Saudi Arabia doesn't count. It's not Francophone.

I disagree. Bashing the Saudis appeals to the far right (read any conservative blog) and appeals to joe sixpack who blames the Saudis for the price of gas. Attacking the Saudis is a sister souljah moment for Kerry.

Yeah, it's fun. But it isn't an energy policy.

I agree with AWW. Very popular to attack Saudis, and that is one of the "problems" with incumbency in the sense that Bush (if he is responsible) has to play down such criticism.

AWW;

Of course it's popular, so's having France and Germany hate us. But isn't Mr. Kerry proposing to change all that and make us universally loved?

Am I missing something here? Why would anyone in his (or her) right mind want to bash the Saudis?

I must be a Joe sixpack, out of my mind right-winger because I sure as hell would like to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and so would GWB by developing ANWAR.

If Clinton hadn't vetoed it 10 years ago we would have been enjoying that oil right now, even if we just used it to keep our national reserves full and for military usage. market forces would have allowed that to happen naturally without specific designation; if you follow my drift.

I agree with AWW that in the short run this isn't the worst thing in the worldfor Kerry to do. It's kind of like Schroeder going negative against the United States when his back was against the wall in last year's election.

The problem of course, were Kerry to be elected, would come next spring, when gas reserves get short due to therefinery changeover from winter to summer fuels and the Saudis tell Kerry to stick it where the moon don't shine when he asked for help in lowering crude prices, while at the same time the Republicans hit Kerry on his refusal to drill in ANWR as the price of gas heads towards the $3 mark. That's when the new president would put on the cardigan sweater and turn up the fireplace for an address to the nation.