Posted by
TK Kenyon -- www.tkkenyon.com on Sunday, November 25, 2007 9:12:26 PM
On CNN's "Late Edition," Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said, "The United States has been far too involved in sort of looking the other way, not only at the atrocities of human rights and violation of women."
He further said, "Every time we put our credit card in the gas pump, we're paying so that the Saudis get rich — filthy, obscenely rich, and that money then ends up going to funding madrassas," Islamic schools, "that train the terrorists. America has allowed itself to become enslaved to Saudi oil. It's absurd. It's embarrassing."
Huckabee said, "I would make the United States energy independent within 10 years and tell the Saudis they can keep their oil just like they can keep their sand, that we won't need either one of them."
Huckabee should know. He's the former chairman of the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission, a 37-state coalition to develop energy policy and lobby Congress on energy matters, such as the regulation of oil and gas production. He actually understands what he's talking about, while other folks spout untenable ideas.
While the U.S. does import more oil from Canada than it does from Saudi Arabia (seriously, we do,) the Canadians aren't funding terrorists. Saudi oil and our purchase of it fuels terrorism.
I'm not sure who I'm voting for in the primary, but I'll be keeping a closer eye on Huckabee. He's making sense, which is rare for a politician.
TK Kenyon, author of RABID: A Novel and CALLOUS: A Novel
"Kenyon is an author to watch." --Booklist Starred Review