Good catch. For scary ideas, the line for wingnuts between "imagine this is happening" and "this is absolutely true" is always pretty thin.

I'm reminded of McCain's bizarre "it's 2013" speech, where he thought he could get away with painting a rosy scenario of where his administration would lead us without giving any hint of how they would get there. Perhaps he was trying to tap into the same thing -- tell the base to imagine, and they'll convince themselves he actually presented a plan, and argue vehemently against anyone who points out that the emperor has no clothes.

Canadians and Mexicans my butt. You can be sure Halliburton will be in this Chinese/Cuban drilling action if it ever come about. Hell they sold nuclear weapon triggers to the Libyans in the 1990s, what's to stop them?

I'm a little confused. Is it true that a Chinese company (a.a China) will be drilling off the coast of Cuba in 2009?

I'm just trying to figure out if this is completely invented or are they just assuming that something that is still quite a bit off in the future, but still possible, is actually happening right now?

Could TPM put a moritorium on the use of the phrase "gin up"? Great phrase, but now seems to be in every article.

all they have to do is give it to their talk radio monopoly to repeat and it will become truth.

the coordinated uncontested repetition from the GOP talk radio monopoly does more to determine what is acceptable news than any other single medium. but without searchable transcripts of their shows the media analysts and haven't been able to document the migration of GOP talk radio talking points and lies to the lazy celebrity media circuit. they like taking the prechewed bushit off the talk radio bandwagon (reinforced in faxes and emails) because they know it's already been pounded into the ears of tens of millions by the end of the day or week. doesn't matter how false or absurd it is, they feel like they're on a red velvet GOP bandwagon.

meanwhile progressives completely ignore talk radio because it hurts their ears and they strategize in a vacuum, looking for explanations, and excepting explanations that falsely and tragically attribute Dem failures and GOP gains to social movements instead of the coordinated mass repetition by raving blowhards on the talk radio monopoly that largely determines the political and media flavor of America.

and increasingly, progressive media activists cede the talk radio monopoly to the right thinking they're passing them with the internet. a big mistake. the internet seems progressive since it is still somewhat democratic and reflects real America- it may inform people who search for information but it is not a monster coordinated propaganda outlet reaching 50-70 MIL.

Never, ever, underestimate the gullibility and stupidity of the Republican hangers on. I would ask them one simple question. Where are the airial photos of said rigs? Or perhaps they are equipped with stealth technoligy? Also never, ever underestimate the willingness of the GOP leadership to manipulate the stupidity of their followers. It's their recipe for success. And the only thing they have done in eight years that works.

After reading

"April 8 Letter to the editor to the Leaf-Chronicle in Clarksville, Tenn. Jim Weague wrote:

"We cannot drill in the Gulf of Mexico, although China and Cuba are drilling there right now." "

I was curious ...

I did me a little research on Mr. Jim/James Weague of Clarksville, Tenn ...

After no luck at all on Yahoo and Google. I then went and hit my genealogy sources ...

Funny thing - searching 5 different genealogy sites for "Weague" in Tennessee ... None. Ok. Weague anywhere in the US. Guess how many times the last name of Weague comes up? ...

Funny thing - just twice .... out of thousands of data points - several hundred years of record keeping - in all of genealogy research now online detailing millions of families - millions of people's, relative's and ancestor's names (from all over the world)... Just twice.

The two uses of the last name "Weague" ... appears that those two were typo's after looking at the original documents ...

Curious.

Yes, but as The Village never stopped reminding us, "Shooter" was one of the Serious Grownups.

This is what they do, and they are very good at it. They "leak" stories to media outlets with no track back then cite those same stories in MSM to prove their point. They send letters to the editor to push the story. Cheney is a master at this. "As we've read in the Times recently ....", etc..

meanwhile progressives completely ignore talk radio because it hurts their ears and they strategize in a vacuum, looking for explanations, and excepting explanations that falsely and tragically attribute Dem failures and GOP gains to social movements instead of the coordinated mass repetition by raving blowhards on the talk radio monopoly that largely determines the political and media flavor of America.

I would add "Christian" radio to that.

I wonder if anybody had to land under sniper fire when delivering and installing that drilling equipment...

Here's a call-in comment from the Baldwin County, Alabama section of the Mobile Press-Register regarding the issue, with the added threat of Canadians drilling off Alaska:

Wake up, Democrats

This is for all you Democrats out there. Why don't you call all the Democratic senators and legislators and let them know that you are furious that other countries are drilling about 50-90 miles off the east coast of the United States for oil? Mexico is being able to do all its drilling and, guess what, Canada will soon be ready to start drilling on the Alaska side. Where does that leave the Americans? Zero, and very dependent on the rest of the oil countries. Do the Democrats think about you? Absolutely not, so you better call them and let them know that you are furious, because the Republicans are trying to do something for you, because the Democrats will not allow drilling. All the rest of the countries get to drill for our oil, because it is in international waters. We could drill, but the Democrats don't want that to happen, because they need the environmental vote. They will sit back and let you pay $5 or $6 a gallon and say that they will come up with something. We will come up with fossil fuel. We will work this out. When are they going to work this out? I heard this same song 30-40 years ago. Do you want to hear it another 25-30 years from now? You better wake up, Democrats, because the Democrats are the ones that are costing all of us, not the Republicans. If I were you, I would be calling all the Democratic senators and Congressional representatives as soon as possible and let them know how upset you are. If you don't do it, then you will pay the $5 or $6 a gallon.

Baldwin County is on the Gulf of Mexico and there are natural gas rigs as far as the eye can see.

Jaffe served as member of the reconstruction and economy working group of the Baker/Hamilton Iraq Study Group and was a major contributor to the recent joint Baker Institute/CFR task force on Guiding Principles for U.S. Post-Conflict Policy in Iraq . She has also served as an advisor to the U.S. National Intelligence Council Study on Energy to 2015, as project director for the Baker Institute/CFR task force on Strategic Energy Policy, and as a principal advisor to USAID's project on Options for Developing a Long Term Sustainable Iraqi Oil Industry. She is currently serving as a strategic advisor to the American Automobile Association (AAA) of the United States helping the motor club fashion a voice for the American motorist in the U.S. energy policy debate.

Oops, here's the excerpt from her profile