Drilling in West Pits Republican Policy Against Republican Base

[Rose Siding]

snip>
The battle cry is the same as in past movements: a call for local control over a distant federal landlord. But for the first time, it is the Republicans who find themselves the target of angry speeches about lost property rights and tone-deaf federal land managers. And people who have been on opposing sides of the major land battles in the West - mainly property owners and ranchers versus environmentalists - are now allies.

"The word from Washington is drill, drill, drill, and now they've basically destroyed our ranch," said Tweeti Blancett, a coordinator for George Bush's presidential campaign in San Juan County, N.M. "We've been in a firestorm down here. A lot of Republicans are upset."
...
A prominent Republican from Cheyenne, Wyo., Ms. Budd-Falen said the drilling boom had turned the political world upside down in the West, home to the sagebrush rebellion of the 1970's and other later battles against federal government restrictions on development of public land. Now property owners, ranchers and home builders are worried about overdevelopment.
...
Colorado and New Mexico, in the center of the boom, are also where Democrats hope to tip the balance of the national electoral map. The oil and gas drilling, while providing jobs and an infusion of money to some areas, is seen as a threat to other regions that have prospered by catering to tourism and retirees.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/national/22drilling.html?pagewanted=2

[ailsagirl]

1. Tweeti ...Blancett ?? Is that for real??

What a name!!
:rofl:

In regard to the post itself, GOOD. We need his base to
crack-- and I think it definitely has begun.