I'll beleive it is something more than campaign rhetoric when he takes a day off the campaign trail, heads back to D.C. and introduces a bill to do so.
Posted on 06/17/2008 11:05:41 PM PDT by Red Steel
Washington - Republican presidential hopeful John McCain blasted US dependence on foreign oil for effectively bankrolling undemocratic regimes and called Tuesday for the United States to allow greater exploration off its own shores.
McCain said that money for oil was going to hostile states and supporters of terrorism in the Middle East, leaving the US in a dangerous and vulnerable position.
'Oil revenues are enriching the enemies of the United States and potentially limiting our own options in containing the threat they present,' McCain said in a broad speech on energy policy in Houston, Texas.
Energy has quickly become a hot topic in the US presidential race, as security concerns have linked up with economic worries. Americans are feeling the pinch of high petrol and utility costs in an already- slowing US economy.
'In effect, our petrodollars are underwriting tyranny, anti- Semitism, the brutal repression of women in the Middle East and dictators and criminal syndicates in our own hemisphere,' McCain said. 'We cannot allow the world's greatest democracy to be complicit in such corruption and injustice.'
The 71-year-old Arizona senator called for lifting a federal moratorium on drilling for oil off the coasts of the United States - in Florida, California and other states - to help relieve the immediate energy burden and slowly wean the country off its dependence on oil from foreign countries.
McCain's proposal was criticized by presidential rival Barack Obama and other Democrats who argued that offshore drilling will harm the environment and tourism, and that in any case US oil reserves are too small to effectively reduce petrol prices.
A broad moratorium has been in place since 1990, banning new licences for offshore drilling except in the Gulf Coast states of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and off parts of Alaska.
McCain said the US could no longer afford to maintain the moratorium with energy costs at all-time highs, though he stopped short of endorsing drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - a key dispute between the two US political parties.
All states should be allowed to authorize drilling in ways 'consistent with sensible standards of environmental protection,' McCain said.
In a statement, Obama charged that McCain had opposed drilling in the past and said that 'his decision to completely change his position ... was the same Washington politics that has prevented us from achieving energy independence for decades.'
Florida Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat, said in a conference call with reporters that allowing drilling platforms off the coast would 'ruin' the state's 65-billion-dollar tourism economy, while oil companies already had extra drilling licences in the Gulf Coast that were not being exploited.
Democrats in Congress have sought favour with voters by pushing for a windfall profits tax on the record earnings of the five largest US oil firms, but the measure was blocked last week by Republicans.
McCain also pushed for greater investments in renewable energy and nuclear power, and reiterated his support for a cap-and-trade system that would cut the greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming.
BUT overseas sources have VERY POOR environmental standards.
Dear Greenies: As Global Thinkers, do you prefer spoiling the Amazon, the Niger Delta, The Golfo du Mexico, and the Persian Gulf...or taking a chance on spilling a couple barrels in the US or offshore the US?
As well he should...it is completely appropriate.
McCain said ... though he stopped short of endorsing drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - a key dispute between the two US political parties.
And he as been on the other side his entire career.
I'll beleive it is something more than campaign rhetoric when he takes a day off the campaign trail, heads back to D.C. and introduces a bill to do so.
He has flip-flopped. It’s a poll-driven decision on McCain’s part.
All states should be allowed to authorize drilling in ways 'consistent with sensible standards of environmental protection,' McCain said."
By calling for all "states" to be allowed to drill, by definition, Alaska is included.
That would be a good start! What are the odds of that happening?
This flip flopping thing has got to stop. Maybe if Bush had “flip=flopped” a little earlier on the war, we would have had an earlier surge and we’d be ahead of the game. Changing a position with the changing times is not just appropriate, it’s downright necessary.
Depends on how much he wants my vote. I said a couple of days ago (over at HotAir) that I'd forgive him the last 33 years of betrayals, {personal and political}, if he would write and sponsor a bill to open up the coastal areas & ANWR for drilling, open up the Oil Shale areas, and facilitate the construction of some new refineries.
There is that.
Besides, Obama has bigger flip-flopping problems of his own. He’s flip-flopped on things that don’t directly affect you or me.
If he would just bite the bullet and call for local drilling...
Does Obama REALLY want to get into the whole “flip-flop” thing? He says that doing so is the same old Washington Politics - however, that hasn’t stopped him from doing the same thing! (i.e. I will not wear the flag pin/on second thought, maybe I will, I will not turn my back on Rev. Wright/on second thought I guess I’ll leave the church, I will meet with terrorists, on second thought maybe I won’t... and on and on...)
At least McCain’s flip-flop on this issue makes sense, and is backed by good solid reasoning! Obama’s flip-flops, on the other hand, are all matters of political expediency...
He’s also changed his mind on going to Iraq. Sooner or later I will bet he changes his mind about doing town hall meetings with McCain.
Yeah, but it’s a good flip-flop.
He has flip-flopped. It’s a poll-driven decision on McCain’s part
Who cares about flip flop. Let the drilling begin. Screw those polar bears.
Don’t forget his blatantly pandering Jerusalem flip-flop either. In front of 7000 Jewish people, he said that Jerusalem would always remain the undivided capital if Israel. The next day, when he found out the Palestinians and muslims were angry about this statement, he said he never said that, and that the division of Jerusalem was something that would be decided down the road, which pissed off the Israelis and American Jewish groups. He managed to piss off BOTH sides in less than 24 hours due to his pandering. This fool has no business accusing anyone of flip-flopping on anything, but I’m sure that won’t stop him, nor will it stop the MSM marxists from letting him get away with it either.
About time he found the sack he put ‘em in.
I do not consider a rational change of position a 'flip-flop', unless the candidate repeatedly abandons the position and returns to it.
I think this is a rational decision, even if the rationale is simply that if he wants to be President, he had best get some traction on seminal issues which resonate with the mainstream and conservatives.
This is an obvious one.
That does not bother me too much. The people generally have more sense than our so-called leaders so if McCain gives up a bad idea because of public pressure, so much the better. Obama, on the other hand, is an idelogue who is not likely to waver from the rigid Marxism of his communist handlers. Usually when the plans of idealogues fail, the idealogues do not question their failed ideas - they just become more fanatical for whatever they were wrong about in the first place.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.