McCain Talks Energy
When it comes to energy, Senator John McCain is quite a Republican maverick. He has said that he ‘respects’ former Vice President Al Gore’s work on this subject, and that he ’shares’ his (Gore’s) goals (energy independence, clean energy, and so on).
He basically endorsed Gore’s plan even though, as Debra Saunders points out, that plan can never work. Gore’s goals can never be achieved, especially not because Gore opposes offshore drilling and is not in favor of nuclear energy. Yet, McCain speaks positively about the ultra-progressive.
That’s a bit strange, perhaps, but it makes more sense than some may think:
I can see GOP readers tearing out their hair and asking why oh why McCain can take on Obama for opposing offshore oil drilling despite gasoline now costing more than $4 per gallon, but not Gore.
But maybe there is a method of McCain’s madness. With the USA Today/Gallup poll showing 65 percent of Americans disapproving of President Bush, McCain is within three points - read: the margin of error - of Obama in the Realclearpolitics.com national poll average.
Voters seem to be looking for a president who is more interested in getting things done than scoring partisan points and being deliberately confrontational. Perhaps McCain can be more effective in taking on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for barring any House vote on offshore oil drilling.
“I respect her position,” McCain said, but then he slammed Pelosi for her decision “to not even allow votes.” If elected, McCain said, he would sit down with Pelosi to talk energy.
Perhaps in joining Democrats in energy babble, McCain actually could get something halfway sensible done - that is, more oil drilling, more nuclear plants and more renewable energy.
In this sense, McCain’s approach makes sense.
Whining from the far right about how liberal McCain is in 3…2…1…
Yet somehow the far left never manages to be dissuaded from their “McSame” meme either.
The sad truth is that the scripts are hardened against any and all interference from the facts on both extremes.
Jason, didn’t mean to say the left extremists didn’t do the same. They do.
Just that positions like this are the biggest issues the far right has with McCain.
Yes, my annoyance with the extremes on both sides is at a similar level these days. I used to enjoy listening to Laura Ingraham but I increasingly find her purist (and puerile) ignorance on certain issues (academia, immigration) to be incredibly annoying in the same way I find far left BDS rantings annoying.
Actually Im an oil driller and I have no problem with going green. In fact I think it is the way to go because oil is an efficient btu transfer agent it is becoming increasingly hard to find in most areas of the world.
The big 5 oil companies are making horrible mistakes by not investing huge dollars into wind and solar energy. These sources of fuel have nothing to do with oil. They would in no way impact the oil industry while making the oil companies the dominant companies in the inevitable move to alternative energy.
So actually I find McCain refreshing on this regard.
RRRocks, again we agree on something!
For a long time, I have thought the oil companies can only benefit themselves by investing into wind and solar, and other sources of energy. It can’t hurt, and can only help, because eventually oil become scarce enough that’s it’s going to hurt their livelihood.
With that known, it’s expand or die. The longer an oil company waits to do this, the more likely it will be that someone else will take the lead and completely pass them by the time the transition is needed. Then they’ll be left in the dust with dropping profits. The time for them is now, not tomorrow.
And I’m not saying all conservatives are against green tech; McCain is proof of that. Just that many scream bloody murder if he ever mentions it. Loudest are, of course, the talking heads.