Wouldn't a cosistent politician be an inconsistency?

Anyway, my long observation is that there is no such thing as a consistent politician. No way, no how.

Politics requires a politician to take different positions on different days as a matter of survival, anticipating that they will keep their word is the worst sort of self deception.

Honorable men would not chift positions for political expediency but honorable politicians may be a myth at best.

No one said it; nor implied it. You get no disagreement from me on what you said. Still the argument for drilling in ANWAR need not stem from a irrational fear of dependence on foreign oil. There is an NBER paper (#13211) on it by Kotchen and Burger that makes an economic case for drilling there.

This myth basically suggests that the problem with oil prices is due to America's "dependence" on foreign oil. One of the worst economic myths, it plays on economic nationalism and on xenophobic feelings that are sometimes pervasive in the United States.

The high price of oil has nothing to do with its origin; the price of oil is determined in international markets.

Even if the United States were to produce 100% of the oil it consumes, the price would be the same if the worldwide supply and demand of oil were to remain the same.

Oil is a commodity, so the price of a barrel produced in the United States is basically the same as the price of a barrel of oil produced in any other country, but the costs of labor, land, and regulatory compliance are usually higher in the United States than in third-world countries.

Lowering these costs would help increase supply. Increasing supply, whether in the United States or elsewhere, will push prices lower.

Importing a product does not mean you "depend" on it.

Let me say that again – IMPORTING A PRODUCT DOES NOT MEAN YOU "DEPEND" ON IT.

This is like saying that when we "import" food from our local supermarket we "depend" on that supermarket. The opposite is usually true; exporters depend on us, since we are the customers.

Also, importing a product usually means buying at lower prices, whereas producing in the United States often means consuming at higher prices. This point is proven when we see the cheap imports we can purchase from China and the higher prices of many of these same products manufactured in the United States.

The amazing thing is that the protectionists claim, on the one hand, that America should be "protected" from cheap imports, but when it comes to oil, they say we should be "protected" from "expensive imported" oil.

Most, if not all, of the higher price of oil can be explained by the expansion of the money supply or the debasement of the dollar. The foreign producers are not at fault; our national central bank is the culprit.

If McCain, for example, were to change his perspective on drilling in ANWAR, this would be wise don't you think?

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of a small mind."