Democrat Congressman Jason Altmire is a member of the “Class of Rahm,” elected in 2006 when former Clinton (Bill) aide Rahm Emanuel ran the DCCC, who knocked of Republican rising star Melissa Hart to take from her the PA-4 (near Pittsburgh) job. Almire has now had almost two years to indistinguish himself by toeing Nancy’s line, and former Congresswoman Hart is back. In a press release today, she takes a cue from House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH).

‘T was just yesterday that Politico.com reported that Nancy had hatched a scheme in which she urged Dems vulnerable to the public will on the issue of drilling to break with her in order to help win reelection, thus ensuring the Dems a more gargantuan majority in the next Congress with which to run roughshod over the public on these matters in order to “save the planet.”

Congressman Altmire likes this cynical strategy:

Freshman Democrats like Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania and Don Cazayoux of Louisiana have taken her up on the offer.

Altmire has said a drilling vote “will happen.”

Boehner then issued his response, calling on those thusly freed Dems to walk the walk.

My message to Democratic lawmakers is this: if you’re really for increased American energy production, then prove it by putting it in writing. Sign the discharge petitions House Republicans are circulating that will force votes on energy legislation Speaker Pelosi refuses to bring to the floor. And sign onto the American Energy Act, our ‘all of the above’ plan to increase conservation, innovation, and American energy production, instead of doing the Speaker’s bidding by voting against bringing it to a vote. If you aren’t willing to put it in writing, you’re fooling no one. You’re siding with the Speaker of the Drill-Nothing Congress and radical special interests that favor higher gas prices, at the expense of energy-strapped American families.

In her press release, which sits in my Inbox, Hart applies this to Altmire:

“There have been a number of good proposals introduced in the House for over a year, Altmire did not support them and Pelosi would not allow even one vote on any of them. In fact, Altmire blocked efforts to bring these bills up for a vote as recently as last week. If Altmire’s nifty new pro-drilling position is more than desperate rhetoric, he will sign the discharge petitions and ensure there is an immediate up-or-down vote, so our country can begin on the path to American energy independence. The voters in Western Pennsylvania have been begging for this for a long time, but we aren’t foolish enough to hold our breath where Altmire is concerned,” stated Hart.

There are currently seven discharge petitions circulating for legislation that will open America’s oceans to energy exploration, open new American oil refineries, and invest in clean energy sources such as wind, nuclear, and captured carbon dioxide. When the necessary 218 signatures are obtained on the petition, Speaker Pelosi would be forced to have an up or down vote on the bill.

“I’ve yet to see or hear anything from Altmire to explain the timing of this brand new position, so I’m left to think, as are the rest of the voters that the only logical reason is it was politically expedient. This situation raises the real issue at hand – do the voters want a Congressman that will represent them all the time, or just when their political boss gives him the go ahead?”

We are about to see if Jason Altmire is as cynical as is Nancy Pelosi, willing to trick voters in Pennsylvania’s 4th CD as they bitterly cling to their God and their guns and dislike people who don’t look like George Washington, Abe Lincoln, and other faces familiar from U.S. currency.

How stupid do these people believe the voters to be?

How ridiculous do the voters know these people to be? I think that if they’d suck on a gauge, they’d find themselves few PSI short of the recommended inflation level.

Nice job, Congressman Boehner and Congresswoman Hart. (Hart is accepting donations at her secure site.