Jeff Crank's "Running on Empty" Tour Sputters in Montana

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by: Colorado Pols

We wanted to be sure this report from Billings NBC affiliate KULR-TV gets a Colorado mention:

A group traveling across the country to promote less oil and gas industry regulation brought its tour to Billings Wednesday night, but the reception was probably not as warm as desired.

The Americans for Prosperity Foundation, a Conservative advocacy group, brought its “Running on Empty” tour to North Park. In front of dozens of supporters, the group accuses President Barack Obama’s policy as being responsible for high energy prices.

“The price of gas affects each and everyone of us,” said Jeff Crank with Americans for Prosperity, “It’s not really about politics, it’s about policies.”

Some of the speakers at the event, however, were less noble than Crank.

“The current movement, Marxist Movement, is involved in driving up energy and food cost,” said State Representative Krayton Kerns (R-Laurel)…

The event started off as a rally against the President’s energy policy, but it soon turned into a confrontation between hundreds of labor union counter-protesters, who got word of the rally and surrounded it before it began…

Choruses of boos and jeers rang out whenever a speaker went up on stage, which was loud enough for volunteers at the rally to confront the protesters. Despite a gulf of differences on their political beliefs, the rally attendees and counter-protesters did manage to agree on one thing: the country needs jobs.

That’s the same former CD-5 congressional candidate Jeff Crank of Colorado Springs we’ve discussed in this space many times, now a regional director for the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity–AFP has brought their “Running on Empty” through much of the country over the last few weeks, the theme being wholesale condemnation of President Barack Obama’s oil and gas drilling policies. AFP claims that Obama’s policies are causing high gas prices, even though U.S. drilling is reportedly at a 20-year high under Obama. You’ll recall that AFP’s previous splashy cross-country bus tour was against Obama’s health care reform legislation, so…we’ll let you figure what their real motivation is. That shouldn’t be very hard.

We’re not completely sure what provoked citizens in Montana to protest against AFP’s “Running on Empty” tour in numbers greater than the “Tea Party” crowd who turned out to back them. Possibilities include the recent sour crude spill near Yellowstone National Park, a new drilling boom in the eastern part of the state…or maybe just a low tolerance for guys named “Crank?”

Perhaps we’ll see when Crank and friends arrive home in Colorado Wednesday.

9 thoughts on “Jeff Crank’s “Running on Empty” Tour Sputters in Montana”

Gilpin Guy says:

August 23, 2011 at 12:11 am

Should be the Republicans slogan for new initiatives to help our “job generators” generate some jobs.

“Running on Empty” is an apt metaphor for these clowns. The crowd can ask them if the Gulf oil spill last year was the result of over regulation.

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1. The realist says:
  
  August 23, 2011 at 2:12 am
  
  says the Gulf oil spill was an act of God. So, see here, y’all, let’s get this straight.
  
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thiokuutoo says:

August 23, 2011 at 12:23 am

Money somehow. Shilling pays as well as any other Republican venture.

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ArapaGOP says:

August 23, 2011 at 3:24 am

http://www.house.gov/list/pres…

BOREN: PRESIDENT OBAMA UNINFORMED ABOUT OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Congressman Dan Boren issued the following statement regarding President Obama’s letter today requesting Congressional leaders eliminate tax provisions that are absolutely critical for domestic oil and gas production for thousands of independent producers across the nation.

“President Obama is completely uninformed about the oil and gas industry. The industry is not made up of just major companies. It is made up of small independent firms like those in Oklahoma that produce a vast majority of our domestic production. For every CEO of a major company, there are literally thousands of blue collar jobs that are affected by his administration’s energy policy. It is a policy that is very inadequate and has left so many on the gulf coast unemployed. Americans are tired of empty rhetoric on both sides and want a real plan. If the President doesn’t want to stand up and be a leader, then his silence would be appreciated from people who are trying to find solutions.”

Specifically, the Administration is seeking to repeal the “percentage depletion” and “intangible drilling costs (IDCs)” tax incentives. The removal of these provisions would negatively affect domestic independents who utilize them to attract the capital necessary to drill new oil and gas wells inside the United States. It is estimated that eliminating percentage depletion and IDCs for domestic independents would reduce U.S. drilling by 30-40 percent, thereby increasing the nation’s dependence energy from foreign sources. Furthermore, the major oil companies are barred by law from receiving percentage depletion altogether, as it only is given to domestic independent producers. The IDC preference is only available for domestic drilling activity, and as the major oil companies drill primarily outside the U.S., the domestic independent sector of the industry will yet again bear the brunt of losing this critical provision.

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1. BlueCat says:
  
  August 23, 2011 at 8:38 am
  
  Drilling is at a 20 year high and Boren is an Oklahoma Rep. Wonder whose pocket he lives in?
  
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  1. ajb says:
    
    August 23, 2011 at 6:01 pm
    
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GalapagoLarry says:

August 23, 2011 at 8:57 am

A so-far successful front of the Koch boys.

Did I not, in another thread, say something like “Coming to a school board near you”?

Their stench is all over Douglas County. If AFP didn’t directly fund the teaparty takeover of the board, they funded the funders, or funded the funders of the funders. Or funded the…. They love destroying public schools, and especially, in the South, love bringing back segregation.

But they have other interests. John Salazar knows about their interest in land and oil and natural gas, and I’m sure they (or their puppets) have visited Tipton many a time. And Coffman and Gardner and Lamborn.

Folks, keep your ears pricked up for “Americans for Prosperity”. It’s the Koch boys, puppet masters, out to filch every dime out of your pocket, brush aside the late 20th Century American way of life and crush you into servitude.

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1. Gilpin Guy says:
  
  August 23, 2011 at 4:39 pm
  
  “You used to be middle class and comfortable in your lifestyle but being servile to the rich has finally trickled down to you. Pick up that tab for the rich and don’t complain. You’re lucky they want to spend their wealth on American made hot tubs and not just BMW’s.”
  
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Gray in Mountains says:

August 23, 2011 at 4:51 pm

just another dude who is willing to sell ANYTHING as long as he can have a better lifestyle than the voters he once dreamed of representing. I’ll bet Hefley is shamed.

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