Shannyn Moore writes with little regard for accuracy, consistency, or truth. If her rants weren't published in Alaska's largest newspaper (instead of a marginalized leftist blog where they belong) she wouldn't warrant a response. But her latest piece was so sloppy and off the rails, I must reply.
Two weeks ago President Obama announced that he would, without consulting Congress, begin treating the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as protected wilderness; withdraw huge areas in the Alaska offshore oil basins; and impose likely cost-prohibitive restrictions on oil development in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve.
In a bizarre flurry of what psychologists might call "projection," Shannyn Moore, David Ramseur, and others try to blame Obama's unilateral actions on Alaska Republicans. They also try to cast Mark Begich as some sort of congressional miracle worker even though he squandered his 6-year opportunity to make a positive difference for Alaska.
Moore accuses Republican legislators who criticize Obama of "diverting public attention from their failures." But the big, smelly elephant in her apartment is that Democrats, at their highest levels of leadership, regard shutting down Alaska oil development as a success.
Harry Reid said this: "ANWR will not happen, I am opposed to it. That was one of the joys of my life, was when we defeated that legislative initiative of Sen. Stevens to drill in ANWR." (Ben Lando, "Analysis: Reid to change U.S. energy plan," UPI, Dec. 1, 2006)
Two years later, Mark Begich ran against Stevens, won, and then voted to make Harry Reid the Senate Majority Leader. Moore can try to obscure the facts, but it has been Democrats who have blocked ANWR every time it had a shot, no matter who was in power. It is well-documented that Harry Reid and Maria Cantwell, both close associates of Mark Begich, made it a priority to kill efforts to authorize drilling in ANWR.
This Democrat success story has been a disaster for Alaska. If Bill Clinton hadn't vetoed ANWR in 1995, or Senate Democrats hadn't scrambled to sink the bill during the George W. Bush administration (Bush had begged for the bill,) then ANWR would now be producing huge volumes of oil and Alaska would be receiving a major portion of the revenues.
It's true that John McCain voted against ANWR before he ran for president -- he has since voted in favor of it -- but Moore conveniently forgets that McCain's running mate, Sarah ("Drill Baby Drill") Palin, very likely would have made their administration friendly to drilling, and certainly not as hostile to it. This is the same Sarah Palin who endorsed Moore's pick for governor -- Bill Walker, who happened to join Republicans in condemning Obama for this assault.
Moore is even more confused when describing the events of the past few years. She said, "For the first time in our history, exploration in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas actually got underway." That's two false statements in one sentence. First, exploration occurred in the Chukchi Sea in the '80s and '90s under a Republican president. That was the first time.
Second, that was the only time. There was no "exploration" while Mark Begich was Senator. Shell was only allowed to bore "top holes" and was specifically forbidden from drilling into any oil-bearing zones. How, exactly, does that constitute "exploring" for anything when the government requires you will find nothing? Shell has still not been allowed to drill an exploratory well under this administration. Now it's even harder since more areas are off-limits.
Do those who argue that this federal land grab wouldn't have happened if Alaskans had re-elected a Democrat believe Obama's series of assaults on Alaska are truly some act of contemptuous, Chicago-style revenge for not giving him back his compliant senator? Then it's even clearer that we made the correct choice. Kind of like when you break up with a girl and she slashes your tires.
I'll simply state the obvious: Begich wants to be senator again so he and his gang will say anything to make it sound like we need him to deal with Democrats who would otherwise destroy Alaska's economy.
But this is America, and we don't vote based on fear-mongering and blackmail. We vote based on hope for our future -- hope for a president and a Congress who will respect our right to develop our resources and not treat Alaskans like squatters in a national park.
If Alaska Democrats truly saw access to our resources as Alaska's top priority and opportunity, they'd be furious with Obama and threatening to leave a party that's obviously left them. Because whether they admit it or not, Moore and Begich and their fellow travelers have been abandoned by the Democrats -- left in a restricted wilderness area to freeze in the dark.
And the only ones pushing back are Republicans.
Frank McQueary is vice chair of the Alaska Republican Party.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com