The last few days have seen left wing anti-energy Democrats scrambling to find a survivable position.

When we first launched the Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less petition drive at American Solutions, left wing anti-energy Democrats were deeply and decisively opposed.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced that she was "saving the planet" by stopping drilling.

Senator Obama made fun of drilling and announced that inflating your tires would increase energy availability as much as drilling.

Congressman Mark Udall (D-CO), a hard line environmental extremist and anti-energy Democrat (and the author in the House of the ban on developing oil shale, a resource proven to have three times more oil than Saudi Arabia), was confidently opposed to drilling and comfortably ahead of Republican former Congressman Bob Schaffer for the Colorado Senate seat.

Then the American people began to sign the petition.

Speaker Pelosi Made a Big Mistake When She Cut Off the Debate on Drilling

Senator John McCain announced that he recognizes the reality of the energy crisis and now favors offshore drilling (although he still opposes developing ANWR, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge). McCain began saying "Drill More, Drill Here, Pay Less" at town hall meetings. His campaign ran a commercial about drilling. He used the phrase in a weekly radio address. Last Saturday night at Saddleback Church he told Pastor Rick Warren that agreeing to offshore drilling was the biggest change in public policy in his career.

Speaker Pelosi made a big mistake when she abruptly cut off Congressional debate and adjourned early on Friday, August 1st. The enraged House Republicans began staging a speak-in, which is still underway as I write. They clearly felt they were representing the American people, and their rights as elected representatives were being trampled on by a dictatorial Pelosi machine. The result has been two weeks of talk radio and other news, which would probably not have happened without Pelosi's arrogance and mistakes. You can view the Newt.org blog's coverage here.

The Drill Here, Drill Now Petition: Almost One And a Half Million And Counting

And as Republican Leader John Boehner led the effort to have a real debate with the country about developing more American energy now, people kept coming to American Solutions to sign our Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less petition. Today there are nearly 1,500,000 signatures, and more sign up every day.

The result of all this effort has been a continued increase in support for drilling. Indeed the American people want a comprehensive energy plan. Pollster Dave Winston reports that 81% favor a Manhattan Project style all-out effort to produce new energy systems.

Faced with this tidal wave of popular support, it quickly became apparent that the anti-energy Democrats were holding a losing hand.

Holding a Losing Hand, Anti-Energy Democrats Are Grasping for a New Strategy

Now left wing anti-energy Democrats are trying to maneuver to a new position:

They want to pretend to be for drilling just enough to win the election but not do anything to actually produce more oil and gas.

Senator Obama was the first to break. He began saying maybe he could accept some drilling in a comprehensive energy bill which would also include a lot of other things. He was sort of for nuclear power as long as it was not any time soon. He was for studying this and analyzing that.

Then Congressman Mark Udall announced that he was for a little bit of drilling in a few places as long as it was in a bill with a big tax increase.

Finally, on Saturday, in their weekly radio address, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the Democrats would have drilling in a new energy bill.

The New Left Wing Anti-Energy Strategy: Deceive, Deceive, Deceive

But when you read beyond the headline of Speaker Pelosi's statement and get to the details, it is clear she is trying to maneuver to block the Republicans from having a straight up or down vote on a powerful energy bill.

Since the original anti-energy Democratic strategy of "no, no, no" has collapsed they have moved to a new strategy of "deceive, deceive, deceive."

Their goal is to sound pro-energy just long enough to avoid defeat in the November elections while making sure that any legislation is hopelessly weak and has tax increases Republicans will oppose.

Forcing the Anti-Energy Democrats to Tell the Truth

There is an upcoming series of very simple tests for the sincerity of the anti-energy Democrats.

1. Will they write a platform plank at their national convention in Denver that calls for more drilling and for more American energy?
   
   
2. Will they allow a fair rule so House Republicans and pro-energy Democrats can bring up a comprehensive energy bill that would really work?
   
   
3. Will they allow the moratorium on drilling to expire on October 1?
   
   
4. Will they allow the moratorium on developing shale oil (our largest reserves proven to have three times the oil of Saudi Arabia—I keep repeating this because it is so unbelievable that we have been sending money overseas when we have this much oil in the Rocky Mountains) ?
   
   
5. Are they willing to pass a pro-energy bill with no tax increase so it can have bipartisan support and be signed into law?
   
   
6. Will they agree to keep Congress in session until a serious energy bill is signed by the President?

If the anti-energy Democrats led by Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would agree to these six steps then they would have really switched their position and the country would really be on the way to solving its current energy problems.

I will report in future newsletters whether or not they keep their word.

Win a Free Year of Gas at AmericanSolutions.com

Congress hasn't been able to do it, but maybe you can.

American Solutions has launched a YouTube video contest. We are asking the American Public to submit a short video explaining why we should adopt the "Drill Here, Drill Now" solution to our energy crisis.

The winner will receive free gas for an entire year.

This is your chance to get creative. It's your chance to save big bucks. For more details, go to Americansolutions.com.

Hydrogen Cars and Our New Movie on Energy

Callista had a great time this week with former Congressman Bob Walker at the Hydrogen Road Tour in which 13 hydrogen-powered cars are going around the country proving the technology exists for powering cars that have zero carbon emissions.

It was part of our work on our new movie "We Have the Power," which will outline the energy solutions that will work to lower energy prices for Americans and protect our environment. It will premiere on September 27th during our second annual Solutions Day at American Solutions (if you would like to know more about how to participate go to AmericanSolutions.com).

I am including some pictures of Callista at the movie shoot with the hydrogen cars. She says "Hydrogen-powered vehicles run quietly, have good acceleration, and produce little or no pollution."

RUSSIA INVADES GEORGIA: RECOGNIZING A GANGSTER GOVERNMENT AND DEALING WITH IT.

The Russian invasion of Georgia should have surprised no one.

Putin's KGB training and career and the number of KGB agents he brought into high government should have been more than adequate warning that Russia was slipping away from the rule of law and becoming a gangster government.

I use this term deliberately because it is important to confront how outside any reasonable diplomatic norm the current Russian regime is.

Gangster Regimes break the law in their own favor, use force against the weak and the helpless, and loot (and in some cases rape) on behalf of the power elite.

The United States should respond to the very dangerous Russian adventure in Georgia with three very aggressive strategies designed to make it much more expensive for Putin to continue his gangster behavior.

I outline three strategies in this article on newt.org.

Center for Health Transformation Update: Health-Based Health Reform

In the next few weeks you are going to see a lot about "health-based health reform."

At the Center for Health Transformation (CHT) we published Saving Lives and Saving Money in December 2002 to make the case that the future of health reform had to be based on a much better system of health.

CHT has been developing the concept of a "21st Century Intelligent Health System."

We believe it's possible to save so much money through better health and more productive health systems that we can liberate enough money inside the current health budget to enable every American to buy health insurance.

Our approach is a market oriented system of choices in which you, the health care consumer, are in the driver's seat. With such a market and consumer oriented system, we believe every American will have a chance to live longer, with better health, more independence, and lower costs.

Now we have developed a significant number of specific examples of how much better our health could be and how much more productive our health system could be. Watch this part of the newsletter each week for a summary of CHT's latest health examples of doing things smarter, better, more effectively with better outcomes and lower costs.

Your friend,

Newt Gingrich

P.S. -- I had the chance last week to visit Google headquarters out in Mountain View, CA. I learned about all of the innovative projects they're working on, like the soon-to-be-released Android mobile phone platform, Google Health and Google Lively. And I had my picture taken with Stan the dinosaur, a model of a T-Rex that is positioned in the campus courtyard that Google founder Larry Paige and Sergey Brin gave to the company employees. You can view photos from our trip here or watch a video that I conducted with You Tube's Steve Grove