubble in October oil prices will pop in October.

Caveat - its been a long time since I dabbled in commodities, so no warranties are offered are implied.

Orange Line Special|8.8.08 @ 1:13PM|#

Barr is great! And, I'm not even bothered one bit by the fact that he's a complete fake.

|8.8.08 @ 1:27PM|#

When oil was climbing to $147, most of the Reasonoids were saying "It's not speculation, it's demand!" Demand went up and down 25% in two months?

I think they're probably has been some speculative component to oil prices, but I'm guessing not that much.

We've just seen how demand has contracted in two major users over the last few months. For a commodity like oil, where even a slight undersupply can lead to large price increases due to the relative lack of price elasticity, a small reduction in demand will "deflate" that large price premium just as fast. So, yeah, I think the reductions in recent weeks could well be mostly demand-driven, with some bubble-popping thrown in.

Caveat - if I really thought I had any insight into oil markets and what they would do next, I'd be trading oil from my private island, not chatting with you folks.