Posted on 08/19/2008 12:31:41 PM PDT by LdSentinal
As speculation grows around who John McCain will select as his vice presidential running mate next week, Republican National Committee officials said Tuesday that McCain is no longer considering former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge.
Several sources at the RNC told FOX News that in the last 36 hours, senior McCain advisers and aides have told RNC officials that McCain “got the message” last week that choosing a running mate who supports abortion rights would not be helpful.
GOP pundits had been vocal in urging the presumptive presidential nominee not to pick a running mate who supports abortion rights. Ridge, the first homeland security secretary, was said to be on McCain’s short list, and the only candidate who explicitly supports abortion rights.
The National Review reported Monday that the McCain campaign has been calling key state Republican officials around the country in recent days to weigh the consequences of picking a candidate who backs abortion rights. The conservative magazine interpreted that as a sign that the McCain campaign is seriously considering Ridge or another abortion rights defender.
“I think it’s a hard sell and I don’t see much upside to Tom Ridge except for John McCain likes him a lot,” National Review Editor Rich Lowry told Fox News Tuesday.
“I don’t think he’s going to be a big benefit in Pennsylvania and even if he is, I think the downside is the rest of the country among conservatives are going to be upset about this, just at the moment they’re beginning to work up being excited about John McCain. ”
Conservative commentator David Limbaugh went even further Tuesday, labeling a McCain-Ridge ticket “political suicide.”
(Excerpt) Read more at elections.foxnews.com ...
That looks like a typical “homeschool” family...
and that’s a “hugh” compliment.
what’s the deal w/ Palin taxing the crap out of the oil co’s to drill in Alaska? Anyone have the skinny on that?
McCain has done incredibly well in what amounts to the first debate of the general election, his campaign commercials are among the wittiest and hardest-hitting in years, and he has obviously been making a sincere effort to appeal to the base.
When does he stop being "McStupid" to you people?
Sorry about my duplicate post. I ran a search and didn’t catch yours.
She’s a social and fiscal conservative, is for drilling, obviously female so she’d hopefully register with some former Hillary supporters.
She’s young, good looking for the camera and quite bright.
So there’s no way he’ll pick her. ;)
Ridge would be a really BIG SNOOZE.....can’t stand listening to him OR looking at him, either....glad he’s not on the short list for MANY reasons.
The US-Mexico border after Duncan Hunter...
If Hunter can get this done in California, imagine what he could do for the entire country!
Duncan Hunter would be an excellent choice for VP!!
And an excellent President in 2012!!!
!! McCAIN/HUNTER 2008 !!
Yeah that is a bit troubling. It's not so much a tax as it is a "cut" in the deal. I think the rumor is that Alaksa takes 75% of the value of a barrel of oil. Don't take my word on it. I am not sure.
“So there’s no way he’ll pick her. ;)”
I believe that Juan is strongly hetero. So he just might. :0)
As soon as he admits McCain-Feingold was a HUGE mistake, gives up his quest for shamnesty, and stops agreeing with liberals to ‘get along’
LOL. True post.
"McStupid"? What's wrong with you...
FWIW this is from an article on the new Alaska windfall profits taxes on oil production, which is forcing oil and gas companies (according to the companies) to cut back on new exploration in Alaska:
Things worked out far differently in the GOP stronghold of Alaska, a state whose economic fate is closely tied to the oil industry. Over the opposition of oil companies, Republican Gov. Sarah Palin and Alaska’s Legislature last year approved a major increase in taxes on the oil industry - a step that has generated stunning new wealth for the state as oil prices soared.
At a time when Americans are feeling the pinch at the gasoline pump and oil companies are racking up record profits, Alaska’s choice foreshadows one of the sharpest debates in the upcoming presidential election.
Democrat Barack Obama supports a national windfall-profits tax, while Republican John McCain opposes it.
Alaska collected an estimated $6 billion from the new tax during the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to the Alaska Oil and Gas Association. That helped push the state’s total oil revenue - from new and existing taxes, as well as royalties - to more than $10 billion, double the amount received last year.
While many other states are confronting big budget deficits because of the troubled economy, Alaska officials are in the enviable position of exploring new ways to spend the state’s multibillion-dollar budget surplus.
Some of that new cash will end up in the wallets of Alaska’s residents.
Palin’s administration this week gained legislative approval for a special $1,200 payment to every Alaskan to help cope with gas prices, which are among the highest in the country.
That check will come on top of the annual dividend of about $2,000 that each resident could receive this year from an oil- wealth savings account.
State Sen. Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat who supported the windfall tax, said the oil companies “ ... were literally printing money on the North Slope. We decided to strike the balance a little bit more on our side.”
The industry, however, warns new taxes are already discouraging future exploration and development in newer, more expensive projects needed to boost waning production in Alaska’s oil patches. “Clearly, from the investor standpoint, Alaska has become a less attractive place to invest exploration and production dollars,” said Marilyn Crockett, executive director of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association.
(snip)
The Alaska tax is imposed on the net profit earned on each barrel of oil pumped from state-owned land, after deducting costs for production and transportation, which are currently estimated at just under $25 a barrel.
The tax is set at its highest rate in Prudhoe Bay, where the state takes 25 percent of the net profit of a barrel when its price is at or below $52.
The percentage then escalates as oil prices rise over that benchmark. Alaska gets about $49 of a $120 barrel, not counting other fees.
ConocoPhillips said that in total, once royalty payments and other taxes are added in, the state captures about 75 percent of the value of a barrel.
An accounting benefit eases the sting for oil companies. They get a huge deduction on their state taxes when calculating their federal taxes.
Still, oil-industry officials contend the tax already has affected investment decisions.
BP Alaska, which runs Prudhoe Bay, said earlier this year that it had delayed the development in the western region of the North Slope as a result of the tax. ConocoPhillips cited the same reason for scrapping a $300 million refinery project.
“What the tax has done is take away all the upside,” said Doug Suttles, president of BP Alaska. The U.K.-based oil company paid more than $500 million in taxes to Alaska last quarter - far more than it earned in profits from Alaskan oil, according to Suttles.
Investment dollars are flowing instead to places that have a better return, like the massive deep-water projects offshore in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, where ConocoPhillips said the government take equals less than 50 percent of the barrel.
r sure about that?
The Dims are doing a great job of turning McCain towards the base. Calling him a cheater seems to be related to the gloves coming off.
I think it is going to be Pawlenty or Palin. I like you prefer Palin and think she brings more to the ticket. Still presidential elections right now are decided in the midwest. The GOP gets the south and the mountain time zone. The Dims get the Northeast and the Pacific Coast less Alaska. So the issue comes down to who wins enough from W.Va. through Mo/Iowa to get to 270.
Thank Almighty God and the Lord Jesus. Well, thank them always. But thank them especially now that we don’t have to worry about McCain botching the VP pick.
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