Gallup has a pretty interesting poll out about what Americans consider a higher priority: environmental protection or energy production (e.g., drill, baby, drill). No surprise that since the disastrous BP oil spil in the Gulf, opinions have shifted markedly. In March the public favored energy exploration over environmental protection by 50-43 in March, and now in late May opinions have more than flipped, with environmental protection outpacing energy production by a 55-39 margin.What is striking is that ALL of the shift has come in attitudes among Democrats and Independents, as the chart below shows. Both D's and I's shifted their attitudes 15 percent toward the environment. Yet Republicans in March 2010 favored energy over environment by a 62-30 margin, and after the spill the margin is....62-30, energy over environment.So the exegetical possibilities here would seem to be:

A: Republicans are principled. (Semper idem, alleluia.)B: Republicans are pig-headed stubborn. (Semper idem, wrong or right.)C: Republicans don't care about the environment because global-warming is a fraud, the media is playing Chicken Little, and Jesus is coming soon anyway.D: Democrats (and Independents) are mushy-head liberals who go with the flow, so to speak.E: Dems & Indies are tree-hugging idjits who put Nature above Human Rights (first of which is to drive a really big car).F: Dems & Indies change their views to reflect changing realities. (Semper reformanda, alleluia.)G: All of the above.

None of the above? Something I've forgotten? Your choice -- or choices?