For the life of me, I can't relate to the raw emotional response the Republican's have shown for the mantra, "Drill Baby Drill."  It's not a particular arousing policy stance (unless you consider its phallic imagery).  Despicable as it is, the urge to go to war understandable stirs up silt from some muddy corner of the id.  "Values" issues allows them to expel some latent sexual guilt while simultaneously feeling superior.  But oil exploration?  Maybe it requires staring at old films of wells spouting forth that lead straight back to the phallic business.  But that's not the contemporary image of oil wells, especially off-shore platforms.  They're bare-bones industrial fare these days, covered in dust, rust, and grease that would put to shame a fry-cook in a world without health codes. 

What I think is really happening is that their party has simply hit upon its favorite kind of winning issue: one without any merit.  It's their crack cocaine, and it just gives them a blistering buzz.