Sarah Palin was right

"The chant is 'drill, baby, drill.' And that's what we hear all across this country in our rallies because people are so hungry for those domestic sources of energy to be tapped into," Sarah Palin, 2008.

"We can't just drill our way to lower gas prices," Barack Obama.

Yes.

We.

Can.

And we did.

"U.S. Will Be the World’s Largest Oil Producer by 2023, Says IEA," the Wall Street Journal reported today.

The IEA is the International Energy Agency, which advises governments and corporations on industry trends, according the Wall Street Journal.

"U.S. crude production is expected to reach a record of 12.1 million barrels a day in 2023, up about 2 million barrels a day from this year, said the International Energy Agency, which advises governments and corporations on industry trends. American oil output will surge past Russia, currently the world’s largest crude producer at about 11 million barrels a day," the Wall Street Journal reported.

Number One.

We always could be. Unfortunately, we banned offshore drilling and cordoned off huge tracts of land from drilling. We did so in the name of environmentalism, rather than develop new techniques to safeguard oil drilling from spills.

"The IEA’s closely watched five-year forecast showed the U.S. hitting new strides in its oil and gas boom, helped by technological advances, improved efficiency and a fragile recovery in oil prices that is encouraging shale companies to ramp up their drilling. Once heavily dependent on imports from the Middle East, the U.S. is getting closer to achieving its goal of producing enough crude to meet domestic demand for refined products like gasoline," the article said.

In the 2008 presidential debate, in which I quoted Palin, Creepy Uncle Joe Biden had dismissed the "drill, drill, drill" (his words, which she corrected) mentality because it would take 10 years to have the drilling matter. Yet here we are, 10 years later and the United States is about to become not just an oil exporter, but one of the biggest in the world

"American influence on global oil markets is also expected to rise, with U.S. oil exports more than doubling to 4.9 million barrels a day by 2023, according to the IEA. Until 2015, the U.S. didn’t export any crude oil by law, but in five years it is expected to be among the world’s biggest exporters," the newspaper said.

Drill, baby, drill -- and Make America Great Again.

@@@

The media chose to go to war with Donald John Trump in 2017 rather than accept him as president.

The media chose poorly.

Fake News Follies of 2017 shows how and why.

What readers are saying:

Rob Miller: "What we have here is nothing less than a detailed, well written chronicle of exactly how the American press abandoned all semblance of scruples and journalistic ethics once Donald J. Trump became president. Like Surber's other books, this one will have you laughing out loud and you will find it difficult to put down."

PSD: "Like his other books, it is written with wonderful wit filled insight, rare in political commentary today. The style is one of gentle humor and common sense. It is refreshingly devoid of malice and partisan contempt, easy reading with not a few laughs along the way."

rurallbob: "Another winner from Don Surber."

Richard: "Funny, well written and well organized, Fake News Follies is an entertaining and thoughtful look at the news coverage provided by the press to the American people. Clearly they are not playing it straight. Sure, the press makes mistakes. It's inevitable. But when the totality of news stories not hewing to the known facts is collected and presented as it is in this volume there is but one explanation. Fake News. Don Surber brings to the subject insight that only a veteran newsman could provide. I wish this book would be read by everyone but especially people opposed to Trump because I think it would be sufficient to challenge even a closed off worldview."

A. Brogden: "Unlike Kurtz 's book, Media Madness, which sought to justify and explain away the lies and prejudices of the anti-Trump MSM, Surber relentlessly and methodically documents the tsunami of BS the press has served up since the upset victory by President Trump. Almost without exception everything Trump has done as president has been distorted, mischaracterized, or flat out lied about for over a year. This is how you get 90% negative reporting. This is how you get the press with 28% trust ratings. And by God this is how you get eight years of Trump as President."

A Kindle reader: "Easy read, a great compilation of biased new coverage of Trump before and after the election. I started out anti Trump and reluctantly voted for him for one reason only, He was not Hillary. This book is a great reference when people claim the MSM is not biased and does not publish fake news. It reinforces Glenn Reynolds description of the press as Democrat operatives with bylines."

Fake News Follies of 2017 is available on Kindle and in paperback.

Autographed copies are available. Email me at DonSurber@GMail.com for details. I am including a "director's cut." I will give you the original Chapter 1 that I cut because while the chapter was amusing, it really had nothing to do with the Fake News Follies of 2017.