News Roundup, 5/22/08: In An Ocean of Panic

It is a time of some casting about for the Republican Party as they search for everything from a slogan to an identity.

The Republican Party hunkered in meetings this week as they attempted to figure out an effective way to sell themselves to the American public. After losing three special elections in the House (two of which were in relatively 'safe' Republican districts), the GOP's operations are tinged with a feeling of dread and / or desperation. Turning to old product jingles wouldn't be my first choice for message modeling, but then again, I'm not advising the GOP.

Yesterday I reported that the House made it okay to sue OPEC over oil prices and certain price-fixing practices, even as oil reached $133 per barrel. I also described my skepticism that such a thing would do much good. As of today the price of oil is still increasing.

You wouldn't normally expect Texas to be a national standard bearer in the march away from oil, nor for T. Boone Pickens to be at the front of that line, but both seem to be true. Texas is juicing up on wind power, and solar power may not be far behind. I have an uncle who has said for years that the first time you can convince someone there's money to be made in solar or wind power, someone will break it wide open. Pickens might be the impetus for such a market development here in Texas.

Speaking of money, donors continued to fork over massive sums in April, and Obama led the way as usual with $31 million. It seems counterintuitive to learn that the RNC is actually beating the DNC in fundraising since all candidates and committees on the Democratic side are running away with it every month, but that is the case.

I have argued several times in this space that the Democratic Party is currently winning on every issue, no matter what you might hear from right-leaning pundits or news channels. That includes national security, which is a huge step for Democrats, as they have for generations been embattled on that particular front by the GOP. In cases like these, how the Democrats took control of an issue is just as interesting as the fact that they did.

(Oh, and for a good laugh, how about Fox News getting uppity about journalistic ethics?)