Democrats are in a frenzy and many incumbents, seeking to distance themselves from the more polarizing issue of immigration, are suddenly throwing their support behind the fracking revolution. The Wall Street Journal notes: "The energy boom is shaping a new kind of Democrat in national politics, lawmakers who are giving greater support to the oil and gas industry even at the risk of alienating environmental groups, a core of the party's base. ... It is a theme playing out ahead of November's midterm elections, with some Democrats trying to balance environmental groups' concerns about climate change and an industry they see as carrying economic benefits." However, The American Interest's Walter Russell Mead points out that "natural gas being drilled out of shale across America is green. Shale gas is displacing coal ... and it emits roughly half the greenhouse gases that coal does." In other words, what was once considered just another Republican "dirty oil" scheme has turned into an inconvenient reality for the Left. More...
