John McCain

Obama sweet-talks Florida, criticizes McCain’s shift on off-shore drilling

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama responded to John McCain’s call to end the moratorium on off-shore drilling in a press appearance in Chicago on Friday and made his own appeal to the voters of Florida: When I am President, I will keep the moratorium in place and prevent oil companies from drilling off Florida’s coasts. […]

Offshore drilling likely to raise some voter ire in Florida

John McCain’s call this week for an end to the moratorium on offshore drilling isn’t faring well with environmentalists across the country. In one key state, however, it might really come back to bite him come November. Florida — yes, land of dangling chads and nearly-won elections — may well prove to be the place […]

Conservative arguments to the contrary are intellectually bankrupt

Originally posted at the NDN blog.

Of the various false solutions being proposed to the current oil shock perhaps none is more disingenous than the idea that it can be solved by drilling in the Alaskan wilderness and along the Outer Continental Shelf. This is the idea that the right wing media, recently John McCain, and now President Bush have been pushing as a cure-all for soaring oil prices. Since many Democrats oppose this drilling, the next false logical step is to say Democrats are to blame. This was the thrust of President Bush's energy proposal yesterday, one that only highlights the intellectual dishonesty and partisanship of this failed administration.

Is more drilling the answer? No, for three reasons.

McCain says he’s willing to ‘examine’ his stance against drilling in ANWR

The News-Leader in Springfield, Mo. has more on McCain’s energy policy roundtable yesterday. Seems he also indicated that he’s open to reconsidering his stance on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which he has consistently opposed in the past. “I would be more than happy to examine it again,” McCain told the crowd. Guess […]

Major news network exposes McCain’s energy contradictions

Does not compute: Only thing is, they keep saying, “this shows how tricky it is for McCain.” What it also shows, one might think, is that McCain is willing to lie and change his positions willy nilly. They used to call Democrats people “flip-floppers” and “serial exaggerators” for that sort of thing. With McCain, it’s […]

How greens and Democrats can win the energy debate

If the pro-environment Republican wasn't already dead, I think this week killed him. John McCain, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, President Bush, and many others threw overboard one of the last policy planks Republicans (at least in coastal states) used to show that they're pro-environment too by calling for a massive offshore drilling program.

As chronicled in this excellent article by Politico's Charles Mathesian and David Mark, it's a politically risky move for Republicans: although national polls show some support for more oil drilling, there's also zealous support for keeping coasts and beaches clean in many coastal states. What's Florida Republican senator Mel Martinez to do, for instance, during his next election campaign after gas price anxiety fades (most likely) and his opponent can waive around this quote to cast doubt not only on his green cred, but also his general trustworthiness and strong leadership:

"I'm trying to clarify my position," said Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.). "In Florida today most voters probably want more drilling."

Meanwhile, although the Democratic leadership is expressing opposition to the Bush-McCain drilling plan, they're not exactly showing a lot of rhetorical backbone on it: Afraid to make the argument against offshore drilling on environmental grounds, they're instead going for the "We're for oil drilling too, but just not as much as Republicans" argument that has built them such a loyal and enthusiastic skeptical and tepid following among environmentalists.

Offshore drilling will have no impact on oil prices through 2030

McCain has flip-flopped his position on offshore drilling, pandered to the oil companies, and embraced the exact same strategy endorsed by the man McCain is trying so hard to run away from -- President Bush. He must have a damn good policy reason:

"Tomorrow I'll call for lifting the federal moratorium for states that choose to permit exploration," McCain said. "I think that this and perhaps providing additional incentives for states to permit exploration off their coasts would be very helpful in the short term in resolving our energy crisis."

Short-term? If only the facts supported that position. If only the man who wants to be the next president bothered to check the analysis by the current president's own energy analysts.

McCain’s offshore drilling plan irks coastal state governors

The Obama campaign hosted a press conference this afternoon with Democratic governors to highlight opposition to John McCain’s call to end the moratorium on offshore drilling. The governors expressed uniform distaste with the proposal, and skepticism that voters in their states would approve of drilling off their coasts. “Our economy is driven by tourism and […]

McCain goes to Springfield, talks up nukes and coal

John McCain followed up yesterday’s energy speech with more energy talk today during a roundtable at Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo. Today he focused more specifically on his support for two energy sources: nuclear power and “clean coal.” The roundtable also featured Greg Boyce, CEO of Peabody Energy, the world’s largest coal company, and […]