Face The State Staff Report
On her home turf to introduce Speaker of the U.S. House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, got a bit of a surprise at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
FTS Staff Photo
Just after DeGette introduced Pelosi to advocate clean energy alternatives, students began chanting, “Drill here! Drill now!”
“Drill here? Right here? Right now?” Pelosi said in response as she and DeGette's fellow Democrat Congressman Rep. Ed Perlmutter, pointed at the activists. “Can we drill your brain?” Pelosi asked.
Pelosi also called the students “Handmaidens of Big Oil.”
The College Republicans, unfazed, continued chanting and demanded that a vote be taken on the future of domestic energy production.
“Vote! Vote! Vote!” they shouted in unison.
DeGetteFTS Staff Photo
“We drove all night to be here,” said Mark Streeter, a University of Utah student. “We slept in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart last night. We need to let people know not everyone agrees with the greens.”
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat representing Chicago, told the protesters it boiled down to a simple equation.
“It’s just simple math: two terms [of President George W. Bush], eight years equals $4 a gallon for gas,” Emanuel said.
When asked what she thought about the protesters' views, Degette said, “It’s not just about drilling. It’s about responsible drilling.”