Team McCain Conference Call: oil prices
posted at 1:10 pm on June 12, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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Rep. Eric Cantor started off by talking about the “shock” American families feel with high prices. The time for action has come, but Barack Obama’s comments yesterday show how out of touch he is with this shock. He says that Obama’s suggestion that the only problem is the rate of increase and not the price demonstrates that an Obama presidency would not improve matters. He is “out of touch”.
Doug Holtz-Eakin says that McCain is not “out of touch”, and touted his gas-tax holiday as an example. Again, they point out that Obama voted for such a holiday in Illinois. They then attacked Obama’s tax policies, which will hit taxpayers across the spectrum. John McCain wants to lower corporate tax rates, introduce incentives for modernization, and keep access to capital easy through lower tax rates on capital gains and dividends. Holtz-Eakin makes the rather common-sense case that tax increases on business get passed on to consumers, creating inflationary pressures and not real growth.
Questions:
- Amanda Carpenter — How about drilling in ANWR, and where else can we drill? — Still opposed to ANWR but is open to more production on federal lands.
- Jeff Mason, Reuters — Gas tax holiday got panned by economists and backfired on Hillary Clinton. Is there feedback that says it’s politically adept? — McCain feels that it’s right, and can be done quickly and simply. It’s not a panacaea.
- James Pethrokoukis — Won’t a cap & trade plan force higher energy prices? — McCain’s plan has generous use of offsets, as well as incentives for modernization. The realistic model shows price increases in the future.
- Carol Costello, CNN — Why not draw up legislation now for the gas-tax holiday? — He did, and the Democrats blocked it. Cantor says it got blocked in the House as well.
John McCain is not going to find many votes here by splitting the difference. We have enormous resources on federal lands — an estimated 1.5 trillion recoverable barrels of oil in shale, for instance — and he needs to take action to start accessing those reserves. That means allowing for drilling in the upper plains area, in Montana and the Dakotas, to recover oil from massive new fields as well. If he wants to preserve the 0.01% of ANWR that would get affected by the drilling, then he had better start taking action to find oil elsewhere.
The gas-tax holiday is a joke. Not only would it do nothing for prices as the demand would increase with the temporary price cut, it would only make the eventual price shock worse when the taxes got reapplied. It would save the average family less than the cost of two tickets to a major-league baseball game over the entire period. In fact, the next price shock would hit right before the election.
We already know where Obama stands on this issue: he likes the high prices, if not the speed at which they arrived. What will John McCain do differently? So far, his campaign and McCain himself have made themselves as clear as mud. We need a clear plan from the McCain campaign that includes massive new efforts to produce domestic supplies of oil, as well as nuclear power and more effort on renewables. They are missing the opportunity of a lifetime on this issue.
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Great to have such a ‘global warming’ ticket.
Starlink on June 12, 2008 at 1:13 PM
No joke. “Open to more production?” That’s the best they can do?
Slublog on June 12, 2008 at 1:14 PM
I get the feeling that nobody gives a crap if we go down the tubes.
ronsfi on June 12, 2008 at 1:15 PM
LOOK how long we’ve needed to change our television sets to HD. HOW long do we need to convert all our cars to energy savers.
Could American auto manufacturers keep up?
WHAT would we do with all our cars that we give up?
We need to drill and drill NOW. We NEED to stop payin IRAN and Saudi Arabia for something we have off our shores.
WE NEED JOHN Travolta to QUIT flying his plane with just his three kids.
originalpechanga on June 12, 2008 at 1:17 PM
I’m gonna ask this again -
He’ll at least be Conservative on SCOTUS/Judges…
Right?
catmman on June 12, 2008 at 1:17 PM
McCain is going to lose the election on this issue. He could be hammering Obama daily on this. Regular, non-poltical Americans easily understand that more oil = lower prices.
McCain has pissed off a lot of conservatives. But this issue will anger many independent Americans who want cheaper gas. If he’s not going to drill, and Obama isn’t going to drill, then they have no reason to vote for McCain over Obama on this issue and will vote for a different reason that will probably favor Obama over McCain.
Sydney Carton on June 12, 2008 at 1:18 PM
WE NEED to go to a single formulation so we don’t have all these gas recipes.
CALIF can’t even get gas from some states as it doesn’t meet our requirements…
originalpechanga on June 12, 2008 at 1:18 PM
Yeah, he wants a gas tax holiday, but windfall taxes on oil companies….
Just how does that work again?
Romeo13 on June 12, 2008 at 1:18 PM
No
sh… kidding.He should introduce a bill in the Senate to do just that yesterday.
Typhoon on June 12, 2008 at 1:18 PM
I think Obama’s birth certificate is a little funky. Anyone notice that? (Note to self: I must think about Obama’s faults now). Cognitive dissonance isn’t just a river in Egypt.
Shtetl G on June 12, 2008 at 1:18 PM
I swear… If the primary were still going, I’d make a YouTube commercial against McCain. All it would have would be a photo of a gas pump at $4.25, then another photo of the lifeless and barren wasteland that is ANWR. “John McCain is forcing you to pay this…” switch to ANWR photo “… to save this.”
Seriously… has anyone in Congress actually seen a picture of the place? It’s awful.
Lehosh on June 12, 2008 at 1:21 PM
Imagine if we reduced our imports and actually made our dollar STRONGER. What a concept.
originalpechanga on June 12, 2008 at 1:21 PM
So McCain’s boxed himself in. He’s handed a golden issue here but because of previous environmental pandering he fears flip flopping. Heck, McCain, just say you made a mistake. Well just damn, maybe McCain buys all the Democratic enviro-nonsense. Maybe we should go back to the system the founders designed… then McCain can be Obama’s VP when he loses.
rhombus on June 12, 2008 at 1:21 PM
Romeo13 on June 12, 2008 at 1:18 PM
Right ON!!!
catmman on June 12, 2008 at 1:22 PM
Probably not. Because he’s a RINO that is quick to give the bird to anyone conservative who doesn’t agree with him, he’ll surround himself with fellow RINOs, RINOs that will vett his judicial nominees.
SPCOlympics on June 12, 2008 at 1:23 PM
Yes they are - what the hell are they thinking?? If you are as much of a “Maverick” as you claim you are, Senator, then show us something by being the maverick on this issue!! Obama has already stated that he has no problem with the gas prices, only the rate at which they rise. Show us you do care.
Rick on June 12, 2008 at 1:23 PM
Hey McCain, Drill Here, Drill NOW!!!!!!!!
Seven Percent Solution on June 12, 2008 at 1:23 PM
You know, when it is 75% to 25% to drill for pete’s sake, Obama will get there first and McCain will still be splitting hairs.
It is the most common sense solution and pandering to the ‘evironmental’ elites is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. He is delusional if he thinks any of them will vote for him.
Starlink on June 12, 2008 at 1:25 PM
McCain is a typical RINO - he believes in absolutely NOTHING. He has no governing philosophy for his life and thus won’t have one for this country. He only wants to be POTUS to put the notch on his belt. If we had a real Reaganesque candidate Obama would be crushed.
DerKrieger on June 12, 2008 at 1:26 PM
McCain could walk away with this election if he took a strong stand on energy.
If he promises to stand in front of Congress every day of his presidency if he has to, arguing in favor of immediate and maximized domestic drilling and refining as well as federal facilitation and funding for the speediest nuclear energy building possible, he’d win most of us conservatives back and a whole lot of the moderates and centrist Democrats as well. This issue is as real as it gets to Joe Citizen. $4+ gas is the very best way to get their attention, and McCain is letting other people set the narrative on the issue. He’s making a mistake with his passivity and wimpy half-proposals.
aero on June 12, 2008 at 1:26 PM
Since Obama can change positions whenever it’s expedient and flatly deny that he ever had the earlier position–I guess it’s alright for McCain to change his mind on cap and trade. Let’s hope he does.
jeanie on June 12, 2008 at 1:27 PM
All they hear about Obama is “Change.. Hope”
Chakra Hammer on June 12, 2008 at 1:27 PM
Someone should have asked about McCain’s reaction to the SCOTUS decision giving civil rights to enemy noncombatants in Gitmo. Then we would have had one more reason not to support McCain’s campaign.
Cicero43 on June 12, 2008 at 1:28 PM
+342
I sent the campaign an email yesterday that expressed my feeling that this issue gives him the opportunity to win 48 states, or lose them. And he has chosen to make Mondale look like a viable candidate.
Forget his liberal jackassery - McCain is simply too stupid to be President.
Jaibones on June 12, 2008 at 1:28 PM
The good news is that Obama won’t. He can’t. Not without also suggesting that we nationalize the oil industry. The left doesn’t want any part of Big Oil or cheap “hard” energy. If he got out in front of private industry drilling, the fightin’ nutroots would turn on him like a rabid pit bull, and his money
Typhoon on June 12, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Not sure how that happened…Yeah, yeah, preview’s your friend.
Typhoon on June 12, 2008 at 1:31 PM
Actually quite a few Congressmen have gone to ANWR. They know there are no mountains, trees and such and it is a arctic flood plane.
upinak on June 12, 2008 at 1:35 PM
Well, if McCain will go to Iraq, why won’t he go to ANWR for a little visit?
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on June 12, 2008 at 1:36 PM
He will NOT be able to get any conservative judges through the Democrats in Congress and Senate and so will “compromise” to the LEFT, again.
stenwin77 on June 12, 2008 at 1:38 PM
You want to know McCain’s position on drilling? Find out his wife and daughters position on drill.
That’s right, I am absolutely certain, just as I am about Senator John Warner(R-VA), that it isn’t their intellect, but rather their nit picking second half’s and children and grand children who are haranguing them into this whole “Save the planet” thing.
It goes something like this (Both John’s by the way).
CINDY MCCAIN: John, the children are freaking out over the polar bears and global warming. What are you going to do?
JOHN MCCAIN: What do you mean?
CINDY: Well, can you stop global warming?
JOHN: What do you mean?
CINDY: Well, can you reduce greenhouse gases?
JOHN: What do you mean?
CINDY: Pass legislation to reduce carbon dioxide. Haven’t you seen Al Gore’s movie?
JOHN: What do you mean?
MEGHAN MCCAIN: DADDY!!! WHAT ABOUT THE POLAR BEARS?!!!
JOHN: OK! OK! How’s “cap and trade?”
coffee260 on June 12, 2008 at 1:38 PM
I was being sarcastic with the SCOTUS remark…
Come on people!
catmman on June 12, 2008 at 1:40 PM
Actually, the time for action has passed. About 30 years ago, I’m thinking. Now the time for crisis has come, and Congress and the candidates seem to be waiting until the tar, feathers, torches, and pitchforks appear before doing anything about it. I’m stunned the riots haven’t started already. Will it be when we hit $5/gal? $7/gal? Every day that goes by now is critical because it takes so long to implement any real solutions. It takes years to get new oil drilling and refining facilities up to capacity, and it takes decades to get nuclear plants built and online.
Between the looming energy and entitlement crises, I honestly can’t see how the economy is to survive for the next two decades. I fear it’s going to make the Great Depression look like a little dip in the economy. The mortgage crisis is nothing compared to energy and entitlements for the potential to literally ruin the global economy.
aero on June 12, 2008 at 1:41 PM
You know I have googled in vain that Mccain came up here. I can’t find anything on it even on my local tv news channels. I wonder if he did come up and it was too foggy for a group of senators and congressmen to go up. I know that happened when Murkowski (female) brought a bunch up and were grounded for a week due to the fog on the North Slope. But I do remember that McCain has been to Alaska.
upinak on June 12, 2008 at 1:42 PM
At least we will have excellent seats from which to watch the destruction of the US economy!
Talon on June 12, 2008 at 1:43 PM
Ed, thanks for the honest analysis.
McCain has to reverse himself on several key issues before a conservative would want to vote for him. Even then, they wouldn’t trust him. So carry on as you are John McCain!
Valiant on June 12, 2008 at 1:44 PM
You know, I will grant that McCain knows something about the military. I will not be generous enough to say that he knows much about national security (they are not the same thing. And he has yet to demonstrate that he knows jack sh*t about anything else.
He has no executive experience and it shows. I’m not even sure he has a working knowledge of economics, sociology, basic science and the Constitution.
I know some of you are going to howl, but I think McCain is nothing more than an empty suit opportunist who made a political career from being a POW (for doing military service and being a POW he has my utmost respect) and marrying a politically connected millionaire heiress.
He’s pretty much John Kerry with POW experience.
BigD on June 12, 2008 at 1:58 PM
I hope many realize the new-found domestic oil sources will be expensive to collect. In order for companies to have the incentive to extract that oil they’ll need high-enough oil prices. Thus gas will have to be pretty expensive before those sources can be profitable. I doubt we’ll ever see the days of $1.50/gal gas, at least if we want to be more energy independent.
seanhackbarth on June 12, 2008 at 2:00 PM
I watched the video of McCain with Matt Lauer yesterday 3 times. I could not believe what I was seeing and hearing.
McCain IS completely “out of touch” on energy policy. He talks about alternate energy sources as a solution to gasoline pricing, about new technologies being available by November. It’s madness.
The echoes of McCain on the conference call that Ed relates are simply pathetic. McCain needs to join with House Republicans and organize Senate Republicans to hammer the Dems for obstruction and propose a rational energy policy.
Instead, McCain mumbles about cap & trade, gas tax holiday, new technologies, and energy production being a local issue to be decided by the states. He says absolutely nothing about the restrictions that Congress has put in place to restrict new refineries and new production.
DEPRESSING!
pilsener on June 12, 2008 at 2:01 PM
Chance of a lifetime? Who’s vote is McCain going to get? Obama would get my vote if McCain listened to you, but we all know he won’t. I’d tell McCain to stay the course on this issue. He has nothing to gain by change on this issue.
thuja on June 12, 2008 at 2:01 PM
There will be a firestorm when gas hits $5-$6 a gallon.
We will have ‘Idle Police’ like in Minnesota.
I just love the logic by the left,…..’too late to make a difference’……but of course 10 years for alternate fuels is fine.
The real agenda here is they all want us to go back to the 1840’s, but no firewood please……an agrarian society…..how nice…..
Starlink on June 12, 2008 at 2:03 PM
I think you’re right, but would the potential of increased supply be enough to calm oil futures?
Slublog on June 12, 2008 at 2:04 PM
Bob Barr is looking better everyday
Conservative Voice on June 12, 2008 at 2:05 PM
Off topic, but I’m a bit steamed over this supreme court decision to allow war prisoners access to our courts…I am thinking maybe we should close Club Gitmo and make 5 separate prisons in the backyard of each of these justices…use the eminent domain clause they also passed.
Conservative Voice on June 12, 2008 at 2:09 PM
I sure wish wise_man, funky chicken, et al, would post their soothing reassurances about McCain in this thread.
RushBaby on June 12, 2008 at 2:09 PM
How much more, and which federal lands? Oil shale?
yep, it’s a summer holiday, quick and simple, and would be good as a teaching aid on taxes
McCain is wrong on cap & trade, dumb
OK, here’s a place to make some electoral hay. The democrats have blocked oil shale development (party lines) in the senate. The democrats have blocked more offshore drilling (party lines) in the house. The democrats have blocked the gas tax holiday in BOTH houses.
Therefore they have blocked short term and long term efforts to lower gas prices.
Again, this could deliver the congress to the GOP this election, but we want to sit around and bitch about McCain instead of finding unity where we can and bashing the democrats for voting, over and over again, for HIGHER GAS PRICES short and long term.
Gas tax holiday a political stunt? Who gives a damn? It would make gas cheaper for 3 months, people would notice it, and the democrats hate it.
funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 2:11 PM
i tried, getting comments disappeared
funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 2:12 PM
or moderated? I’m such a notorious potty mouth, I suppose
funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 2:15 PM
Seems to me that’s McCain’s job as the presumptive nominee. Why he isn’t doing just that every day is baffling. The Dem-bashing of a thousand conservative blogs would be nothing compared to the nominee of our party (or the president) repeatedly speaking out against the Democratic stonewalling on this issue.
Slublog on June 12, 2008 at 2:16 PM
Yeah, and you probably thought that $600 stimulus check was a really, really cool thing for the government to do.
BigD on June 12, 2008 at 2:17 PM
Would you rather find unity and work to bash democrats, or pick scabs with McCain and lose seats in both houses of congress, and lose the White House?
There is unity to be found, and the democrats are vulnerable in VERY OBVIOUS ways on this issue–party line votes against oil shale, party line votes against offshore drilling, party line votes against a gas tax holiday.
All three are votes for higher gas prices short term and long term.
But McCain is a poopy head! isn’t exactly gonna win many congressional elections.
funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 2:19 PM
Any time a person pays less tax to the federal government is a good time, right?
Conservatives now support confiscatory taxes?
Now I know why you are all de facto supporting liberal congressional candidates and Obama now, I guess.
George Bush’s income tax cuts were temporary too. Were they a bad idea?
funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 2:22 PM
I’m with funky chicken here. “Conservatives” who bitch about TAX CUTS are not conservative.
Cuffy Meigs on June 12, 2008 at 2:24 PM
Why can’t a simple, “We are going to resolve this oil problem, the U.S. will never be held hostage again.
1) set-up a special review board to find the most profitable and quickest way to extract oil from U.S. land.
2) Demand 3 new refineries to be built on a “fast trac” system.
3)Set up a research cmte. to explore alternative fuels
4) Establish a commission for energy independence by the year 2015.”
McCain can be vague, but decisive, details can be worked out after the election, but it covers most everyones concerns.
His opponent is willing to sit down with enemies and take “nothing off the table”, so with energy, nothing is taken off the table.
Not the ecology, economy, restrictions, lack of restrictions, drilling, mining, solar, wind, geo-thermal, everything is investigated.
right2bright on June 12, 2008 at 2:27 PM
I don’t think anyone here thinks increasing domestic oil production will ever bring prices back down to $1.50/gal. For myself, I’d just like to think that after it spikes to $6-$10/gal, that someday it might come back down to $4-$5/gal and hold steady there long enough to build nuclear for home/business energy and develop actual viable alternatives for transportation energy.
aero on June 12, 2008 at 2:28 PM
All this ticket needs is Huckabee.
Lehosh on June 12, 2008 at 2:29 PM
I think the threat of new oil sources would pop the speculation bubble. Maybe that brings gas prices down to $2.50/gal. I don’t know if that would be high enough to make those new oil deposits profitable.
seanhackbarth on June 12, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Comment of the Day.
RushBaby on June 12, 2008 at 2:31 PM
I believe I have seen both $40 and $60 a barrel stated as the prices for oil shale to be economically feasible. I could live with either.
tgharris on June 12, 2008 at 2:35 PM
Could you get me a supreme court that respects the constitution and common sense at the same time?
snaggletoothie on June 12, 2008 at 2:37 PM
How depressing is it, though, that $2.50 gas sounds pretty good right now?
Slublog on June 12, 2008 at 2:39 PM
On the several issues that McCain is a stupid as a rock this is one. Just as bad, Repubs as a collective group are doing nothing about it either. Where is the leadership from the House and Senate forcing McCain to change or suffer the consequences.
If the wide eyed predictions about $200-$250 crude oil prices in 2009 come to pass McCain, Obama et al will rue the day they stood against drilling etc. The second and third world is about to point their broken gnarly finger at us as the cause of massive pain, suffering, civil unrest and dead in the street brought on by our insane energy policies while we sit on untold supplies. All this while we sip our lattes using 25% of all world daily production. Yes you little buggers, we want you to drill off your shores and spoil what little pristine nature you have left. Even the UN has called it a crime against humanity–even the UN!!!
Sending trillions of dollars overseas is just an after thought.
Here are current charts on crude and corn prices
http://mrci.com/pdf/cl.pdf
http://mrci.com/pdf/c.pdf
McCain’s slim chances keep getting slimmer. Sarah Palin must surely be out the window as a VP candidate. She would not put up with this bullshit.
patrick neid on June 12, 2008 at 2:40 PM
The gas tax holiday would help rural people with long commutes and it would help truckers as well. It is not a joke to the people who need it.
Terrye on June 12, 2008 at 2:41 PM
I thought it was $80. Which made me wonder what George Soros and the Sauds are playing at saying that the “natural price” of a barrel of oil will be around $70 after the bubble bursts. Firing a shot over Shell’s bow? Saying that they will hurt them bad if they get the oil shale going?
Personally, I’d love to pay $3.00 a gallon for gas if I knew it was all coming from CONUS or Alaska (or offshore). Let the rest of the world have the ME and Venezuelan and Russian oil, and have it cheap. Shrug.
funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 2:42 PM
Sydney:
Count me as one of the pissed off conservatives. He’s making less sense now that he’s assured of the nomination. It’s apparent he has little idea what’s going on, and even less a connection with what this country is going through.
Can we please have a nomination do over?
DngrMse on June 12, 2008 at 2:43 PM
Rushbaby I responded to you with several posts up there….
funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 2:43 PM
tgharris:
No, it is not $40 a barrel for shale oil, but about twice that or more. It is costly to extract. That is one of the reasons oil companies were not pushing for it before.
I want to see more drilling, but more than that I want to see additional money and resources going to alternative fuels and technological advances that will free us from this dependence on oil. It seems that every 20 or 30 years we are destined to go through something like this. I don’t think that will stop happening until we find some way to free ourselves from the oil.
Terrye on June 12, 2008 at 2:45 PM
I didn’t support McCain for the nomination, but for a while I was sympathetic to the argument that, because he’s a “Maverick,” he’s the only Republican who could win the general this cycle. Now I’m beginning to wonder if, because of his stubborness, he’s the only Republican who could LOSE to Obama. McCain is the only Republican unable or unwilling to take advantage of what may well be the biggest issue of the campaign: gas prices. Does anyone think McCain’s opposition to drilling in ANWR is based on any principle other that McCain’s own pride, stubborness, and vanity in refusing to admit that he was wrong and conservatives were right?
boko fittleworth on June 12, 2008 at 2:45 PM
Good point, but that’s not who it is aimed at. It is aimed at vacationers.
BigD on June 12, 2008 at 2:47 PM
Look, lots of you like to call McCain a tool. OK, let’s use him like a tool to keep Obama out of the White House. Let’s also elect some good, conservative US Senators and Congressmen who will hang him in the shed where he belongs.
McCain was NOT anywhere on my radar screen for GOP nominee. I haven’t voted for the guy once in my life. I sent money to Fred, really like Rudy, Romney only made me nervous because the MSM was gonna play “racist Mormon history VS Black Messiah” for months if he won the nomination.
But it’s McCain VS Obama. And we need to join forces against the democrats, not against each other. On oil and gas prices the democrats have their asses hanging out in the breeze. Let’s spank them like the toddlers they are, and move forward together.
funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 2:49 PM
patrick:
I don’t know if McCain’s chances are getting slimmer or not. Bush has always been in favor of increased oil production and conservatives still bailed on him. The Democrats have been blocking legislation like this for years without paying any political price.
It is not as if the right was worried enough about the price of oil to make sure the Democrats did not win the Congress in 06. If the Republicans had kept control of the House and Senate the most recent vote to go after oil in the west might have turned out differently.
Terrye on June 12, 2008 at 2:49 PM
Damned near anyone could run on an energy platform which included expansion of domestic resources and win this year.
There’s a ton of pent-up anger bubbbling to the surface. They haven’t begun to see it.
drjohn on June 12, 2008 at 2:51 PM
I read once that a French company was planning on building a nuclear reactor in Canada just to power oil shale production. It’s pretty expensive to build nukes it the U.S., much of it due to lots and lots of regulation. I wonder if cheaper nukes would make shale production more profitable and lower oil prices? $80/barrel is better than today, but still high for recent history.
seanhackbarth on June 12, 2008 at 2:51 PM
Big D:
I am a visiting nurse, I have to drive a lot. People like me can not just go to a building and stay there all day. I know truckers who are talking about strikes because of high prices, a 25 cent a gallon reduction is a lot of money to someone who drives a big truck. I heard McCain say that it would help poor people as well because they tend to drive older cars. They can not go out and buy a new hybrid to get better mileage. So I do not care who it is for, it would help people.
Terrye on June 12, 2008 at 2:53 PM
MCCAIN ‘08: TOO RACIST TO VOTE FOR THE BLACK LIBERAL? VOTE FOR THE WHITE ONE!
misterpeasea on June 12, 2008 at 2:53 PM
Patrick Neid, that’s simply not the case. I posted lots of links yesterday about Orrin Hatch leading the charge to end the democrat moratorium on oil shale development yesterday. Hatch is mad as a wet hen….but nobody knows about it because on our side we all are wasting our energy fighting over McCain.
The democrats also blocked (party line vote) more offshore drilling yesterday. One democrat Congressman on the committee who voted to block more offshore drilling is Udall, who is running for US SEnate in NM against a strong conservative republican named Steve Pearce.
But we won’t get the word out, and support victory for good conservative republicans if we just sit around and bitch.
funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 2:54 PM
The gas tax holiday is a joke. Those funds are supposed to go to highway maintenance. The lost revenue would have to come from general funds. Which means all McCain is advocating is moving money among federal accounts. It doesn’t get at the supply and demand problems.
seanhackbarth on June 12, 2008 at 2:54 PM
Ah, the scales are falling.
BigD on June 12, 2008 at 2:54 PM
McCain needs to get serious about oil & gas drilling. NOW.
CP on June 12, 2008 at 2:55 PM
I understand. How will you feel when the “holiday” ends in September?
BigD on June 12, 2008 at 2:58 PM
Patrick, you are wrong that the GOP leadership isn’t doing anything on domestic oil production and prices. It’s just that the dems have blocked everything they have tried.
Democrats blocked the gas tax holiday.
Democrats blocked oil shale development.
Democrats blocked increased offshore drilling.
All that has happened in the last month, and it was the republicans who proposed all 3 cost cutting measures. This commercial should write itself.
funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 2:59 PM
George Bush’s income tax cuts were a joke because they were temporary?
funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 3:01 PM
McCain ‘08: The Center of the Left
(credits to Rush and Paul Shanklin)
BigD on June 12, 2008 at 3:03 PM
And from a CNN/Money issue called The Politics of Oil Shale:
The democrats are what we need to fight against, not McCain. Keep Obama out of the WH, and fight for conservative congressmen in 2008, and more conservative congressmen in 2010.
funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 3:09 PM
terrye,
” Bush has always been in favor of increased oil production and conservatives still bailed on him.”
Huh? All Repubs have voted 96% in favor of all drilling etc.
Anyway what I thought I was very clear about is that the current Repub leadership is following in their 10 year pattern of being totally, and I mean totally out of touch. Where is their leadership on this and so many issues. They lost in 06 because of their wanton disregard of the public purse. They will lose more seats in 08 for the same reason and for no other. Losing seats had nothing to do with oil, immigration etc.
You know my position on this. All other reasons I believe are excuses to avoid the hard choices of balancing the books, a position that demands leadership skills that they lacked.
McCain’s chances are getting slimmer. Every day he acts out of touch he loses votes. When asked about gas prices he spoke about nuclear energy. That’s senility at work. One is about autos, planes, trucks etc and the other is about electrical generation. I was embarrassed by that interview. Where are his advisers? Are they as stupid as he is on this subject?
McCain had better hope that my earlier opinion that crude oil is a bubble comes to pass. Otherwise he will be seen as dumber than a fencepost as crude oil goes higher resulting in what I predict will be dire consequences in the second and third worlds while the US is rigthfully held responsible. And make no mistake it will be our fault.
I’ll leave it to you and others to harp on whether or not it was because some people were or weren’t to conservative.
patrick neid on June 12, 2008 at 3:16 PM
BigD:
So I take it then, that this is the one tax conservatives like? McCain talks about cutting a tax, just for awhile and all of a sudden this tax is a good tax unlike all the other taxes. I probably would not like it much when September came around and the tax went back in effect, but in the meanwhile those of us who have to drive for a living would appreciate it.
Terrye on June 12, 2008 at 3:21 PM
patrick:
I never said Bush did not support drilling, he has. And a lot of other Republicans did too. But the right still turned on them for reasons that had nothing to do with oil. If I had a buck for every time I heard some hardliner say that Bush was really a liberal I could actually afford to buy gas right now.
Terrye on June 12, 2008 at 3:23 PM
Wouldn’t Mickey Mouse make a better candidate than the two we’ve got? Well then, let’s do it. I hereby nominate Mickey Mouse for P.O.T.U.S
Mickey’s slogan… M.I.C.K.E.Y. A far better candidate than the two we’ve got. Not dumber than poop and not a Socialist.
Griz on June 12, 2008 at 3:24 PM
funky,
“On the several issues that McCain is a stupid as a rock this is one. Just as bad, Repubs as a collective group are doing nothing about it either. Where is the leadership from the House and Senate forcing McCain to change or suffer the consequences.”
“Patrick Neid, that’s simply not the case. I posted lots of links yesterday about Orrin Hatch leading the charge to end the democrat moratorium on oil shale development yesterday. Hatch is mad as a wet hen….but nobody knows about it because on our side we all are wasting our energy fighting over McCain.”
Funky that is why I used collective leadership. All to often individual Repubs take a stand, a stand that almost always gets pushed aside. Leadership is about herding cats. We need every Repub in a photo op pointing out all the things we know about. When the obvious question arises about McCain having a different view they need to respond that McCain is wrong and needs more education. Perhaps as someone already mentioned a trip to ANWR by thirty or forty members. Once there Sarah Palin can give them a tour. Force the MSM to reveal what is really at stake.
Our disagreement if there is one is on tactics.
patrick neid on June 12, 2008 at 3:25 PM
I mean back when people were saying they were going to sit home and teach the Republicans a lesson in 2006, did they ever think about oil production? No. They did not. When they turned on Bush and made it more difficult to nominate a strong conservative with their constant infighting did it ever occur to some of the people complaining today that we might be in this position?
I guess not.
Terrye on June 12, 2008 at 3:25 PM
As George Will said: “Government should secure the borders, deliver the mail, and stay out of the way.”
What wisdom!
trs on June 12, 2008 at 3:29 PM
And patrick, as for McCain being out of touch? Right now Obama is ahead and he is to the left of McCain on this issue. So it is not hurting him with voters either.
That might change in the future, but my point is that Bush has always been in favor of additional oil production and so far it has done him no good politically. They just say he is pandering to the oil companies.
Terrye on June 12, 2008 at 3:29 PM
McCain could overcome public angst over the economy with a strong energy plan, including domestic oil, natural gas, clean coal, and nuclear, with plenty of R&D funds for solar and other promising technologies (and trash the bankrupt ones like ethanol and on-shore wind).
Plenty of commentators are urging McCain to wise up… Krauthammer, Sean Hannity, Rush, Newt. But I’m afraid he may be missing it.
petefrt on June 12, 2008 at 3:30 PM
Someone needs to ask McCain how high oil would have to get before he’d allow drilling in the arctic wasteland known as ANWR. $200/barrel? $250/barrel? Never?
He also needs a refresher course in critical thinking if he still buys into the leftist “global warming” scam, along with the ridiculous, expensive “cap and trade” BS that has failed miserably everywhere it’s been tried.
Anyone know of any good 3rd party candidates? Neither of the two main party retards are remotely acceptable.
Hollowpoint on June 12, 2008 at 3:31 PM
If the feds want to pay for road construction, something I highly question, then user-fee-like tax is the best way to go. Those who use the roads pay most of the costs for maintaining them.
seanhackbarth on June 12, 2008 at 3:38 PM
There is unity to be found, and the democrats are vulnerable in VERY OBVIOUS ways on this issue
Funky,
There is unity to be found - why the hell isn’t McCain working on it? He isn’t working to unify on energy. He isn’t standing out there echoing ANY of your points about Republicans trying to fix this!
He is standing out there excoriating oil companies; he’s out there almost mimicking the liberal line on alternative fuels; he’s out there pandering and spewing rhetoric - “I’m open to other federal lands”, but doesn’t offer a simple “and those lands are…”
I agree that we must work together. But working together is a two way street.
We should be kicking the Libs/Dems butts on this as you say. But as Ed says, he’s as clear as mud (at best) on this issue.
And when he is asked or confronted by conservatives on this issue (as with most others), he attemtps to brush it away, ignore it, belittle it, or recite his same old talking points.
When people “bitch” about McCain, a lot of the time it is justified. McCain is continually confronted on this and KEEPS GETTING IT WRONG!
Then we are asked by folks like you to stop bitching and work together? We need to work and get McCain to embrace our ideas? How in the hell are we supposed to do that when all he ever says is “No ANWR” and offer platitudes on “alternative fuels”?
When that happens it sounds a bit more like “shut up and vote for McCain” than togetherness.
catmman on June 12, 2008 at 3:39 PM
A tour of the oil shale areas in CO and UT led by Wayne Allard and Orrin Hatch would be better than the ANWR tour for a cohesive narrative for voters.
funky chicken on June 12, 2008 at 3:42 PM
McCain already made the fatal mistake of comparing ANWR (that fictional thing-of-beauty tourist destination) to the Grand Canyon, the real thing, and which, as I understand, does not have oil deposits underneath it.
He left himself an opening today in saying he was open to “more production on federal lands” but I think it’s pretty obvious McCain doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
BigD on June 12, 2008 at 3:42 PM
Terrye,
Lets not go around this bend again. Bush got more total votes than any prior candidate. People turned out.
Congressional and Senate elections are a whole different matter. Also I might add and I have stated it many times prior, Repubs/conservatives elect no one. What they do is nominate candidates that the independents elect. Now did these incumbents alienate folks in their local districts?
Knock yourself out.
But this is what I know. Had the Repubs as a Congress balanced the budget by 2005 they would still be in the majority–with/despite the “hardliners” that you talk about all the time in regards to immigration etc. Furthermore had they learned their lesson in 06 and everyday called for balance on the house floor they would not be in the position of losing more seats in 08.
To McCain’s credit, aside from his lunacy on global warming, cap and trade and his oil drilling policy he has at least stood against earmarks and assorted other wasteful bills. He is capable of change as evidenced by his call for halting ethanol benchmarks. There is still hope but yesterday’s interview was not helpful.
patrick neid on June 12, 2008 at 3:42 PM
Okay, so why don’t you post the Orrin Hatch press release one more time, just to make sure we have all seen it at least twice in the past few days?
BigD on June 12, 2008 at 3:44 PM
There is unity to be found, and the democrats are vulnerable in VERY OBVIOUS ways on this issue
Funky,
Yes there is unity, but why isn’t McCain doing anything to embrace it?
McCain is dead wrong on this issue. His solution sounds more like liberal platitudes than anything else.
McCain isn’t out there doing any of the things you are calling on us to do! He’s not out there mimicking any of the points your advocating.
All he’s saying is “No ANWAR”. He says he supports other “federal lands” but doesn’t offer up a simple “and those lands are…”
Platitudes don’t fill gas tanks. An incoherent energy stance doesn’t reduce energy costs. Offering up slightly less liberal talking points doesn’t reduce our dependence.
In short he is blowing this issue. When you complain about people “bitching” about McCain, more often than not the “bitchers” are right.
Especially on this issue.
catmman on June 12, 2008 at 3:48 PM
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