Charlie Crist gets panned in Orange County

I lived In Orange County for about 9 years and I've never seen more love of vehicles anyplace (and I have been in 49 of our states. The people of Orange County can't have it both ways........driving their beloved BMWs, etc. at high speeds on their many freeways and roads but not drilling in their backyard. We in Texas have offshore drilling and have no problems with our beaches (yes, Texas has beached, some like S. Padre Island as lovely as the Southern Calif. beaches. Quit your bitching: either drill offshore or sell your vehicles and walk or ride the bus or train. You can't expect oil from other sources when you have some offshore. Cuba and China will be drilling there if we don't. Don't be so selfish

Like any and all Republicans, he has no ideas, or ideas that are tried tested and terrible. The Republican party has taken this country to the brink of disaster. Over it actually. If Crist, or any of his felllow charlatans dares set foot in Brooklyn NY, he better be prepared to be run out of town on a rail, or at the very least get a fat greasy pie in his rich white preppy boy face.

The rumors in Florida are loud and persistent that Crist is gay. If the Republican Party wishes a closet gay VP candidate, by all means.

Alex, Alex, Alex...Republicans are the ones who follow through on their ideas. Democrats just recycle the same tired, worn-out failed policies over and over again. National health care? That was Harry Truman's idea which Democrats have failed to deliver for over 60 years. Energy conservation? Jimmy Carter--another Democratic failure. Class warfare? That one goes all the way back to William Jennings Bryan, perhaps the greatest failure in Democratic Party history. Yes, a proud legacy of failure, the wobbly foundation on which Barack Obama builds his campaign of empty promises! Huzzah!

Millie, you have not spent that much time in Orange County in the past five years if you think we drive fast. (ok I will give you the middle of the night when there is just a little trafic) But you are right on with the "cuba and china" why should we let outsiders drill with in 200 miles of your coast when US companies can not?

With all the money we borrow from China we could have built the infrastructure needed to produce fuel from Algae. Our leaders are asleep at the wheel. This is Bush's fault. He keeps high mileage cars from being sold in the U.S. and don't let any form of alternate energy compete with oil. The only reason he let ethanol be produced is so wallstreet could clean up on high food prices. The greed machine at work in America.

Millie - it really isn't a choice. Offshore drilling won't allow people to keep up their love affair with driving, anyone who thinks that is completely clueless about the world oil situation.

If growth in China and India remain at their current levels, by the time we got offshore platforms online, the competition for the consumption of oil will be even worse than it is today.

This isn't the 20th century anymore, growth of demand has far out paced growth of supply and the main reason is there is virtually infinite demand projections on a resource for which there is finite supply. Drilling for some more crumbs of the finite resource does not solve America's energy problem, does not ensure our energy independence, and in fact, really doesn't achieve anything but give a false sense of hope to the ignorant.

I agree with Millie.

California accounts for 14% of all cars in the nation - that's one in seven – according to the National Auto Dealers Assoc. (All vehicles minus trucks and buses.)

The state has a special responsibility to contribute to a solution here, including the supply side of the problem. Why should off-shore be limited in NIMBY-like fashion to a few Gulf states?

I BELIEVE THE FAILURE FALLS IN LINE WITH THE LOVELY PRESIDENT BUSH. WHO CAN BE BLAMED FOR OUR COUNTRY'S CURRENT AFFAIR OF FAILURE. YOU KNOW I DON'T THINK POLITICS IS A PROPER DISCUSSION DUE TO ALL THE HE SAID SHE SAID BULL____. WE JUST NEED TO FIX US AND THEN HELP THE REST OF THE WORLD BEFOR THEY HAVE TO HELP US MORE THAN THEY ALREADY DO.

Drilling is a drip in the bucket, not the way forward.

Millie,

I've been to South Padre....lots of fun avoiding stepping in tar and using the hotel provided tar remover to remove it from your clothes and feet...

"Asked the editorial, "How is giving Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama power to make drilling decisions that could affect Florida 'brilliant?' ""

Well, everyone here thinks that giving CA the tailpipe emissions law, which would affect the other 49 states, "brilliant" as well.

Millie, my opinion of Republicans' approach to solving problems is usually amazement and distrust ("another crisis we can profit from!"). On the drilling issue, I would rather seek a solution that cuts pollution and our dependence on oil (especially when it supports hostile interests). However, you raise two good questions: 1) Do we want China or Cuba responsible for protecting our environment? 2) As China continues expanding into the "good-guy" role that Bush/Cheney abandoned, do we want them using Cuba as a stepping stone to resources that may someday be critical to us, further profiting at our expense?
The latter case is a stretch, but not if the cost of oil keeps rising (and it will). I might support over-the-horizon drilling in the Gulf in exchange for repealing all tax incentives for oil companies (plus supporting windfall taxes) and using the money to develop clean/safe energy that doesn't transfer our nation's wealth and independence into other hands.
As a Californian, agreeing to consider drilling in the Gulf sounds NIMBY but, strategically, the Gulf would likely be tapped far sooner than the rugged and deep Pacific - especially with no "Cuba" nearby. While I'd like to respectfully mention to B.Fair that Californians have been buying 20% of hybrids sold in the US for years (and have been pushing ourselves, the auto industry, and the nation toward "green" even longer), if the demand for oil makes our Pacific coast a target then, yes, I'd want to get there first too.