John McCain

Debate: another spending hit

Ooh, and now he tagged Obama for ethanol subsidies. Another legitimate point! This is making me wince.

Debate: McCain tags Obama for ’05 energy bill

McCain just nailed Obama on the 2005 energy bill, using it as an example of Obama’s support for excess pork spending. Ouch. Thing is, McCain didn’t really vote against the bill because it had pork in it. But Obama did vote for it because of the pork for ethanol and renewable energy. It’s a legitimate […]

Debate is a go

The McCain campaign says he’ll debate tonight after all. After that he’ll fly back to D.C. to continue his oh-so-helpful role in the negotiations over the financial bailout. Meanwhile, this morning Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said: “A few days ago, I called on Sen. McCain to take a stand — let us know where […]

McCain gambles with the U.S. economy; House Republicans hold the bailout hostage; chaos reigns

Yes, yes, I know the financial crisis is not strictly a green issue — except insofar as it dries up capital desperately needed for green investments — but I just have to put some kind of note on record here. This is the most bizarre political season in memory, and the last few days have […]

McCain’s veep candidate lacks breadth and depth on energy issues

I have a new article in Salon on Sarah Palin, “The fungible candidate.” But it is really about the (lack of) judgment of John McCain. He famously said of his VP pick, “She knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America.” As we’ll see Palin lacks both breadth and […]

GOP candidate discusses climate, energy, and the financial crisis

John McCain. In his final public appearance before temporarily suspending his campaign today to return to Washington to address the financial crisis, John McCain spoke to the Clinton Global Initiative, delivering the keynote for the panel entitled “Integrated Solutions: Water, Food, and Energy.” After some discussion of the financial crisis, McCain focused on energy needs […]

McCain and Obama campaigns trade jabs over who’s a bigger coal supporter

At a campaign stop in Ohio last week, a questioner with a camera asked Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden why, if wind and solar are doing well, the Obama-Biden campaign is supporting “clean coal.” Biden gave this confusing response: We’re not supporting “clean coal.” Guess what: China’s building two every week, two dirty coal […]

Debate debate

John McCain said he wants to postpone Friday’s presidential debate in light of the financial crisis. Obama says: no. Lots of political commentators are saying lots of things about this, and it’s outside my bailiwick, so I won’t add much except to say: it’s telling that McCain thinks electoral politics is something silly and distracting, […]

Republican oil guru says McCain doesn’t have a clue about drilling

If you follow peak oil — and if you don’t, you will be bitchslapped by reality — then you know of Matt Simmons. I was introduced to him several years ago by my former boss at the Energy Department. Back then, Simmons was merely one of the savviest financiers in the oil services business, who […]