Right now, gas prices aren’t the Most Horrible Thing on Earth, the way they were back when the national average for gas hit $4/gallon. Gas prices have fallen 24 days in a row.

Did you ever think 2008 would be the year that $3.80 gasoline seemed like a welcome break?

Still, the high gas prices and the growing desire to drill for domestic oil can be a money issue for the Republicans. And after the great theatrics the Republicans have been staging at the House, it really seems to be clicking.

Until now. Says Kimberly Strassel of the Wall Street Journal:

It’s taken time, but Sen. McCain and his party have finally found — in energy — an issue that’s working for them. Riding voter discontent over high gas prices, the GOP has made antidrilling Democrats this summer’s headlines.

Their enthusiasm has given conservative candidates a boost in tough races. And Mr. McCain has pressured Barack Obama into an energy debate, where the Democrat has struggled to explain shifting and confused policy proposals.

Still, it was probably too much to assume every Republican would work out that their side was winning this issue. And so, last Friday, in stumbled Sens. Lindsey Graham, John Thune, Saxby Chambliss, Bob Corker and Johnny Isakson — alongside five Senate Democrats. This “Gang of 10″ announced a “sweeping” and “bipartisan” energy plan to break Washington’s energy “stalemate.” What they did was throw every vulnerable Democrat, and Mr. Obama, a life preserver.

That’s because the plan is a Democratic giveaway. New production on offshore federal lands is left to state legislatures, and then in only four coastal states. The regulatory hurdles are huge. And the bill bars drilling within 50 miles of the coast — putting off limits some of the most productive areas. Alaska’s oil-rich Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is still a no-go.

Way to go, jerks.

It just shows what “bipartisanship” means sometimes. It means compromising your principles. The Republicans need to squeeze a lot out of the energy issue, and while they’re doing it in the House, this “Gang of 10″ is cutting them down.