You have to give the Republicans credit for one thing: They have an echo chamber that won't quit, even when what they're echoing rings totally false.

Republicans from Dick Cheney on down have been admitting they were wrong in claiming that China is drilling for oil off the coast of Florida. It's a false claim that somehow spread like wildfire among conservatives, suggesting it was in some widely-distributed talking points.

But that didn't stop Wisconsin's retreaded Congressional candidate, John Gard, from making this claim:

When last heard from, Republican operative Bruce Pfaff was busy getting Scott Walker elected governor, having already gotten John Gillespie and Cate Zeuske elected to the U.S. Senate, plus helping Scott McCallum beat Jim Doyle.

Pfaff is now in DC, working for the Congress critter known as Mean Jean Schmidt, from Pfaff's native Ohio.

Jean's best known for calling Rep. John Murtha, a decorated war hero, a "coward" for opposing the Iraq war. But that's just one of many of her claims to fame.

She's currently in the news for claiming, like some other misinformed Repubs, that China is drilling for oil off the coast of Florida.

False.

Others who fell for that piece of propaganda, including George Will and Dick Cheney, have already admitted their mistakes.

But not Mean Jean. Her spokesman -- guess who? -- says she stands by her statement, even if it's not true.

How did oil jump from $20 to $138 a barrel in seven years?

The most common explanations are increased demand and lower supply, right?

It's becoming more clear that the real reason is unregulated trading of crude oil futures on the London and New York stock exchanges.

There was even a Senate report about this last year (did you blink and miss it?) which concluded that there's no oversight of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The folks who work there simply stopped enforcing the laws governing the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act, which says, “Excessive speculation in any commodity under contracts of sale of such commodity for future delivery . . . causing sudden or unreasonable fluctuations or unwarranted changes in the price of such commodity, is an undue and unnecessary burden on interstate commerce in such commodity,” and it directs the government to regulate the trading of these commodities to control unnecessary burdens.

Cheney and others in the GOP, those HI-Larious pranksters, are claiming China is drilling for oil 50 miles off the coast of Florida.

But hey, when you put the words "Iraq" and "9-11" together in the same sentence enough times, you get 70% of the U.S. public to believe the two are connected, so why not roll with that technique?

With apologies to Electric Kool-Aid Acid and Ken Kesey ...

Reality can be so inconvenient.

If the U.S. allows drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, not only will it take 10 years for the oil to hit the market, it will only save about 75 cents per barrel.

Nevermind the costs of environmental rape.

So can we put this silly idea to rest already?

The new oil pipeline is to run from Superior to Delavan, but early segments are leaving farmers and landowners none too happy with the land acqusition tactics.