When it comes to finding reasons to support offshore drilling, GOP Rep. Mark Kirk's guiding principle seems to be: say anything.  For instance, on Fox Chicago Sunday today, Kirk tried to pass off the recent drop in gas prices as partly the result of the decision by Congress to let the offshore drilling moratorium expire.  But co-host Jack Conaty was having none of it, calling this purported cause-and-effect "a bit disingenuous."  Watch it:

"We've seen a drop in the price of gasoline," Conaty says, "but it has nothing to do with Congress approving offshore drilling, Congressman."  Jack is right on.  On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal published an article on the topic that attributed the falling prices to "increasing gloom over the health of the world economy" and the "sharp drop in U.S. oil demand -- down in recent weeks by about 9% from a year ago."  Not a word about offshore drilling.

On her blog, Ellen Beth Gill takes down Kirk's claims about the effect on the futures markets.  She also live-blogged today's debate between Kirk and Democratic challenger Dan Seals at Deerfield High Schoo.